GX offers a svelte header with the traversal buttons, address bar, and operational controls that we expect from modern browsers. Ideally the “chrome” should be minimal so as to maximize browsing space, and it should never impinge upon the client-side calculation standards for CSS and Javascript if it does decide to go off the rails design-wise. There’s not a heck of a lot of opportunity to make a web browser stand out when it comes to it’s design. What makes Opera GX a “gaming browser” aside from overly aggressive use of blacks and neon reds and a lot of “by gamers, for gamers”-level marketing tripe? Let’s take a look. So I downloaded it, installed it, and am currently using it as my daily browser as a means of assessing it’s claims. I had no idea what that kind of label meant to the Opera marketing department, but I knew what I thought it meant. Last week I came across an article talking about Opera GX, which is a “gaming browser” built on the stalwart Opera browser framework. As a developer, I’ve always also had to keep Firefox around Just Because, and the only Safari I have access to is on my iPad, so it might as well be out there, alone, in a cabin in the woods for all the concern I have for it. When Microsoft Edge arrived, I switched in the wake of rumors of Google’s lackadasical stewardship. For the longest time I, like many, relied on Chrome, as it became the required choice of many online outlets.

Browser Wars, amirite? At some point in my Internet career (both as a civilian and as someone fighting from the trenches in web application development) I have used or at least tried most of them.

Gx corner for chrome