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Software The Internet Upgrades

Opera 11 Beta Released, With Extensions Support 142

Posted by timothy from the fat-lady-warming-up dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Opera 11 Beta has just been released and now includes support for extensions. Also new in this release Tab Stacking, Visual Mouse Gestures, performance improvements, new installer, and much more. Even with its many new features, Opera 11 is 30% smaller than Opera 10.60. That means that Opera downloads more quickly and installs in fewer steps. There are over 130 extensions and climbing including NoScript and AdBlock! Extensions can be found here."
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Opera 11 Beta Released, With Extensions Support More

Opera 11 Beta Released, With Extensions Support

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  • I'm mostly a fan of opera though for their opera turbo function since it saves quite a bit of bandwidth when I'm running off my usb 3G modem on the road, making pages load up much quicker. It's good to see extensions added though to help against the tons of annoying ads and such. Cheers to the opera team for their hard work.

    • Extension not exactly needed for adblock (Score:5, Informative)

      by sznupi ( 719324 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @02:47AM (#34328288) Homepage

      Opera had adblocking built in for a long time, it just needed a list [fanboy.co.nz] - yes, somewhat more basic (much more basic script blocking also there); but even with rare updates of the list I don't remember having to use GUI website element blocker.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by interkin3tic ( 1469267 )

        Opera also makes it very easy to block ads as you encounter them. Right click, block content.

        Script blocking however has been terrible in my experience. You can block scripts by default, and can make exceptions for sites, but you cant allow single scripts within a page, at least not that I've found. Noscript is really a huge plus.

        • Re:Extension not exactly needed for adblock (Score:5, Insightful)

          by rishistar ( 662278 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @05:51AM (#34329196) Homepage

          I personally get by with Opera the 'Enable Plug-Ins' checkbox placed on the status bar and turned off by default. This stops any flash ads. This works for me as I follow the 'Ad blocking hurts the websites you love' approach, and its the flash ads that are the really annoying ones - YMMV.

          • You can turn FLASH on (BY SITE, not just globally) (Score:1, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward

            "I personally get by with Opera the 'Enable Plug-Ins' checkbox placed on the status bar and turned off by default. This stops any flash ads. This works for me as I follow the 'Ad blocking hurts the websites you love' approach, and its the flash ads that are the really annoying ones - YMMV." - by rishistar (662278) on Wednesday November 24, @05:51AM (#34329196) Homepage

            One nice thing is, that IF you need to use FLASH (or any other addon, or javascript, etc./et al)? You can set what you have GLOBALLY for all websites, and yet you can also MAKE EXCEPTIONS too, so you have sites where you can use various addons or javascript etc.!

            Additionally, it's VERY SIMPLE/EASY to do!

            You do this simply by right-clicking on the webpage involved, and choosing the popup menu item "Edit Site Properties" where you can set an "exception" and allow whatever you WISH to allow, albeit for that si

          • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

            by Pseudonym Authority ( 1591027 )
            Preferences->Advanced->Content->"Enable plug-ins only on demand".
            Whenever there is something asking for a plugin, Opera will display a place holder and only load the object (and only that object) when you click it. No need to reload or anything.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by sznupi ( 719324 )

            Yeah, that's actually close to how I browse for some time now (I do have a buddy who finds adblocking in Opera invaluable - who switched from FF a year or so ago and actually thinks the Opera one is very slightly better - so I can say it still works fine) - if ads on some sites tend to be obnoxious, that's a great reason to not visit those sites, to reward tactful ones (I wouldn't know with adblocker)

            But - inevitably "Opera has no adblocker ... whah! ... whah!" comes out at the start of probably every discu

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by batistuta ( 1794636 )

        You are right, but in my experience setting up adblocking on Opera has been been a pain compared to Adblock. So not exactly needed in the theory. But if users use another browser because of this, then for Opera, it is really needed. This has been the case with me at least.

        • Yes, the same can be said from iCab (which invented ad filtering more than 10 years before FF!) -its interface to this feature does exists, but is very poor... and that counts...

          • There was a poor UI version for ad filtering on older versions of Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape 6 as well. Hand editing userContent.css.

      • What's the difference between the old Widgets and the new extensions? I found a lot of useful widgets like Youtube video downloaders and Image zooms..... do I have to stop using them now & find a new Extension?

