Opera 11.10 beta improves Speed Dial, user interface

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Opera has released a new beta version of its web browser with various enhancements to the user interface, features and performance. Codenamed Barracuda, Opera 11.10 has an improved Speed Dial implementation with clearer previews, and the ability to see live content from sites. The beta also allows you to have unlimited dials instead of the 5x5 matrix cap imposed on previous builds, there are new Speed Dial layouts, and the zoom function has been improved.

Barracuda sees the addition of Opera's Presto 2.8 rendering engine which brings compatibility for Google's WebP image format as well as CSS3 gradients for background and background-image properties. Among the less obvious changes, Opera says plug-ins are easier to install and use. As an example, the company noted that Adobe Flash Player installs "seamlessly and automatically." Opera also cites interface tweaks that make it easier to discover the browser's features.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/42875-opera-1110-beta-improves-speed-dial-user-interface.html

 

[Guest]

Opera and FireFox, the best.

 

[bonniesmith]

I'm using the new 11.10 and it's def. kicka** vs. IE

 

[doradhorror]

This new release of Opera is the fastest browser at the moment but still lacks as much functionality as Firefox. The tabbing could also get some improvement. On a daily basis, as a power user I usually have over 50 tabs open. Currently Firefox 4 is the only one that can handle my usage without causing a clutter with its wonderful tab grouping. Another thing I do not like is how they attempt to integrate external applications like bittorrent and greasemonkey into the browser incompletely. Opera is fast but the functionality is still bad in my opinion. It also needs a proper adblock that actually works. That will most likely come with maturity of its extensions. For now I will stick to Firefox 4 RC

 

[Guest]

Opera has extensions so Adblock is now available. In regards to tabs, I regularly have similar amounts and Firefox 3.6 chokes, and the Tab Stacking feature that was introduce a few versions ago is far better than Firefox's clunky option (in FF4).

Firefox also consumes far more memory in 3.6 compared to Opera with less tabs open! I've not touched FF 4 as it's been a bug ridden beta release so I dread to think how buggy the final release is going to be.

Opera isn't perfect, but it's one of the few that manages to squeeze as much functionality that's cross platform compatible into such a small package. At the end of the day you choose your own poison for me Opera allows me to use mouse gestures and bookmark short cuts (such as assigning tr to Techreport without haven't to type the full URL or go to bookmarks) which means less typing.

The final nail in Firefox's coffin is how insecure it has become in comparison to all other browsers, I think Safari is the only one that's got a worse record than FF out of current browsers.

 

[lawfer]

Guest said:
Opera has extensions so Adblock is now available. In regards to tabs, I regularly have similar amounts and Firefox 3.6 chokes, and the Tab Stacking feature that was introduce a few versions ago is far better than Firefox's clunky option (in FF4).

Firefox also consumes far more memory in 3.6 compared to Opera with less tabs open! I've not touched FF 4 as it's been a bug ridden beta release so I dread to think how buggy the final release is going to be.

Opera isn't perfect, but it's one of the few that manages to squeeze as much functionality that's cross platform compatible into such a small package. At the end of the day you choose your own poison for me Opera allows me to use mouse gestures and bookmark short cuts (such as assigning tr to Techreport without haven't to type the full URL or go to bookmarks) which means less typing.

The final nail in Firefox's coffin is how insecure it has become in comparison to all other browsers, I think Safari is the only one that's got a worse record than FF out of current browsers.

I can't even fathom how delusional this comment is. You call Opera's Tab Stacking useful, but Firefox's Panorama "clunky"? I'm really in a loss of words here. Opera's approach is horrible. Its a great concept, but terrible in practice. The amount of stacking, sliding, and overall confusion leads to unproductive tab management. Having 15+ tabs "stacked", is just unbelievably impractical. Tab grouping in Firefox is more practical, less intrusive, and much more organized.

Firefox under extensions load, has the best memory management out of all the browsers. That. Is. A. Fact. Really, where the hell are you getting your facts from?

