It’s been around since 2017, yet Opera Neon is probably not your main browser.
Personally, I have been a Safari and Chrome fan for as long as I can remember. However, all these modern browsers tend to apply the same practices, build upon existing features and even look similar design-wise. There simply has been no real innovation in the actual internet browsing experience since major browsers like aforementioned were first released. And why do we care, right? Browsers are merely a tool to enter the web. But it’s also our first, and main, window with almost everything we read on the internet these days. The user experience is so important, even though you might not realize it or think about it at first sight.
So, why would someone reinvent the wheel?
Let me start off by saying that Opera as a company has always been at the front of the browser revolution. While their browser market share is barely 4% globally (GlobalStats, 2020), almost every major feature released to mainstream browsers were introduced by Opera many years before anyone else did. This includes features we simply cannot live without anymore in 2020, such as Tabs and Favorites/Bookmarks.
In January 2017, Opera Neon was released. A browser which was never meant to be a replacement for your Internet Explorer (although you really should have upgraded by now). Rather, it was a window into the future. A vision of Opera of how they could take the browser experience to a completely new level without relying on current practices, but by testing new UX concepts.
I installed it right away, and while it has been a steep learning curve and a hard piece of software to grasp, I have come to prefer it in many ways over the current market leaders like Chrome. In fact I am amazed that many of the features Neon does right are still not implemented in other browsers.
It’s the large things that matter.
One of the main selling points of Neon (and one of the first things you will notice) is that it looks like no-other browser out there. It was built up from the ground with the user’s wished and preferences in mind. It boasts a distinctive, yet inviting interface with vertical tabs shaped as bubbles as opposed to the usual horizontal menubar. And while navigating the app is a completely new trick to master, it feels intuitive and gets familiar fast. The arrangement of the elements within the interface has been carefully reviewed, and everything is placed in a way that ‘makes sense’. It truly is a way of showing that a revolutionary new design does not have to sacrifice a user centered approach.
Neon doesn’t stop there, though. It features a handy sidebar with a Player Overview, to see all video and audio sources from all tabs, and control them from there. You can even pop them out into a Picture-in-Picture style player. Something which iOS introduced only this year. It also has a Screenshot drawer and a tool to make them built-in. In other browsers this would require a plugin. From there you can easily drag and drop your screenshots, or share them easily.
Lastly, Neon boasts built-in Split View to use multiple tabs at once. This feature greatly increased productivity and has transformed the way I can multitask in many occasions.
What can we learn from Opera Neon?
Overall, I could say that Opera Neon is a bold move away from the current standards. They took the approach of taking a well-known design and rethinking it from the ground up, with user-centered design in mind. This approach results in a product which is revolutionary in some ways, and may totally miss the mark in others. But it is what drives inspiration and innovation, and this is an approach that I think more companies should be willing to take. Taking risk and do meaningful experiments to move the industry forward. Not focusing on pure profitability, but embrace opportunities that could lead to new discoveries and products.
When I use Firefox, Chrome or Safari I have the hardest time recognizing which browser I am actually using, whereas Neon is so unique and dynamic, it is instantly recognized.
It’s a fresh new take on the browser, perhaps of the future. And I love it.
You can try Opera Neon yourself by downloading it from their website.
Statcounter, 2020. Browser Market Share Worldwide. GlobalStats, [site]. Available at: <https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share> [Accessed 29 September 2020].