Revisiting Otter Browser: Beta 11 released
Otter Browser Beta 11 is the latest version of the web browser that aims to recreate the best aspects of classic Opera.
The Otter Browser project was announced back in 2014 as a response to Opera migrating away from the company's Presto core to Chromium/Blink.
We have followed development of the browser from the first beta of Otter browser released in June 2014 to beta 3 and beta 8, and now beta 11.
Otter Browser Beta 11 is the latest version of the web browser, and it brings along with it quite a few improvements over previous beta versions.
Since we have not reviewed beta 9 and 10 of the browser, we will include those in the following listing as well:
Otter Browser: Beta 11
Lets take a look at the features that are new or improved in the latest three beta releases:
- Add-ons Manager and initial support for userscripts is now available.
- Initial support for spell checking and password storage added.
- Tab muting is supported now.
- Support for full screen mode, content blocking and custom blocking rules added.
- New customization options, e.g. to customize the progress bar added.
Content Blocking
Content Blocking is one of the big new features in Otter Browser. You can configure the feature under Tools > Content Blocking. This pops up a new window that enables you to subscribe to one or multiple filter lists, or switch over to the custom rules tab (after enabling the option on the screen), to add custom blocking rules.
Subscriptions work pretty much as you'd expect them to. Simply check one or multiple filter lists on the page to subscribe to the lists.
All lists that you are subscribed to are automatically active in the browser from that moment on.
You may override content blocking on select sites by right-clicking on the site, selecting Website Preferences from the context menu, and switching to Content Blocking in the window that opens.
It is rather interesting that you can enable or disable filter lists individually for each site. So, you could keep a social blocking list enabled while disabling the blocking of advertisement.
Generally speaking
Otter Browser Beta 11 loads most sites just fine. The browser lacks behind when it comes to certain technologies however. You will notice that it does not support Media Source Extensions for instance which means that you won't be able to play media on sites that require it.
The browser gets a score of 343 out of 555 points on HTML5 test which is lower than all other major browsers currently.
There is also quite a bit of work to be done before version 1.0 of the browser gets released. The devs plan to add tab stacking and panorama mode, support for tab thumbnails, a feed reader, helper for mouse gestures, and options to fine tune the user interface to Otter Browser.
The main issue of the project is that development is rather slow. It took the team two years to go from the initial beta to beta 11, and it is yet unclear when the first final version of Otter Browser will become available.
Now You: What's your take on Otter Browser? Still promising?
Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?
Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.
I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/saved
@Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!
@Martin
The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/
Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.
Omg a badge!!!
Some tangible reward lmao.
It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.
With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.
This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)
Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.
And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.
First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[
Yes. Please. Fix the comments.
With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.
Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.
The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.
If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.
And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.
When will you put an end to the mess in the comments?
Ghacks comments have been broken for too long. What article did you see this comment on? Reply below. If we get to 20 different articles we should all stop using the site in protest.
I posted this on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/] so please reply if you see it on a different article.
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Article Title: Reddit enforces user activity tracking on site to push advertising revenue
Article URL: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
No surprises here. This is just the beginning really. I cannot see a valid reason as to why anyone would continue to use the platform anymore when there are enough alternatives fill that void.
I’m not sure if there is a point in commenting given that comments seem to appear under random posts now, but I’ll try… this comment is for https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
My temporary “solution”, if you can call it that, is to use a VPN (Mullvad in my case) to sign up for and access Reddit via a European connection. I’m doing that with pretty much everything now, at least until the rest of the world catches up with GDPR. I don’t think GDPR is a magical privacy solution but it’s at least a first step.