"FF 4 as it's been a bug ridden beta release so I dread to think how buggy the final release is going to be."

Hahaha, riiiight, because BETAS are not supposed to be buggy, right? Hilarious! And how are betas any indicative of how the final product's quality will be? You know how many betas has Firefox gone through? 10+ betas plus one RC. If that doesn't tell you the team's dedication in polishing the browser for release, I don't know what else will...

"Opera allows me to use mouse gestures and bookmark short cuts (such as assigning tr to Techreport without haven't to type the full URL or go to bookmarks) which means less typing."

Firefox also has mouse gestures. Chrome also has mouse gestures. ANY browser that supports extensions has mouse gestures. Also, Firefox is the KING of bookmark management, period. Less typing... What in the... Have you even heard about Firefox's Awesome Bar?

Like, why am I even wasting my time...?

"The final nail in Firefox's coffin is how insecure it has become in comparison to all other browsers, I think Safari is the only one that's got a worse record than FF out of current browsers."

Such a baseless statement. Firefox has become more insecure? Really, where are you getting these facts? Because last time I checked, Firefox and Chrome were pretty much tied in security. Safari, and YOUR beloved Opera were still and will always be behind. There you go, another fact for you.

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

I'm actually waiting for the release of Opera 11.50 but since it's still in Alpha, I guess it will be a while before it is released in final form. My primary browsers are Opera 11.01 and Chrome 10 Beta. Both are fast and any security vulnerabilities are quickly patched. Absolutely no problems with either browser.

 

[Guest]

i simply can't understand all those guys who use firefox. I tested ff4. It's more sluggish even than ie.
Opera is the best browser, Chrome the second (very very close) and nobody got the bronze medal.

BTW: Haven't you seen the lag when u close or open a firefox tab (yeah man, on small notebooks there is lag)
And try a peacekeeper test

http://clients.futuremark.com/peacekeeper/index.action

at the first test at the 3rd rendering you will see the lag (on ff3.6 and ff4) (i got an nvidia geforce 330 gt)

 

[Guest]

great news,but when final? opera still needs better memory management, but is the best, and chrome second.

 

[rajwraith]

Like the new speed dial

 

[rajwraith]

lawfer said:

Guest said:
Opera has extensions so Adblock is now available. In regards to tabs, I regularly have similar amounts and Firefox 3.6 chokes, and the Tab Stacking feature that was introduce a few versions ago is far better than Firefox's clunky option (in FF4).

Firefox also consumes far more memory in 3.6 compared to Opera with less tabs open! I've not touched FF 4 as it's been a bug ridden beta release so I dread to think how buggy the final release is going to be.

Opera isn't perfect, but it's one of the few that manages to squeeze as much functionality that's cross platform compatible into such a small package. At the end of the day you choose your own poison for me Opera allows me to use mouse gestures and bookmark short cuts (such as assigning tr to Techreport without haven't to type the full URL or go to bookmarks) which means less typing.

The final nail in Firefox's coffin is how insecure it has become in comparison to all other browsers, I think Safari is the only one that's got a worse record than FF out of current browsers.

I can't even fathom how delusional this comment is. You call Opera's Tab Stacking useful, but Firefox's Panorama "clunky"? I'm really in a loss of words here. Opera's approach is horrible. Its a great concept, but terrible in practice. The amount of stacking, sliding, and overall confusion leads to unproductive tab management. Having 15+ tabs "stacked", is just unbelievably impractical. Tab grouping in Firefox is more practical, less intrusive, and much more organized.

Firefox under extensions load, has the best memory management out of all the browsers. That. Is. A. Fact. Really, where the hell are you getting your facts from?

"FF 4 as it's been a bug ridden beta release so I dread to think how buggy the final release is going to be."

Hahaha, riiiight, because BETAS are not supposed to be buggy, right? Hilarious! And how are betas any indicative of how the final product's quality will be? You know how many betas has Firefox gone through? 10+ betas plus one RC. If that doesn't tell you the team's dedication in polishing the browser for release, I don't know what else will...