        I'm confused.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sznupi ( 719324 )

          Well, UI integration of new ones should be more workable (being based on W3C standards might count to some, too...). But in large part - marketing?

    • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by perryizgr8 ( 1370173 )

      i have opera on my pc just because xkcd is banned at my uni (dunno why) and opera turbo is easier than using crappy web proxies and faster than tor.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sznupi ( 719324 )

        Please make Randall (after current situation passes) /xkcd forum know, we might have some fun with this ban ;>

  • Good job Opera (Score:2, Interesting)

    by cjeze ( 596987 )

    I'm a long time Opera user since when they used to sell licences. I was always a happy Opera user because the browser suited my browsing style much more than any of the competitors.

    Then came Chrome, after trying it for a little while I was blown away by the browser and its capabilities.

    It was fast and robust and I really liked it, but it didn't get me to convert from Opera.

    It wasn't until the "cool" guys at work started using it I decided to give it a proper try, so that's what I've been doing the last year

    • I installed the non-google Chromium 8 yesterday. It's okay but has various annoyances that make me want Opera or SeaMonkey instead. Like the "find" function is not as easy to use, and when you click on a Audio or Video link it doesn't open the link. It just sits there for a while with a little "tab" on the bottom and you have to click on it to open it up. It feels like an unfinished browser.

      The one good thing about Chromium is the small size (about 40,000 kilobytes) in memory. Even SeaMonkey (120,000

  • I can't find noscript available. There's noTscript, which claims to be the same thing, but where's the real thing that I've been using for years?

    • I can't find noscript available. There's noTscript, which claims to be the same thing, but where's the real thing that I've been using for years?

      It's unavailable, so if you don't want to use the combined Adblock + Noscript version, you're out of luck.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Luchio ( 782557 )
      Disabling javascript is an option integrated in the browser. Can be disabled per site. You can also disable plugin auto-loading, and load them on-click, as needed.

      • I'm aware. That's not the same thing. I can't enable specific scripts on a page, I can only turn them all on or all off per page. Noscript also has a better interface.

  • Longtime Opera user here, continues to suit my needs, but the beta still needs a fair bit of work:

    - The new Tab Stacks feature is almost what I've wanted for some time, needs some more depth to it (labelling, pinning, and loading sessions as stacks in particular), and to undo the wonkiness introduced to the tab bar behavior in general
    - Nice to see Opera join the Extensions party, but slim pickings so far, need to see what gets developed for it to measure its worth.
    - While the Mouse Gestures overhaul/vis

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hkmwbz ( 531650 )
      The beta needs a lot of work because you have a bunch of feature requests? Heh. Well, one bug with gestures, but the other ones are basically requests. In other words, not much work needed at all (feature requests don't count).
  • I don't know, I don't think that Opera is ever going to be anything better than that "Weird browser which few people use" - not on desktops anyway.

    Addons are Firefox's deal - they are pretty locked down in that aspect (making FF an 'addon-platform' more than anything else) - I don't think its going to compare with FF's popularity.

    I'm pretty sure Opera users will be happy with their nice addons now - but I don't see this drawing anyone away from anything else - if you want speed - you go Chrome, if you want

    • Re:Too little too late? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sznupi ( 719324 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @06:29AM (#34329418) Homepage

      #1 browser in Ukraine [statcounter.com], exchanging #1 spot with FF in Russian Federation [statcounter.com], nearing 50% and far above other browsers in Belarus [statcounter.com]; generally a very notable share in most of ex Warsaw Pact. Some worldwide stats appear to be underreporting, by focusing on pages most likely to be visited by specific demographics / rarely visited by some others. How Opera is the #1 mobile web browser worldwide by website stats (despite most of its users being in places with expensive data access, certainly frugal about number of pages visited) might help one day, when those people shift to desktops.

      Opera addons are at least based on W3C widget specs...

      (if you really want speed you'd better not ignore Opera BTW - especially in cases when it really matters (slow machine, slow connection; this contributes to CIS popularity))

      Anyway - they have healthy, rising profitability as is (also during the last 3 years)

    • Re:Too little too late? (Score:5, Informative)

      by commodore64_love ( 1445365 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @07:50AM (#34329936) Journal

      >>>I don't think that Opera is ever going to be anything better than that "Weird browser which few people use" - not on desktops anyway.

