Opera 10 Features, Release Date

By Vygantas Lipskas | October 25, 2008 | 44 Comments

Here you go, a list of some Opera 10 features and known facts.

Opera 10 alpha will be ready till the end of this year.
Opera 10 will include auto update.
Opera 10 will have an inline spell check.

And besides that, well known changes:

New interface: redesigned skin.
New rendering engine: more performance, less compatibility issues, stability.
More applications that runs outside web browser.
Increased security.

[digg-reddit-me]


About (Author Profile)


Vygantas Lipskas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • HaRT

    Opera doesn’t have compatibility issues. “Web-designers” that build “sites” in MS Word have issues ;)

    As for stability: Opera is the least crashing program in my PC (it competes with Total Commander on that matter).

  • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

    HaRT,

    Yes, what I mean’t is like web browser should “recognize” what web developer tried to do there and display it correctly. Or something like that ;-)

    Regarding stability, not sure if this is Opera or Flash 10 issue but when I’m using it, it sometimes crash up to few times per day.

  • Bill

    Am I the only one disappointed at the lack of development focus in the email/feed/nttp functionality (M2) in Opera ?

    At what point do they stop releasing new rendering engines, if they can’t get it right by now then why not just use KDE’s webkit like Apple’s Safari?

  • http://www.bluecirclet.com/ ameo

    Bill,
    No.. you’re not the only one, i really wish that opera get some focus on M2 it suxs that you can’t send HTML messages. and for feeds i’d like to see some few more issues there

  • werwolf

    New interface: redesigned skin.

    :’(

    Not again please! I don’t thing the majority of users wants, that the look of their favorite software changes every half year.

    :’(

    spellcheck – I don’t need it
    automated update – I don’ need it

  • http://b39.cal.pl Skracanie linków

    @Vygantas and you know all that news from…?

  • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

    werwolf,

    I think it will be more “tweaked” not a “compelte redesign” (but who knows…).

    Expect maybe for Mac.

  • http://www.bluecirclet.com/ ameo

    vote for Skracanie linków’s comment.

  • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

    Skracanie linków,

    Which point exactly?

  • Mol10

    I’m really holding my breath for Opera 10.

    Opera 9.5 / 9.6 is already very stable for me, I don’t remember any crashes since they got released. (I use Flash, of course.) And Opera 9.6 is more compatible and smoother with sites than any previous release I used.

    Still, auto update (also for Opera-hosted custom skins) and inline spell checker are among the most needed features for me too.

    I would also need an editor of “saved sessions”, or making them integrated into the bookmarking system.

    Also, a profile manager and a “privacy mode” would be nice.

    I miss the ability to reorder the searches in the settings dialog, and the bookmarks on the pull-down menu (like you can in Internet Explorer).

    Apart from these, I would only need a few minor GUI tweaks, like the ability to reorder bookmarks in the possibility to bookmark multiple windows at the same time (like from the windows/tabs side panel), and an option for the tab bar to let it be scrolled so tabs would not have to be so extremely small when one opens a hundred of tabs.

  • http://b39.cal.pl Skracanie linków

    @Vygantas all that news from this post of course

  • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

    Skracanie,

    Release date: zdnet

    Next two: http://www.favbrowser.com/opera-10-to-have-inline-spell-check/

    New interface: they’ve hired a new designer for that for the purpose of that + was told on their blog ~1y ago I think, same with other last points

  • Mol10

    Correction of my previous post (I made a copy/paste /del mistake):

    Apart from these, I would only need a few minor GUI tweaks, such as *the possibility to bookmark multiple windows* at the same time (like from the windows/tabs side panel), and an option for the tab bar to let it be scrolled so tabs would not have to be so extremely small when one opens a hundred of tabs.

