With a view to 11

So, today the first beta version of the Opera browser has been released - number 11. The number did not grow by chance, but because of rather substantial changes in the browser, many of which, by the way, appeared in response to the persistent requests of users. In part, many of the innovations have already been discussed in RuNet, in this article I will try to collect all the most important information regarding the new features of Opera 11. Something, however, will be a pleasant surprise. So, let's begin.

Extensions
Yes, as they say, "we built, built, and finally - built." Extensions were probably the most popular request from users. Naturally, we could not leave it without attention, and still engaged in the creation of a system of extensions. There were no special surprises in terms of choosing the technological base for extensions: as well as for all major additions to Opera (widgets, Unite applications), the “three whales” of the Internet were chosen: HTML, CSS and JavaScript. In turn, this suggests that now there are plenty of possibilities for constructing all sorts of combinations, including extensions, widgets, Unite applications and the browser itself. All this abundance of ideas and custom solutions is waiting for us, I hope, ahead, but for now you can familiarize yourself with the extensions already presented by our developers and enthusiasts from among Opera users ( Opera Extensions repository ).


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Currently more than 130 extensions are available and more are under review. The installation process is quite simple and consists in finding the appropriate option and clicking the “Install” button. The result may be different: some extensions are clearly declared and placed in the form of buttons in the browser interface, and some prefer not to advertise themselves and work in the background, manifesting themselves only at the moment when they are really necessary.



Of course, all this pleasure is still far from perfect, but is in a stage of constant change / improvement.

Visual mouse gestures
This function also hung in the top of the list of user requests for a very long time and finally appeared to the world in all its glory. Frankly, I waited cautiously, what is the result. But I was afraid, as it turned out, in vain: the option even in the beta version turned out to be quite workable and even looks pretty well-established, which happens rarely with new functions. Moreover, the visual indication of mouse gestures turned out to be equipped with “intelligence”, which allows, without additional settings, to change the operation of the function depending on how the user gains experience.



The principle of this. As soon as the user made a small movement with the mouse while holding the right button and slightly slowed down trying to remember how the mouse gesture is being performed now, a special hint appears that clearly shows all the actions available after the initial movement. Thus, the user will be able to gradually learn and memorize constantly used movements. In the future, with a slightly faster execution of a gesture, only a kind of notification will appear, what gesture was performed at the moment, and as soon as the user starts to perform gestures confidently enough, no prompts will be displayed at all. Conveniently? Of course. Who does not have this - envy. And, by the way, for experienced users it is possible to disable rendering in general - you can do this by changing the Show Gesture UI parameter in opera: config.

Address bar
No, the line itself is in place, only at a glance you can see that something is wrong with it. In the sense - not as usual. First, a rather massive indicator appeared, displaying, depending on the situation, either the location of an open resource (network or local disk), or information about the security of a page, if any (in the sense of security) is available. When you click on this indicator, we get access to more detailed security information, as well as access to certificates and the tool for reporting dangerous or suspicious web pages. In general - quite functional, compact, stylish. I like. It's funny, but just a couple of days before this function appeared in one of the weekly test assemblies, a request to add something similar to the browser appeared on the official Russian-language forum, and then - please. You just thought, and we already did.



Another noticeable change is the display of the URL. Firstly, he “shed” in some places, and secondly - he clearly hides something from us! He hides the site icon, he hides the protocol pointer (http, https, ftp), and he hides the “tails” of intricate links from us. This is done for the convenience of self-determination of the user in terms of where he is and what kind of website it is. Convenience, of course, controversial - say those users who are accustomed to perform various manipulations with addresses or just browse everything, including "tails". Such users have two ways - either use click in the address field (then the address will appear in all its glory), or disable the function of hiding part of the address by changing the Hide URL Parameter option, all in the same opera: config. By the way, changing the display of the URL is one of the few features that users haven’t asked for. But we ourselves guessed that it would be better, and did. Well, we hope so.



Mail bar
Everything is like in the song from “Connoisseurs” - “and at first glance it seems not to be visible.” In the sense - the work done. But in fact, the mail panel is one of the most actively developing internal subprojects of the company. It is enough to create at least one account or subscribe to receive the RSS feed, and all the hidden beauty will be in sight. Here and almost unhindered shuffling of the panel blocks by dragging, and individual settings for each block, and smooth animation, and even folders for RSS-feeds. In general - just use and rejoice. In fact, there is still a car and a small truck here, so we are looking forward to feedback, suggestions and comments on further improving this useful and, I’m not afraid of this word, function requested by users for a long time.



Tab grouping
I left this function for dessert. Firstly, it was secret until the last moment, and secondly, the grouping of tabs is still probably the most raw function. Although something can already be shown. It is even impossible, but necessary, because without a hint many people are unlikely to be able to independently detect this function in the browser. Laugh laugh, but I even knowing about its presence in the browser could not use it until I read the upcoming press release. In general, the instruction is very simple. We take the tab, drag it ostensibly to another place on the tab bar, but noticing how the tab under it has somehow dimmed - release the mouse button. Everything. We have created a tab group.



Feelings are ambivalent: on the one hand, there is clearly not enough information on how to use it, but on the other hand, the mechanism is so simple and banal that somehow you don’t even want to clutter it with some pop-up tips like “Group me!” contextual menus or warning posters of frightening content. In general, there is something to think about, but for now we will see how it works and what we can gain from it for our convenience.



For today, perhaps, everything. Of course, I didn’t mention many things (and how, we became even faster;)), the same search tips for Google or more hidden changes — a lot of things. I will leave open space for inquisitive researchers of changend logs and undocumented features of the browser. If we speak in general, based on my own subjective sensations - I personally still like what changes occur in the browser. I do not argue, there are mistakes and shortcomings - unfortunately, it will never be possible for anyone to get rid of them completely, but in terms of the concept of development and future changes (of which I, of course, have a slightly wider view than Habr's readers) , everything looks pretty good. And note that absolutely everything (with the exception, perhaps, of some changes in the address bar), which I told you today, was implemented at the request of users - at your request. It would be very nice to keep this practice in the future.

Opera 11 beta can still be downloaded at www.opera.com/browser/next

List of changes - www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/1100b