Opera browser maker hits high note

Microsoft made this deal with Star Trek where it made the pages so it wouldn’t work in Netscape.Only in Explorer. This is the kind of thing that stifles competition. We don’t need this. It is very bad for the consumer. It is like saying if you use this car, you have to use this gasoline; you want to use this road, you have to buy my car.

Are there any standards which make a web page look good in all browsers?

There are organisations which are working for this. A lot of web designers have joined together because they are tired of having to – because sometimes they have to – make a web page which looks correctly in Netscape, Explorer and other browsers. A web page should look good in just about anything. We are making Opera compliant with these standards.

You also spoke about the internet being made available to everyone, even handicapped people. How does Opera go about it?

Some of the things Opera allows you to do is zoom in as much as you want. So if you have bad eyesight you can still read. We also make the keyboard very accessible. You can use the keyboard for allfunctions. You can browse without using the mouse. We have users who use a rod on their head to control their net. They hit buttons on the keyboard using this rod. It is difficult controlling the mouse like this. There are lots of other features. You come to a web page, you don’t like the colour or maybe you are colour blind. You click a button and your colours and fonts come up.