  • cousin333

    As far as I remember, they said, that Opera Mail is quite old and needs some refreshment. And Kestrel will introduce backend changes (and so it happened…), and Peregrine (Opera 10) will have bigger interface changes. I guess having HTML mail won’t be a big issue considering the fact, that it’s a program for displaying HTML pages, and reading HTML messages is possible for a while. So I guess there will be some new HTML-like features like bold, italic characters, or chaniging font size. But it won’t have many options I guess, just like the built-in Bittorrent client…

    Who knows, whether Opera 10 will have Presto x.x for rendering engine or something brand new? Opera 4 had Elektra, Opera 7 had presto, and Opera 10…
    I hope it will pass Acid3 anyway…

  • hello

    “Am I the only one disappointed at the lack of development focus in the email/feed/nttp functionality (M2) in Opera ?”

    Yeah, never mind the fact that the entire back-end was rewritten for 9.5, and most of the additions in 9.6 were mail releated.

    “At what point do they stop releasing new rendering engines,”

    Yeah, what’s up with that? Never mind the fact that the web is ever-changing. All the other browser vendors never stop releasing new rendering engines either. But it’s only when Opera does it that it becomes a problem. Funny that.

    “if they can’t get it right by now then why not just use KDE’s webkit like Apple’s Safari?”

    Yeah, I bet Opera would love to be a slave to Apple’s release cycles. That, or they would have to fork WebKit, and basically end up in the same situation they are now.

    And never mind the fact that WebKit never stops coming out in new versions (nor does Gecko or Trident). Apparently, no one can get it right, since no browser vendor has stopped working on their rendering engine.

    But it’s only Opera we need to comment on because, you know, it’s Opera, so we need to troll about it.

    Funny that.

  • hello

    Oh, and never mind the fact that WebKit has more compatibility problems than Opera.

    Yeah, never mind the facts. Look, a shiny object!

  • http://morghus.com Morghus

    I hope they spend some more time on the Speed Dial, or the Speed Dial page itself. So many possibilities they can exploit there; customized thumbs (I’d love to dedicate a large part of the page to display Google Reader (or any RSS-reader/feed)), or just integrate it Google Reader :P (that’d be awesome).

    The “live search” they have in Chrome would be nice too. Omnibar something or such it’s called? My favourite feature in Chrome. Or the only one I notice. Heh.

    No revolution is necessary, but eyecandy like the Cooliris program for Firefox would be nifty. It’s extremely practical when you want to buzz through tons of google images and muck about in Flickr.

  • cousin333

    Morghus: What kind of “Live Search” do you think of? I don’t see any usable feature in Chrome, that can’t be done in Opera…

  • Emil Ivanov

    Auto Update is very nice, but I expect some CSS improvements from this browser. Fixing bugs for IE is possible while for Opera is not so.

  • http://my.opera.com/IceArdor IceArdor

    Asa Dotzler is going to be so happy that Opera will have an auto-update feature. Now he can shut his hole.

    I recently updated from 3.0.0.2 to 3.0.0.3, and the download was just under TEN MEGABYTES. It sounds like he ought to be complaining to his own team about their auto-update feature. I thought the idea behind auto-update was that only the changes had to be pushed out, not a completely new browser. I guess I was mistaken.

    I don’t really see the point in an auto-update feature if it forces an update on the user. Right now, what Opera is doing by letting the user know a new version is out is a pretty good solution. Nonetheless, thanks for the hard work, devs. I heart Opera.

  • http://my.opera.com/IceArdor IceArdor

    Any promises on when Acid3 will be passed? Is that going to be 10.5 or later?

  • homade

    i have an issue with opera not letting me play some games namely MSN games and not being able to do much in the way with any micrsoft web items like it won’t run windows update or validation right at all but i do like the quick links i just wish there was an option to add more than 9 of them

  • Mancho

    @homade
    M$N games and windoze updates check for IE browser plus run activex, which won’t run on anything but IE

  • Jyakotu

    I can’t wait for Opera 10! It’s ironic that the guy that told me about the browser is now a Firefox user. *sigh*

  • Pingback: Detalii despre Opera 10 « Interfete Web

  • adrian

    Opera has some issues in viewing sites correctly. also, Yahoo! still doesn’t seem to support Opera browser. other than those, Opera’s features are really good. i just hope this Opera 10 won’t be messing aroundlike IE does, and will do good just like Firefox does.