"Opera allows me to use mouse gestures and bookmark short cuts (such as assigning tr to Techreport without haven't to type the full URL or go to bookmarks) which means less typing."

Firefox also has mouse gestures. Chrome also has mouse gestures. ANY browser that supports extensions has mouse gestures. Also, Firefox is the KING of bookmark management, period. Less typing... What in the... Have you even heard about Firefox's Awesome Bar?

Like, why am I even wasting my time...?

"The final nail in Firefox's coffin is how insecure it has become in comparison to all other browsers, I think Safari is the only one that's got a worse record than FF out of current browsers."

Such a baseless statement. Firefox has become more insecure? Really, where are you getting these facts? Because last time I checked, Firefox and Chrome were pretty much tied in security. Safari, and YOUR beloved Opera were still and will always be behind. There you go, another fact for you.

Nice way to pwn XD

 

[Guest]

No browser has been able to defeat Opera.

Opera is just fast, simple to use, and the worst enemy of pop-up ads.

Chrome is a nice light-weight browser but still needs more work.
Firefox often crashes and flash videos play slow when you have a few tabs open.
I.E. 9 is a great browser, but it's still very slow compared to firefox.

When browsing javascript-heavy websites, it's best not to bother with I.E., FF, or G Chrome.

The only downside of Opera, atm, is the lack of support from Google and Yahoo.

 

[SNGX1275]

Opera 11.10 has an improved Speed Dial implementation with clearer previews, and the ability to see live content from sites.

Can you disable that? In Opera 10-11 you can tell it to never reload or set the reload frequency. Reload never is important for forums so your last visit isn't the last time you opened Speed Dial.

It also needs a proper adblock that actually works. That will most likely come with maturity of its extensions.

You are right it likely will improve with extensions. But in the meantime, go get yourself a new urlfilter.ini and CSS filter.

 

[Guest]

When browsing javascript-heavy websites, it's best not to bother with I.E., FF, or G Chrome.

Actually G Chrome does pretty well on Javascript heavy sites, but anything else other then that or Opera you might as well go put on a pot of coffee, as you will need to stay up long enough for the page to finish loading.

I simply can't understand all those guys who use firefox. I tested ff4. It's more sluggish even than ie. Opera is the best browser, Chrome the second (very very close) and nobody got the bronze medal.

I completely agree!

 

[Guest]

Having 15+ tabs "stacked", is just unbelievably impractical. Tab grouping in Firefox is more practical, less intrusive, and much more organized

Hmm let's see:

http://arstechnica.com/software/news/2010/11/hands-on-opera-11-tab-stacking-vs-firefox-panorama.ars.

Firefox under extensions load, has the best memory management out of all the browsers. That. Is. A. Fact. Really, where the hell are you getting your facts from?

15 tabs Opera: 412Mb
15 tabs Firefox 3.6 627Mb (no extensions) on Win XP SP3, and 693Mb on Win 7 x64 SP1 (no extensions).

Load time for those times (from cold) opera 3seconds, Firefox 26 seconds. Opera is and always has designed for the slowest machines from mobile devices to ultra fast desktops. The same engine is used in all it's products (except mini which is Java).

Hahaha, riiiight, because BETAS are not supposed to be buggy, right? Hilarious! And how are betas any indicative of how the final product's quality will be? You know how many betas has Firefox gone through? 10+ betas plus one RC. If that doesn't tell you the team's dedication in polishing the browser for release, I don't know what else will...

It tells me they was trying to push through the development too fast. 12 Betas? Come on...

"Opera allows me to use mouse gestures and bookmark short cuts (such as assigning tr to Techreport without haven't to type the full URL or go to bookmarks) which means less typing."

Firefox also has mouse gestures. Chrome also has mouse gestures. ANY browser that supports extensions has mouse gestures. Also, Firefox is the KING of bookmark management, period. Less typing... What in the... Have you even heard about Firefox's Awesome Bar?

