Desktop
How to open multiple web pages from Opera Speed Dial?
6 CommentsPublished May 8th, 2009 4:58 AM EDT By Tamil
There are several ways to open multiple web pages.
- Bookmarking web pages to a folder, navigating to folder from bookmarks menu and clicking Open All Folder Items.
- Bookmarking web pages to a folder, giving nickname to folder and entering nickname in address field or setting nickname as home page in Tools > Preferences… > General > Home page.
- Opening web pages, saving them as session File > Sessions > Save This Session… and opening it File > Sessions.
The advantage of sessions over bookmarks is it can store several settings (zoom, fit to width, images, etc.) per tab.
Sessions can be opened quickly by assigning it to a Speed Dial slot.
- Open web pages.
- Save them as session File > Sessions > Save This Session….
- Assign it to a Speed Dial slot.
The path to session file should not contain space. If path has space use DOS name. To find DOS name of a directory/file, open Command Prompt, change path to parent directory of directory/file and type the following command.
dir /x
Command Prompt to find DOS name
| Directory name | DOS name |
|---|---|
| Program Files | PROGRA~1 |
| Documents and Settings | DOCUME~1 |
| Application Data | APPLIC~1 |
Speed Dial edit dialog with path to session file
Speed Dial with session
Opera will show above thumbnail but you can replace it with any image.
[Eric J. Goers via forums]
Recently, Apple made a lot of misleading and false accusations with the release of Safari 4 beta and this created controversy in forums, blogs and magazines (translated version).
Most of the Opera users know that Opera has a long (and glorious) history of browser innovation. However, the “outside world” needs to know – especially those who like to claim that they were first with something.
Therefore, Opera Software Documentation team has created a very comprehensive and easy-to-use history of Opera’s desktop versions with release dates, release types, rendering engines, JavaScript engines, and features in major releases.
See it here.
[via Espen André Øverdahl]
Opera Turbo now available for time limited testing
6 CommentsPublished March 16th, 2009 3:55 AM EDT By Tamil
Recently, Opera Labs started the time limited test phase for Opera Turbo.
Opera Turbo is a server-side optimization and compression technology similar to Opera Mini that provides significant improvements in browsing speeds over limited-bandwidth connections by compressing network traffic. This does not only make you surf faster, but also lowers the cost of browsing when you are on a pay per usage plan.
- Opera Turbo can be easily turned on/off by clicking the Opera Turbo button in status bar. When turned on, Opera Turbo will display the average compression rate and the amount of bandwidth saved will be shown in a tooltip when Opera Turbo button is hovered.
- Opera Turbo will work with any type of connection, but to get the most out of it you should be on a situation with limited bandwidth. On a fast network the main reason to avoid Turbo would be reduced speed due to sending data via a proxy and the reduced image quality.
- Opera Turbo doesn’t change the Web site but image resolution may appear considerably lower as a result of the compression. Dynamic Web technologies such as Ajax and Flash are supported, but some plugin content will load only after clicking on the empty element.
- Even when Turbo is enabled, encrypted traffic does not go through compression servers.
According to Nate Lanxon at CNET UK, yep. I’m not going to quote the whole “article,” but here are my thoughts:
- A new Javascript engine is on its way from Opera. But even if it weren’t, who bases his or her choice of a web browser based upon Javascript speed benchmarks? Nobody I know. All that matters is real world results. (Haavard makes the same argument here.) That Safari or Chrome or Firefox may or may not load a given page .3087 seconds more quickly than Opera surely won’t be noticed by me.
- “[S]o I really don’t see what the Opera fans are clinging on to.” Obviously, Lanxon is not an everyday Opera user or the answer would be quite simple. For some, it’s Mouse Gestures (done right, without a buggy extension). For others, it’s enhanced keyboard navigation. (Spatial Navigation ftw!) Or maybe it’s the ability to synchronize bookmarks across multiple installations and platforms with Opera Link. Or maybe it’s the “full page zoom” feature that so many people for years said was dumb – that is, until Safari recently decided to include it. Or maybe it’s the ability to run custom Javascript and CSS on a per site basis. All of these things and more are included in Opera “out of the box.” They just work. And if your counter argument is “but that makes the browser all bloaty!” then explain to me how Opera’s installation exe file is 5.4 MB (4.8 MB for Classic Installer), while Firefox’s is 7.1 MB (before any extentions added!) and Safari 4 Beta’s is a whopping 25.5 MB!? (That’s without Quicktime bundled!)
- Look at the hot, new features of Safari 4 and tell me how many of them were Apple innovations. (Don’t quote from the Apple site – they lie. More on that here.) Opera innovates, and other companies incorporate those features into their browsers. This is not a bad thing. But Lanxon is forgetting that competition breeds innovation.
- Even Asa Dotzler, one of the faces of Firefox, knows it makes no sense for Opera to abandon the desktop.
Opera’s desktop browser means millions and millions of desktop users logging hours and hours of testing and providing lots of feedback to the Opera team. That feedback allows them to keep their rendering engine, javascript engine, and other bits of the browser as functional as possible across as many Web sites and Web apps as possible. Take it away, and the Opera mobile efforts will slowly but surely fall behind the “one Web” as Opera calls it.
- And even if Opera were to concede it will never gain a significant foothold in desktop browser market share, why abandon software that saw a 117% increase in revenue from one year ago? Opera Software actually makes money at a time when many companies across the globe are hemorrhaging it.
So no, Mr. Lanxon. Opera will not abandon the desktop browser. Thanks for the advice, though.