      And yet everyone keeps copying ideas from Opera:
      - tabbed browsing.
      - "paste and go" in the address bar
      - Opera Link (bookmarks stored online)
      - Opera Turbo (speeds-up phone connections)
      - Live Bookmarks
      - Speed Dial (copied by Chrome)
      - and on and on.

      Opera is the innovator that everyone else copies.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cp.tar ( 871488 )

        >>>I don't think that Opera is ever going to be anything better than that "Weird browser which few people use" - not on desktops anyway.

        And yet everyone keeps copying ideas from Opera: - tabbed browsing.

        Say what?

        Opera is not the first browser to implement tabs.
        While I do recognize Opera’s inventiveness, it would not do to give them too much credit.

        • Which browser was? I say this honestly, which was the first widely available and useful browser to have tabs or something like it? From my dim memory, I was using FF as my default browser and sometime in 2005 or 2006 (I could be wrong with my years here) I downloaded Opera and it had tabs and ran better and was more useful to *me* (which is all I ever care about when it comes to software). I switched to Opera as my default browser with FF as the backup. Since my latest OS wipe and reinstall, I've been getti
          • "The first browser to offer tabbed browsing was InternetWorks, created by Booklink Inc., and winner of the Comdex show's Rookie of the Year Award in 1994. The program was renamed GNNworks the following year when it was bought by AOL and incorporated in their online client. (The same development team then went on to develop AOL's Instant Messenger application.)" I first discovered tabs in Opera 5 - i just cant believe how no-one would jump from IE to opera when i showed it to them. What a choice.. all brows

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by sznupi ( 719324 )

              Though it does have MDI interface from the beginning, with the list of open pages not on some tab bar but in the Window menu. Fairly close / was probably a good choice in times of 640x480.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by slapout ( 93640 )

          It may not have been the first, but it had tabs long before Firefox for IE.

        • >>>Opera is not the first browser to implement tabs.

          Not the first overall, but it was the first on Windows PC, Mac, or Linux.

          First there was Mosaic/Ibrowse for the innovative and advanced Commodore Amiga in 1999, and then Opera in 2000 (with the release of version 4). Prior to that Opera did not use tabs but instead used a tiled interface to open several pages at the same time. So Opera was innovative in that respect as well. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MultiTorg_Opera.png [wikipedia.org]

          Those

      • And the all_mail_in_one_folder M2 mail client, with "labels" so you can filter just the messages you want to see. Which Google copied into Gmail.

      • FireFox 4 Beta? (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Has anyone seen FF4? It looks exactly like Opera. Opera in the 10.x series added a Menu button at the top left to replace all other options. Sort of like it's own start button. Makes the interface cleaner and smaller at the top.

        Guess what? FF4 now has the identical thing!


        Opera has always had the URL attached to each "Tab". Meaning there is a tab and under the tab is the URL, which is unique to each tab. As opposed to other browsers where there is just one URL above the tabs and then as you click

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tibman ( 623933 )

      People use to talk about firefox/mozilla/netscape the way you talk about opera. Back when IE had something crazy like 90% of the market.

      It was the guys using beta mozilla stuff that helped bring FF usage to what it is today. So don't be so quick to feel sorry for anyone using Opera. They might just be using the browser that everyone (the zerg) will be using a few years down the road.

    • OPERA IS FASTER THAN CHROME (recent) (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      "if you want speed - you go Chrome" - by Haedrian (1676506) on Wednesday November 24, @05:13AM (#34329018)

      Oh, really? See this below (CHROME LOST TO OPERA VERY RECENTLY ON THAT ACCOUNT, FIRST URL BELOW IN FACT, in javascript processing (where Chrome does well, but not well enough) & in HTML work? Opera's been WIDELY KNOWN as "the fastest webbrowser there is" for nearly a decade now... & the data below proves it in numerous tests no less - read on):

      Opera is also apparently lately AGAIN (as per usual mind you) the OVERALL FASTEST Browser there is per this test & article on /. recently, here:

      ---

      http:// [slashdot.org]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hkmwbz ( 531650 )

      I don't know, I don't think that Opera is ever going to be anything better than that "Weird browser which few people use" - not on desktops anyway.

      More than 140 million users are "few users"? Wow.

      if you want speed - you go Chrome

      Actually, Opera is currently faster than Chrome.

      I'm a bit sorry for Opera - they made a good piece of work by all respects.

      Why are you "sorry for Opera"? They are getting millions of new users every single month. They now have more than 140 million users.

