Opera has always tried new things with its browser and was among the first browser developers to include a data saving feature. This helped the browser gain popularity in most developing countries (Kenya included) and at the moment, the most popular browser among people who visit this site (TechArena) is Opera browser.
With that said, Opera is introducing a new feature with its updated desktop and mobile browsers. The feature being added is a native ad-blocker that the company users have been waiting for. This of course is good news for those who consume content but no so good news for those of us who publish the content.
Opera has been testing this feature for a while now and is ready roll out the stable version to all users very soon. You can now easily block ads without having to install a third part extension meaning that you will not slow down your browser.
Why A Native Ad-Blocker?
As to why Opera is including a native ad-blocker to its browser, the company says that they care so much about speed and they want their browser to be leaner for a better user experience. A statement from the company reads, “When planning our new features for 2016, we realized that, with no bloated ads, some top websites would load up to 90% faster. This is a serious performance issue that browsers haven’t been able to respond to for a long time.”
The company went ahead to clarify that, the word “native” means that the ad blocking happens at the web engine level, making page loads much faster, while consuming much less memory than extension-based ad blockers.
The company also said that the ad-blocker is deactivated by default and users will have to activate it themselves. This is not that difficult as you just have to head over to the settings page and flip the “Block ads” switch. You will also be able to activate or deactivate the ad-blocker for specific websites if you wish to do so.
There is also a statistics dashboard that shows you how many ads have been blocked on the specific page and overall.
Pop-up videos
Besides the ad-blocker, the updated opera browser brings with it a pop-up video feature that allows you to pop out video from any website and play it on your desktop while you continue using the browser without any interference. The video will play as long as you do not close the original browser it originated from.
Read More: Mozilla Firefox is the most popular browser in Kenya