  • AgentCROCODILE

    I have Opera 10 Alpha now and it is the most stable one ever built so far under Windows XP. Now I just gotta see if it works under Windows NT Workstation 4.0 correctly (Hopefully the images are not displayed upside down)

    Also, they should at least pay some attention to the Windows Native skin! There are some of us who do not like the Standard skin because it is hard to see the buttons and it takes up a lot of resources!

    There are a lot of bugs regarding the Windows Standard skin!

  • AgentCROCODILE

    Also, at least I don’t have to wait for 2-3 years before I get a decent update, unlike Microfost Internet Exploder.

  • marinus

    There’s at least one giant gap Opera is in a toxic state of denial about: the inadequacy of their widget system. They’re losing market share to Mozilla because of it. Opera needs to reverse engineer Firefox compatibility [if possible, or even legal] or at the least make widget design an easy extra step for extension writers. Something, anything!
    Till then, being faster, stabler and securer won’t help, enough.
    I was an Opera devotee, but Downthemall!, Ad Block Plus, Web of Trust, AutoUpdater, Thumbnail Expander, Showcase, and Clipta toolbar [etc!] keep me away from Opera.
    I’d prefer to return, but till Opera Inc. gets with the program, I’m stuck with the klunky, slow and unstable browser from Mozilla. Sigh.

  • HaRT

    Having external executables working inside the browser doesn’t qualify as secure.

  • Ken

    I work for Opera, and I am not speaking as a representative of Opera, but I think many of you will be very happy with the coming features and additions with Opera 10. We are listening to your comments and implementing things you are asking for.

  • Keldian.-

    Really? ‘Cuase I would really love to have an option to export the “Notes” one keeps in Opera!! :D

  • DarKKid13

    BEST Browser after Chrome on stability

  • Mike

    @Previous posters
    When will they get rendering engines right? When there are no more web developments and no more computer developments etc. As long as the renderer can be improved for speed etc they will. Go educate yourself and stop talking smack.
    They should just use Webkit – Laughable as webkit keep updating their rendering engine.
    Webkit are not a slave to apple releases, apple are a slave to web kit releases.
    Chrome is unstable and slow by comparison to Opera and even Fx – which surprised me.

  • sung

    @Mike

    Chrome can be slow when it’s been open for a whole day or so. At least it’s been my experience. But unstable? I never had chrome crash since the initial release. Firefox on the other hand, ugh, it may be because of all the extensions but FF is really crash prone.

    I kind of agree with you on webkit, but then it’s always good to have a healthy competition. At least both webkit engine and Opera’s engine tries to be web standard compliant, unlike some other web browser I can think of (eyes IE).

  • http://my.opera.com/IceArdor IceArdor

    I’ve crashed Chrome. And the idea that each tab gets its own process so if one page crashes, you won’t crash the rest of your pages–that’s total hogwash. In Gmail, I enabled spell checking. Naturally, I right-clicked the underlined word. It consistently crashed all of Chrome. Looks like they have a bit of debugging to do.

  • nibb

    I can say honestly that Opera is by far the best browser. Firefox is slow like hell and it crashes allot, on several computers. It runs slow after hours of browsing and it crashes on heavy pages.

    But I saw crash on all browsers. All!!!

    Recently I was using Chrome. I can say that im very impressed with Chrome. Its blazing fast, its the fastest on opening the browser and the faster when loading pages. I also did not had the problem that Opera and firefox. Firefox doesnt update page changes to well. This sucks for webdesigners since even after reloading the page it doesnt. So i use Opera, but Opera you have to turn the options to check images and content on each load and that means its not as fast anymore. Chrome is blazing fast and even so displays changes, even 1 letter changes. I also use a heavy software that runs via web on a Windows Server. Its probably the most Javascript/Ajax loaded app there exists and Chrome runs it like a charm. Its loads the stuff in no time. But here comes the Chrome error.

    Chrome crashes the PC allot. Windows Vista 64 bit. I got a blue screen of death when using chrome, like 10 times a day. I Google it and its Chrome causing it. I uninstalled Chrome completely and over 2 months no blue screens of death anymore.

