One More Browser with Tabs
Here are a few questions about computers I've received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about the Opera Web browser, emailing digital pictures, software for IBM and Apple laptops and the Journal's RSS feeds.
If you have a question, send it to me at
mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg's Mailbox.
Q: In last week's column, you covered Web browsers that featured tabbed browsing and the ability to read syndicated news feeds. But you omitted the Opera browser, which has had these features for awhile. Why did you leave out Opera ? Do you hate it?
A: Not at all. It was mainly a space issue -- I didn't have room in the column to delve into every browser. Opera , which runs on Windows, Macintosh and Linux, is a very good, speedy, full-featured Web browser that pioneered many of the key features of newer browsers like Firefox and Safari.
In the past, I have felt that Opera suffered from an overly complicated user interface, and that it was aimed more at techies and tinkerers than at the mainstream, nontechie users who are my main audience. But the latest version, Opera 8 -- available for Windows and Linux and coming soon for the Mac -- has a much cleaner look and feel and hides most of the options that might overwhelm average users. The new version also features a security-notification system that helps users judge whether a financial site is genuine or a possible scam; and an impressive ability to resize Web pages to fit screens of almost any size without scrambling the page layout.
In my limited tests, Opera 8 looks very good. The only downside of Opera is that, unlike Firefox, it isn't exactly free. There is a no-charge version, but it displays ads in its toolbar. To get a version without ads, you have to pay $39.
Q: I have pictures taken with a three- and four-megapixel camera. How do I easily email them without having to reduce the size of each picture?
A: In Windows XP, just go to the folder where the picture files are stored and select the ones you want to email. Then, either click on "E-mail the selected items" from the command list on the left of the window, or the "Send To" command on the File menu at the top of the window, or on the menu that pops up when you right-click on the file icons. You will be given a choice of making the pictures smaller, or emailing them at their original size.
On the Macintosh, the easiest way to do this is in the iPhoto program, which comes with every Mac. You just select the pictures you want to email, click the Email icon, and the program will give you a choice of sending the picture at its original size, or at a variety of smaller sizes.
Q: I am trying to decide between purchasing an IBM ThinkPad and an Apple PowerBook. In order to do a realistic price comparison, I am wondering if there is a suite of music, photo and video editing software, on par with Apple's iLife suite, that you would recommend for the ThinkPad.
A: I don't know of a multimedia suite for Windows (handling photos, music, videos and DVD authoring) that is anywhere near as well integrated and easy to use as the iLife suite that Apple includes with all new Macs. There are individual programs, some of them free, that do parts of the job, such as Picasa or Adobe Photoshop Album for photos. But, in a complete suite, the closest candidate on Windows is probably Roxio Easy Media Creator, which sells for about $85.
Q: Why isn't there an "RSS" news feed that would allow users to read summaries of your columns in news reader software?
A: There is such a feed of my three weekly columns, as well as feeds for other articles from The Wall Street Journal. All use the RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, system and can be viewed from most news-reader programs and Web browsers that support the RSS standard.
In addition to the feed for my columns, there are feeds available for Journal news and business headlines, the paper's editorials and its technology stories. These feeds of headlines and story summaries are available free to anyone, but the actual stories behind them are viewable only by readers who have a paid subscription. There is one exception: a news feed for a selection of free stories made available each day.
To get the Journal's RSS feeds, go to wsj.com, and click on the entry called "RSS Feeds" toward the bottom of the menu at the left of the home page. Or, to get the feed for my column, just paste the following address into a news reader or RSS-capable Web browser: online.wsj.com/xml/rss/0,, 3_7071,00.xml.