Read Lanxon’s opinion here: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/natelanxon/0,139102300,49301254,00.htm
See Opera’s Haavard respond here: http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2009/03/02/cnet-uk-opera-should-give-up-on-desktop-browsers
Entire text of Asa Dotzler’s response: http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2009/02/opera_should_gi.html
Opera Software released Opera 9.64 today, which addresses several security issues and few minor improvements. This release is a recommended security update for all those running the previous stable releases.
Starting with this release, Opera on Windows supports the security measures Data Execution Prevention (DEP) (available in Windows XP SP2 and newer) and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) (available in Vista and newer).
These security measures are a kind of second line of defence once an application runs into a serious fault, which would normally cause it to crash sooner or later.
Changelogs: Windows, Mac & Linux/UNIX
Opera Software released Opera 9.63 today, which addresses several security issues. This release is a recommended security update for all those running the previous stable releases.
See the changelog for more information.
Earlier today Opera Software released an alpha build of the long-awaited version 10 of their desktop browser. Opera 10 alpha promises to be faster at rendering, more standards compliant, and even sports a brand new in-line spell check.
Here’s a short list of things we should expect in this alpha:
- Presto 2.2 Engine
- Performance boost
- 100/100 and pixel-perfect on the Acid3 test
- Auto-update
- Inline spelling checker
- Opera Mail improvements, including rich text composition and delete after X days
- Widget Improvements on Linux
For a more detailed list and downloads for Windows, Linux, and Mac please visit the developer blog.
When I first ran the Acid3 test, it only scored 97/100. I mentioned this to a few people, and Kyle Baker reminded me that UserJS can interfere with the test. I disabled UserJS for the Acid3 test, and my score was much better.
30 million Opera desktop users
9 CommentsPublished December 1st, 2008 7:47 PM EST By Daniel Goldman
In its third quarter financial results Opera revealed that it now has 30 million users of its desktop Opera browser. Nice.
For those of you keeping score at home, the usage is up by 40% since the end of 2007 and 55% in the past 12 months.
Some other desktop stats for you: Usage of the desktop browser in Russia, where Opera apparently has a 25% market share, has grown by 112% in the past 12 months, while Indonesia has grown by 115%.
Opera Mini, on the other hand, had 21 million users in October.
Opera Software released Opera 9.62 today, which addresses a few security issues. This release is a recommended security update for all those running the previous stable releases.
See the changelog for more information.
Opera Software released Opera 9.61 today, which addresses a few security and stability issues. This release is a recommended security update for all those running the previous stable releases.
See the changelog for more information.
Opera today released a new version of its desktop browser, Opera 9.60.
Highlights include:
- Feed preview
- Speed enhancement
- Opera Link synchronizes more data (Custom search engines and typed history)
- Mail improvements (Low bandwidth mode, Follow/Ignore threads & contacts and Go to Thread)
This release is a recommended security and stability upgrade.
Opera 9.60 Changelog
Download Opera 9.60
Opera also launched a new site today: Discover Opera. It shows in simple steps how to use many of the powerfull Opera features.
Note: You may have to use Opera Standard skin to view scroll marker after enabling it. (Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Browsing > Show scroll marker)
Digg!
The Opera desktop team today released the first beta of the Opera 9.6 browser.
Major new features include a nicer preview of RSS feeds and a ‘Low bandwidth mode’ for the Opera Mail client. In addition, the typed url history can now also be synchronized between various Opera browsers using Opera Link.
The new RSS feed preview allows you to preview the feed before giving you the option to subscribe to it with Opera’s built-in feed reader. This is certainly an upgrade from the previously unstyled feeds, though I hope Opera will also include some links to subscribe using other feed readers, such as Google Reader and Bloglines (FeedBurner already does this).
Just days after the Opera 9.52 release, the Opera Desktop Team has posted the first preview of Opera 9.60. Highlights include:
Opera Link synchronizes more data, adding custom search engines and typed history (i.e. URLs that you type into the address bar).
Feed previews when you click on an RSS/Atom feed, so you can look at the content before subscribing.
Mail improvements including:
- Low Bandwidth Mode. In this mode, IMAP will only synchronize new messages and only retrieve attachments when requested, and POP will only fetch the first 100 lines of each message until you request that it download the full message.
- Follow/Ignore threads and contacts, making it easier to track discussions when you have a lot of messages.
- Go To Thread, which filters the view to show only the current thread.
As usual, the preview is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
The Opera Desktop Team released Opera 9.52 today, which addresses several security and stability issues. This release is a recommended upgrade for all those running the latest stable releases.
See the changelog for more information.
Digg!
Guardian: Forget Firefox – I’m going back to Opera for browsing and email
29 CommentsPublished July 4th, 2008 10:40 AM EDT By Daniel Goldman
Columnist Andrew Brown, of The Guardian, wrote a nice column yesterday about why he’s switching back to Opera from Firefox 3.
“With the release of Firefox 3, I mounted a private celebration: I went back to using Opera 9.5 as my main browser. This wasn’t just perversity. Firefox without its add-ons is clearly inferior to Opera. Firefox with enough add-ons to make it really useful is very much slower. And Opera has one advantage over all the competition which is enough to outweigh all its other faults to me.”
- Hat tip: Keith Rapado
The Opera Desktop Team released Opera 9.51 today, which addresses a few security and lots of stability issues. This release is a recommended upgrade for all those running the latest stable releases.
See the changelog for more information.
Digg!