    As for plugins. Firefox has allot of plugins, just if you get one to work. They make the browser slow and insecure. And 80% of plugins dont get updated and dont work. I dont know why people complained about Opera Plugins which are Widget. They are perfect if you ask me. I found every plugin I need, whois, currency, weather, translator, etc and they all work. Also I think to be able to run the Plugin outisde the browser ROCKS on Opera. And this cannot be done with other browsers. I can have the Google Translator Plugin over Microsoft Word and use it as i type. To be able to use plugins on the desktop is incredible in Opera. And also, Opera plugins work. I dont use the extra features like notes, email, but they are nice to have. If they make the browser slower I would prefer to have it away since i dont use it. I did had major problems with their Favorites sync, it duplicated and erased my favorites, that part is a mess. Opera is by far the most stable and featured. Chrome is the fastest and I like it. Firefox is the more customizable but also insecure and slow with Plugins. If Opera could have the speed and performance that Chrome has it would kill all other browsers, since it has everything, features, stable, speed, but chrome and safari as faster. So if I would have to ask something in Opera 10 would be peformance. Be able to start the browser in 1 second and also speed on ajax/dynamic pages.
    I have to add what I do hate about Opera. No inline spell checker. I just hate it, I switch browser to use forums and when i have to write. I also hate tha opera doesnt support some websites, like the ones that have a Wysywig editor on it.

    • http://opera.com/ Daniel Hendrycks

      Opera will have a spell-checker in v10 it has it already but it is in a pre-release state.

  • effzee

    @Bill

    Yes, M2 defo needs some work. It’s the unsung “killer-module” of Opera imo. It’s particularly effective for people who like to keep large mail repositories, with fast searching, cross-referencing and organising capabilities. My top 10 to make Opera’s mail client kick ass:

    1. (My pet request) Ability to edit messages within the system, change subject-lines, and remove attachments from emails
    2. Ability to forward, redirect and reply HTML emails, without losing the HTML portion
    3. Some basic HTML composition to keep the colourful mail users happy (doesn’t bother me!)
    4. Increased flexibility for search (date ranges, subject only, within filters, and by other email metadata)
    5. Filters within filters should offer the same functions as (4) and should work properly
    6. Improved Export/Import functions that are bulletproof and work well.
    7. A mail backup feature that turns the complete mailbox, filters, labels etc. into some contiainer file (tar/zip?) for backup and connection to another Opera installation.
    8. More flexible labels. Add/configure your own. With (4) above including boolean search options for labels.
    9. Lots of bugfixing!! Most of them are small irritations, but I’d like to see Opera setting a standard, and there’s a real opportunity to get a killer mail client out there.
    10. Doubt this will happen, but open the specification of the mail storage area of Opera. I can then start writing some tools for manipulating the Opera mail stores, adding missing & recovery functions for example.

    Perhaps a tool to recover broken mail stores that offers some of the above as well might be useful

    • http://opera.com/ Daniel Hendrycks

      Take your wishes to the Opera Forums.

      • effzee

        If you look back over the last 7 years you will see I have done this many, many times.

  • Pingback: Detalii despre Opera 10 | Interfeţe Web

  • Just Want To Speak My Mind

    To the person whom said “why not use KDE’s webkit like Apple’s Safari”, please look at what Webkit is… the last time these two were the same was back in 2002 when it was forked into Webkit, they are different now, KDE’s rendering engine is KHTML.

    I’d like to see opera get their browser to use Javascript like most other browsers. Granted, it’s not remotely as bad as stupid Microsoft’s ridiculously terrible JScript, but there’s a few issues compared to JavaScriptCore (Webkit – Safari/Chrome) and SpiderMonkey (Gecko – Firefox)

    This all however fails into insignificance however when you realise Opera’s market share on main browsers, <1.5% after the time they’ve been on it = not much point, they should concentrate on Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, and other niche markets which I’ll freely admit they’re market leaders at.

  • Conor

    Opera 10 RC (Release candidate) out now. Very fast :D

«
»