New Yahoo Mail not Supported by Opera
Published September 16th, 2005 2:13 PM EDT By Daniel GoldmanHow will Opera users react when Yahoo unveils the new Yahoo! Mail?
Yahoo is currently beta testing a complete redesign of the look and feel of Yahoo Mail. It will resemble a desktop email application, such as Microsoft Outlook (screenshots here).
It has incorporated advanced features of DHTML and probably AJAX, and sadly it doesn’t work in Opera. Current browser support includes IE, Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape.
It is deja vu all over again.
When Google released Gmail, the Opera browser wasn’t on the list of supported browsers either. It took some time until Opera added more functionality to the browser to support the new Gmail features.
But there is an inherent difference between Opera not supporting Gmail initially and not supporting Yahoo Mail.
When Gmail was first introduced, no one had any prior accounts with them, and besides, Gmail was by invitation-only at that time, so Opera users weren’t affected by it that much. It only affected a minority of Opera users.
With Yahoo Mail on the other hand, there are lots of Opera users that currently have Yahoo Mail accounts, which would effectively lock them out of the new Yahoo Mail. These users, which are mostly non-technical, would notice it much more, and would also affect a larger group of Opera users.
The people at Opera must not let this happen again. Opera has to be ready to add the missing browser functionality that Yahoo Mail requires by the time it’s released to the public. Opera can’t be seen as a browser that is not supported by major websites.
It is more important that Opera focus on adding missing functionality like this, than adding BitTorrent support and other non-essential browser enhancements.
An Opera spokesman told me that Opera is currently testing the new Yahoo Mail (though I don’t know how that’s possible, since Yahoo totally locks out Opera). “Yahoo applications have worked fairly well with Opera historically, so we are optimistic. Obviously we will contact them immediately if any compatibility issue exists.”
This is where Opera gets bitten for having such a low market share, less than 1% (10 - 15 million active users).
Having a big market share is not just for bragging rights, it’s almost essential for every browser. Webmasters would naturally be forced to make their websites Opera compatible, if Opera were to have a bigger market share.
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Thanks to Palab for his input.
I would hope that Yahoo intends to provide fall-back functionality so that people can at least use the service with other browsers.
I mean, most sites I’ve used that have rich HTML editing capabilities will show a plain old textarea if the browser is missing support. It ought to be possible for Yahoo to provide an alternative, stripped-down service.
Of course, I would also hope to see the missing features show up in Opera and Safari!
Kelson,
Yes, I forgot to mention that. Yahoo still gives users the ability to use the old interface, if their browser is not supported.
Good analysis, daniel goldman … compatibility issues for major sites like this are crucial, in my opinion, for Opera’s viability in the future.
This new design (ala desktop app) of Yahoo Mail is evil! Especially if it will not fall back to simple HTML page.
This isn’t the only thing Yahoo has broken for Opera users. The local TV listings page displays improperly as of an update they did to it a month or so ago. It aggravates me that an internet giant would be pushing out poor code like this. I even attempted to contact them about it, but since they seem to make it so hard to actually contact someone, I have no idea if they ever saw my complaint.
Yea…its a problem!
Opera is neglated by many websites!
The primary cause…..Low market share!
If opera is to compit in the Desktop Browser market….It will have to Go free!
At the present situation people arent in a mood to pay for Opera!
What features does it require that Opera doesn’t support? Anyone know? I just signed for the beta today so I haven’t been able to play with it yet.
What was that rant all about?
“It is more important that Opera focus on adding missing functionality like this, than adding BitTorrent support and other non-essential browser enhancements.”
Not sure what BitTorrent has to do with page rendering, but obviously you know exactly how people work at Opera, so the guy working on BitTorrent probably also works on HTML, CSS and JS support at the same time.
Right.
Let’s blow this out of proportions before anyone even knows what’s going on. It’s a closed beta FFS.
My Yahoo still doesn’t work properly with Opera (or is it vice-versa), and as someone mentioned that’s not the only part of Yahoo that doesn’t, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on Yahoo Mail — or the upcoming Hotmail revamp, either.
I hope the Google rumor mentioned in the v8.5 thread is true, which would combine well with Opera being totally free (without ads), since as an earlier poster mentioned, that would lead to exposure, market share…and ultimately, compatibility on the order that Firefox now enjoys.
There’s really no other choice in the long run, so the sooner the better. Even Firefox is going to feel the heat in the next year or so as MS comes back with a vengeance with IE7, particularly the version in Vista. Fringe players are going to be squeezed.
It’s not a matter of site A supporting browser B or vice versa. IT’s a matter of everybody suporting standards. The web exists because of open standards. Don’t play MS incompatible “extension” game. Opera doesn’t seem to be always fully compatible with modern standards. If it fails on non standard sites I think that’s a plus, in the long run.
Since I have already been having problems with other Yahoo features (My Yahoo page selection, for example) in Opera, Firefox…pretty much anything but IE…I doubt this is ever going to work. Personally, rather than drive me to IE, it is driving me away from Yahoo.
Yahoo Mail doesn’t work in current versions of Safari, Firefox or Opera. You have to go into prefs EVERY TIME and disable javascript all together to get far enough into Yahoo Mail to choose the old interface.
That choice is not remembered for future log ins. Yahoo needs to create a seperate log in to the old interface until they get out of this unannounced beta. 5 days and counting… I’m ready to bail on Yahoo.
// Yahoo Mail doesn’t work in current versions of Safari, Firefox or Opera. //
Thank you! I haven’t been able to send Yahoo!Mail for two weeks from Firefox. But I haven’t been able to find any fixes on it. Did they make some sort of financial deal with Microsoft to revive IE? Is this racketeering?
using
Dudes I have solved the problem…
Here is the solution:
http://www.chip.com.tr/forum/konu.asp?TOPIC_ID=28746