Opera as an interface

In fact, at first I wanted to write something completely different, but in the process of preparing the material, in my opinion, a more interesting thing emerged and I decided to focus on it. Namely - I wanted to talk about how you can use Opera as an interface. But first things first.

For a start, a little explanation. If someone has already thought of something there, then he was mistaken: I will not say that Opera browser can replace the interface of the operating system. Perhaps - in the future, but not today. We have not yet been able to completely abandon the stationary programs (or, at least, from the client halves of the web-dance services). But to a certain extent, the goal is already quite achievable - I hint at the actual work on the Internet. Many of us, due to certain circumstances, spend an order of time more on the network, devoting to work offline only the necessary minimum (such as a fleet day for garbage collection or updating system components). In other words - there are many users for whom the operating system goes into the background, skipping ahead His Majesty Browser.

But until recently, the illusion was incomplete - such things as panels, menus, and window decorations reminded about the system environment proper. True, there was a way to get rid of these "treacherous" elements at least temporarily, going into full-screen mode. But here two circumstances arose: firstly, not all browsers provided full-fledged tools for working with the browser in full-screen mode, which forced from time to time to switch to the standard view, and secondly, even though Opera browser had for a long time sufficient means for a similar style of work, something was missing in full-screen mode, there was a certain discomfort. And today, I think, I understood why.

I do not know how it was with you, but it was disheartening to me that with fully closed pages I had to, at best, see the home page, and at worst - just a white rectangle of the display. In the first case, a quiet hatred for the most "native" page in the network gradually arose, and in the second, a complex was developed - a sort of computer "agoraphobia" , the fear of empty display space. But it seems that all problems are in the past - Opera 10 allows you to get rid of both inconveniences. Let's start with a phobia.
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To solve this problem, it was necessary to simply fill the empty space with some content, which also had to carry some functionality. Well, please: we put a background image that is pleasing to the eye, and in the cells of the Express panel we fill in what we would like to have access in one click. Already beautiful. And now replace (where possible) the thumbnails of the pages with beautiful logos. What is the result? But in the end we see ... a desktop with applications icons placed on it.


Clickable

If the size of the display allows, then the “buttons” can be made more, thereby ensuring one-click access to the most necessary and frequently visited resources. All further controls are navigation, switching / closing / opening pages, opening / closing the sidebar, entering a new address, switching to a bookmark, etc. etc. - it is done already familiar to Opera in ways for every taste and color: keyboard controls, mouse gestures, right-click menu. And, by the way, by adding a few widgets to the free space of this “desktop”, you can further enhance the illusion of the absence (or presence?) Of the operating system.

Now - about the first problem, with the home page. In general, thanks to the development of services such as iGoogle, My Yandex and others, this is no longer a problem: it is enough to make one of these “designers” the default page. But who would doubt that in the opera blog I will keep silent about our homegrown Portal;) Yes, many have already noticed that in the freshly installed browser Opera 10, by default, the home page is also set to portal.opera.com . Of course, this service is still very, very far from perfect, but the idea, in general, is clear: this is a designer that allows you to put on the pages only what is really interesting, relevant, and just necessary for daily monitoring. Thus, in full-screen mode, you get this miracle-yudo:


Clickable

The conclusion suggests itself: yes, the modern browser has already come close to replacing the usual system window environment. And some people (let's not point with a finger) “walked” in this direction a little further than others. Here, in general, that's all. I can only add about “unaffected rabbits” - this post was fully prepared (i.e., screenshots were made, uploaded to the network, some reference information was viewed on the network, along the way - the mail was viewed and answered) and written when working in full screen.

PS How to make logos of services / websites instead of sketches was told repeatedly both in Habré and in other opera forums. I can advise a more developed and expanded method from the experienced and well-known "opomanian" Victor (old-timers should remember his once popular brainchild - Omi ).

PPS There is only one unresolved question: you can open new pages with Ctrl + T, but a field with an address bar appears at the top. How to get rid of this atavism - not found. I would appreciate a hint.