Opera，另一款可分页浏览的浏览器
在我们大多数人拥有的大件电器中，再没有什么比个人电脑更令人费解、更变幻莫测的了。每个人或许都有些关于电脑的问题，而《莫博士信箱》将为您提供帮助。
本周我将回答读者有关Opera网页浏览器、用电子邮件传送数码图片、及《华尔街日报》的RSS版面等的问题。
问：在上周的文章中，你提到了那些提供分页浏览(Tabbed Browsing)功能以及可以阅读RSS版面的网页浏览器。但你没有提到早已具备了这些功能的Opera浏览器，这是为何？是因为你讨厌它么？
答：绝对不是，这主要是因为版面的缘故－－我没有足够的篇幅来一一列举所有的浏览器。可以运行在Windows、Macintosh以及Linux环境下的Opera是一款非常优秀、速度很快、功能全面的网页浏览器，许多重要的功能受到了Firefox和Safari等新出的浏览器的效仿。
在过去，我认为Opera的操纵界面过于复杂，主要是供专业人员和电脑爱好者、而不是普通用户使用的，而普通用户才是我的主要读者。但最新版本的Opera 8的界面干净多了，也让人感觉舒服多了，还把那些会让普通用户不知所措的大部分选项功能隐藏掉了。Opera 8已经推出了适用于Windows和Linux操作系统的版本，用于Mac电脑的版本很快也将推出。Opera 8还提供安全报警系统，能够帮助用户来判断一个金融网站到底是真是假；它的另一个给人留下深刻印象的功能是能够根据屏幕来调节网页的大小，而且还不会使页面布局发生扭曲。
在我所做的几次测试中，Opera 8的表现都不错。唯一美中不足的是，Opera不是全部免费的，这一点和Firefox有所不同。Opera也有免费版本，但在工具栏中出现了广告。用户需支付39美元才能获得不含广告的Opera。
问：我用400万像素的数码照相机拍了一些照片。有没有在不压缩照片尺寸的情况下用电子邮件发送这些照片的简便方法呢？
答：如果是在Windows XP环境下，直接找到这些图片所在的文件夹，选中那些需要邮寄的图片。然后点击左侧命令栏中的“以电子邮件传送选定的文件”，或者在打开窗口顶端“文件”菜单，选择“发送”命令，再或者用鼠标右键点击选定的文件，从弹出的菜单中选择“发送”命令。电脑会提醒用户是按照图片的原始尺寸还是进行压缩来传送这些图片。
在Macintosh环境下，每台电脑装备的iPhoto程序就可以帮助你实现这一愿望。你选中想要传送的图片，点击“电子邮件”图标，然后程序会自动提醒你是按照原始尺寸传送、还是按一定的选择进行压缩后再传送。
问：我在到底是购买IBM的ThinkPad、还是苹果电脑的PowerBook间徘徊。我想知道有没有一款能够运行在ThinkPad上，像苹果电脑的iLife一样可以编辑音乐、图片、视频文件的软件。
答:据我所知，在Windows环境下没有一款多媒体套装软件能够在全面性和简便性方面同iLife套装软件相媲美。但是有程序（其中一些还是免费的）能够完成其中某些方面的功能。例如，Picasa或者Adobe Photoshop Album可以用来编辑照片。但就一整套的套装软件而言，与之最接近的Windows软件恐怕还得是售价约为85美元的Roxio Easy Media Creator。
问：为何没有RSS版面，供读者用新闻阅读器(news reader)软件阅读你的专栏的摘要呢？
答：我的三个每周更新的专栏都有RSS版面，《华尔街日报》的其他文章也有RSS版面。这些版面使用的是RSS系统，它的全称是Really Simple Syndication，意为真正简单的整合，读者可以使用多数新闻阅读器软件以及支持RSS标准的网络浏览器对这些版面进行阅读。
除了我的专栏有RSS版面之外，《华尔街日报》的时事新闻、商业新闻、社论以及科技文章也有RSS版面，上面所有的标题和文章梗概向用户免费开放，但具体的文章内容只向付费订户开放。只有一个例外，每天免费文章的RSS版面中所有内容都可以免费浏览。
在浏览器地址栏中输入wsj.com，就可以进入《华尔街日报》的页面，在左侧靠下的导航栏中有“RSS Feeds”的链接。或者，要想阅读我的专栏的RSS版面，直接把“online.wsj.com/xml/rss/0'' 3_7071,00.xml”这个链接输入到新闻阅读器或者支持RSS功能的网页浏览器中即可。