  • For feature like tab stacking I have long dreamed. I always end up with loads of tabs open during the day.

    As for extensions, it's not something I really have missed, but a lot of my friends criticized Opera for not having extensions like FireFox does. They open a whole new dimension of possibilities for the browser.

    Congratulations on the new wonderful release!

  • It's not as if people have not been craving for smart card support (pkcs#11) for ages... But Opera just keeps ignoring the issue.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hkmwbz ( 531650 )
      Or maybe people just don't care. Maybe Opera has other priorities. Just because they aren't adding your pet features doesn't mean that they are "ignoring" anything.

  • I love Opera. I use it on my dektop, my laptop and my phone. I love the way it all integrates together. I love the look and feel. I love the way it has so many useful features built in as standard (things like clone tab and view tabs side by side). I love the speed dial page that doesn't try to outguess you (looking at you Chrome). I love the option to enable server side compression very useful if you are on a slow network connection or subject to a download cap.

    I love all of these things but Opera is the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sznupi ( 719324 )

      Seems they was too much rushing in the times of 9.6x-10.x. Luckily, lately it seems to return to the quite polished state of 9.2x releases.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hkmwbz ( 531650 )
        Rushing? 9.6 and 10.0 were stable as a rock. No problems with any other 10.x releases either. Everyone was complaining about 9.0 and 9.2, though. So you apparently got it all upside down.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sznupi ( 719324 )

          From where I am, everybody was complaining that post-9.2x dropped most of the characteristics which made Opera really worthwhile (and no crashes in either, it wasn't about stability in late 9.x and early 10.x)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hkmwbz ( 531650 )
      Opera 10.0 was one of the most stable "major" releases of Opera, ever. Haven't had any major problems with any of the 10.x series, really.

  • Opera Slashdot! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Hemogoblin ( 982564 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @08:51AM (#34330370)

    Everyone always forgets the best feature of Opera; typing /. into the link bar is a shortcut to Slashdot!

    • Whoah, it does! For a browser known for its lack of features compared to other browsers (which is partly true and partly false) it hasn't ceased to surprise me with the features it does have and that I have continued to discover since I started using it back in 2006.

      To be completely honest, taking you to slashdot when you type /. in the link bar isn't really a feature as much as a Whoah! Thats pretty nifty! type of a thing.

  • Still not great (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    It still scores terrible on the HTML5 tests [html5test.com]. Considering it's a bleeding edge new version you would think it would support the latest HTML features.

    With that said Opera Mobile is awesome for low-end devices like my S60 phone. Other than that I don't see Opera offering much.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by hkmwbz ( 531650 )
      Those are not "the HTML5 tests." Those are a bunch of tests that aren't even HTML5, and it doesn't even test all of HTML5. Basing your opinion on Opera's HTML5 compliance on that page is just stupid. And as for "Opera offering much", clearly the other browsers think it does since they keep ripping it off.
  • Waiting for LastPass then migration will occur.
  • I can Ctrl+Click [to open link in a background tab] in any other browser BUT Opera.
    There is no easy way to make this handy feature work without a hack [blogspot.com] because you cannot re-map ctrl left_click [operawiki.info].

    So you never ctrl+clicking or none of you ever actually use Opera at all?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by tibman ( 623933 )

      I don't know about Opera but almost all browsers support the "middle click" to open a link as a background tab. Try it..

      You can also close any tab by middle clicking it. It's great.

    • "Right Click - open in background tab" is 2 clicks - you can surf one-handed then

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Actually, I do RTFA ( 1058596 )

      So you never ctrl+clicking or none of you ever actually use Opera at all?

      Never control-clicking. Middle-click... otherwise I have to use two hands.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DaAdder ( 124139 )
      As others have pointed out, the middle mouse button works. Otherwise, ctrl+shift clicking will also open a tab in the background.
  • With respect to Opera version 10.61 Many people are right-handed ( the ones who uses right hand more often than left ) ---- going from one tab to another ( CTRL+Tab left hand ) (as CTRL +PgDn or CTRL+PgUp is not working ) ---- What is more cookies can't be deleted in one go ---- Backup of RSS Feed ( remember Data ) can't be done. --- While Browsing Firefox - Chrome - Opera - IE only IE and opera gives *.mht ( single archive file based saving ) ---- Opera is the only browser which has in built

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