Opera Seeks Developer Input For Opera 10

taskforce writes "Opera Watch is reporting that the folks Opera Software are asking web developers for input on what they think the most important features are which could be added into the next version of the Opera desktop browser. Considering what has been added in Opera 9, what do you think would be most important for the browser from both a developer and a user standpoint?"

Niggling

[rinkjustice]

Give users more monitor real estate (less toolbar, more web page) and reinvent favorites/bookmarks. Say automatic online backups to Simpy.com [simpy.com] and an easier way of keeping bookmark catagories organized. I've recently gotten into genealogy and the links pile-up in a hurry. I almost want to use a browser exclusively for that research alone.

The Linux support is awesome however. It's the best browser for that platform.

Re:Adblock

[LubosD]

Opera 9 has integrated content blocking - it is quite good. You don't have to edit filter.ini any more...

Re:Adblock

[Anonymous Coward]

Adblock, adblock, adblock. I know you can do something like adblock with Opera, but it doesn't even compare with firefox's version. That's the reason that I still use firefox even though it isn't as small or as fast as Opera; I want my adblock.

Right-click on the page, choose the relevant option, click around to block stuff. Where's the problem?

Use the middle mouse button (scroll wheel)

[kamakiri]

Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Shortcuts > Middle click options

Select "Open in background tab".

Yes, they could make this a bit easier to find.

Re:Adblock

[Bogtha]

Is there a way to import a filterlist?

Yes [operawiki.info]. You can get a pre-made filterlist here [yoyo.org].

Opera gives you all the space you need! (scrensht)

[eddy]

> but even then it still usues way too much screen space for things other then the actual webpage.

WTF?! You do know that the sidebar "Panel" toggles on and off with F4, right? Requests ought to focus on stuff that isn't already in the browser and trivially available to users to configure, don't you think?

I'm sorry, but requesting more space for the web page is sort of insane, considering there's always full screen mode (F11). The difference between full screen and my current configuration is neglible. Here's a current full screen screenshot [gazonk.org] (~44KiB) of my setup. Explain what you want to disable and how that makes a real difference to your browsing experience.

Personally I'd like a special tab which would include all client-server exchanges, toggable to exclude content body/show as hexa, etc.

Re:Adblock

[Jugalator]

Bah, how about not forcing Opera to keep up to date with specific extensions found in Firefox...

Firefox actually has a worse adblock implementation then Opera, did you know that?

The root of the problem as I see it is not a poor integrated adblock functionality -- I'm sure Opera 9's new interactive and visual adblocking mechanisms are sufficient for most people -- the problem is more likely deep extension support for power users to extend functionality as they want and need.

While Opera ASA is doing an admirable job of keeping up to date with the competition as a company, my number one wish for Opera 10 is good extension support.

And no, Opera's aging Netscape plugin support is lacking in so many areas, like chrome and renderer extensibility, that I won't even discuss it.

Re:Adblock

[Rits]

Do you have to do this for every new ad you see? Or does Opera automagically create regexes for permanent blocking of similar ads by using your method?

No regexes, but a simple matching expression using * is automatically created. You can also block specific images only by holding Shift while clicking. It is quite intuitive, with a simple UI with only a few buttons and a short explanation text.

Re:Niggling

[RobbieGee]

I have a few tips for you.

1. Put the status bar next to the address bar.
2. Use search shortcuts instead of the search bar. Typing 'g something' in the address bar will search for 'something' on google, while 'z something' will do the same for Amazon.
3. The progress bar can be toggled to show only when something is loaded, and you can even make it appear inside the address bar.
4. Instead of showing the tabs, you could use the window panel. You need to enable it by customizing the panels.
5. Ctrl-F8 will toggle the address bar, also while in Full-screen.
6. Alt+F11 will toggle the main menu.
7. Ctrl+F7 will toggle the scrollbars.
8. For quicker switching between tabs in fullscreen mode, I recommend holding right mouse button while scrolling. Personally, I prefer to set that list to use the tab-bar order instead of which were last used, you can find that setting in Tools->Preferences->Advanced->Tabs then "Cycle in tab bar order".

These are just things off the top of my head though, so if you *really* wanted to go nuts you could probably get away with a lot more.

Re:Extensions

[Marsell]

Opera is relatively fast but not the fastest

Compared to what? http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html [howtocreate.co.uk]

An API for extentions would mean it can be made even leaner since you can effectively strip off functionality that is not used often and put it into an extension for those who need it.

I'm curious what the point of that is though? The English install is 4.6MB, and you'll find this of interest: http://my.opera.com/FataL/blog/show.dml/298429 [opera.com]. If you ignore the multi-language installer, Opera's install size has increased about 500kb over the past five years.

I'd like to point out that such a degree of integration allows a sharing of code that isn't possible with extensions. That's why the size increase has been so tiny despite the significant difference in featuresets between 6.0 and 9.0.

Re:I find firefox more configurable (screenshot)

[guidryp]

I have both and was an Opera user for years before switching to firefox. Currently trialing Opera9.

Sure you can turn everything off. That is no biggie. But when I have everything turned on, firefox gives me the edge in space and configurability allowing me to put buttons next to the "File, Edit, etc..." Menu. I recover one line this way and still have all the stuff I want on.

http://i.pbase.com/o4/04/606404/1/63200501.vAlG5XD r.operafox.png [pbase.com]

Re:Extensions

[Anonymous Coward]

The WebDev toolbar does everything I need it to do...

http://operawiki.info/WebDevToolbar [operawiki.info]

Very useful.

Re:From a developper point of vue

[Danga]

And from a user point of vue: - Extensions

If you want extensions go use firefox. The Opera developers do listen to input and if a feature is requested by enough people then they will add it. They also will take out features that people dislike/don't use. That is what I like the most about Opera, they make it the best browser available right out of the box. You don't have to go messing around downloading and installing extensions because it already includes the best features available that most people need.

I used Moz for quite a while until about 3-4 years ago when I came across Opera and decided to give it a shot. I LOVED it, initially what got me was its speed and of course the tabbed browsing. I also currently still have FF installed but I almost never use it, Opera just has everything I need and it does everything I need better. I much prefer just being able to download an installer once and have everything I want already available compared to downloading FF and having to find/load a bunch of extensions.

Re:Extensions

[Wildclaw]

This should be possible with the current opera. I'll describe how to add a shortcut key that launches the current webpage in internet explorer. If you want to add it to a gui element (like the right click menu) you will probably have to edit an ini file. Anyway, here is how to add it as a keyboard shortcut, step by step.

* Goto Tools->Preferences->Advanced->Shortcuts.
* (Optional) Duplicate the current keyboard setup using the duplicate button.
* Edit the keyboard setup you want to change.
* Select the "application" entry in the list that appears and click the "New" Button
* Enter the keyboard shortcut to the left. For example: i ctrl shift alt
* To the right enter the following: Execute program, "iexplore.exe", "%u"

Now, whenever you click ctrl+shift+alt+i, internet explorer should launch using the current url as an argument.

Re:Extensions

[Anonymous Coward]

It's actually possible to modify the contents of every menu in Opera via ini files. You can download third party setups in the Opera community customization area, or if you are more particular, create your own. Take a look at the "standard_menu.ini" in Opera/defaults for reference, then simply create your own and place it in your profile/menu directory. You only need to include the sections you modify- copying the entire default is not necessary. (So, in your case, you'd just need the [Version] [Info] and modified [Document Popup Menu] sections.) Choose your menu setup in Prefs->Advanced->Toolbars, and voila! It's quite remarkable how much of Opera can be changed just by poking around it's configuration files. I hope this helped.

Re:Better without Flash? No FJAX

[Khuffie]

If you're on a website, you can right click anywhere there's no image/flash, and you can see two options: Block Content (which lets you block ads and the like) and Edit site preferences. Under there you can change several settings, the plugins are under the content tab.