Yes, but Opera has had it for how long? Also extensions have a nasty habit of breaking from version to version (just look at how many are broken for FF 4. This forces the user to use a new extension that's supported (and learn possible new gestures) or wait for it to be updated.

Such a baseless statement. Firefox has become more insecure? Really, where are you getting these facts? Because last time I checked, Firefox and Chrome were pretty much tied in security. Safari, and YOUR beloved Opera were still and will always be behind. There you go, another fact for you.

OK here's Firefox 3.6 for 2010:

http://secunia.com/advisories/product/28698/?task=statistics_2010

Now let's try Opera 10:

http://secunia.com/advisories/product/26745/?task=statistics_2010

Really says it all doesn't it 9 vs 11 and many of them far more severe... For giggles:

http://secunia.com/advisories/product/21625/?task=statistics_2010

IE 8 got 11.

Oh and Opera speed:

http://dagobah.net/kuvat/v/Kuvia+yleisesti/Peacekeeper+Opera+10_50_+Chrome+3_+4_+Safari+4_+Firefox+3_6_+and+IE+8.png.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Where's Firefox? Ah yes almost trailing the pack and remember Opera is on 11 and has overhauled the engine several times now...

 

[Guest]

I like opera - but opera still has problem with IDM integration. When you access the website has many multimedia, Opera will be lag because of IDM integration - It hasn't had with Firefox ,IE9 or google chrome.

 

[Guest]

Don't you just love fan-boy fights? I do.

I think Opera, on its day, beats any other browser. Unfortunately it has too many off-days for me so I'm patiently waiting for a final release which everyone else says is stable enough for me to upgrade to,

I'm quite happy with the 20 or so speed dials I currently have, and tab stacking is kind of ok for me - I never really use it apart from clagging a few pinned tabs together for later reading, but I like the way it works and its easy to manage and see what pages are in the stack just by hovering on the tab. I can't think why I would ever want to open up some page and spin them around and re-arrange them and so on - I've got better things to do with my time than organise stuff like that.

So, for me, I'm not too eager to try this new version - unless they fixed the damn mouse gestures they screwed up in version 11 - I know, I know - they saaayy they have, but the so-called "fixed" version is terrible compared to what it was in v10.x.

As for FF - I don't mind it, but I usually use Chrome if I need to open a second browser. The only thing I don't like about chrome is that it's not as versatile as Opera (and probably FF) when it comes to opening new tabs - they always seem to open in the background for me (or is it the foreground?) - one or the other anyway but there's no easy way I can see to make that choice. In Opera you can click a link to open it in the same tab, shift+click to open it in a new tab, or CTRL+shift+click to open it in a background tab. That, to me, is just like riding a bike. The other thing about Chrome is that you can't put your tabs at the bottom - it's easy to do in Opera, doable (but a bit more fiddly to do) in FF, but impossible AFAIK in Chrome. If you haven't tried putting your tabs at the bottom then you haven't lived, IMHO.

Final wish for future versions of Opera is that the devs pay some much needed attention to the email client. While it's great to have it built into the program (and I've used it for years) it's not without its own bugs (e.g. attachments going missing) and some features have long been promised but have not been forthcoming (images in HTML signatures).

I long for the day when Opera will pause for breath, stop tinkering and developing new stuff, and consolidate when they hit gold with a particular release - that happens only once or twice between major releases: a lot of the time you kind of wished you'd stuck with what you were already using.

 

[Guest]

This new release of Opera is the fastest browser at the moment but still lacks as much functionality as Firefox. The tabbing could also get some improvement. On a daily basis, as a power user I usually have over 50 tabs open. Currently Firefox 4 is the only one that can handle my usage without causing a clutter with its wonderful tab grouping. Another thing I do not like is how they attempt to integrate external applications like bittorrent and greasemonkey into the browser incompletely. Opera is fast but the functionality is still bad in my opinion. It also needs a proper adblock that actually works. That will most likely come with maturity of its extensions. For now I will stick to Firefox 4 RC

Actually, Opera has full support for tab grouping. Just drag a tab onto another and it will do what you asked. It almost fully integrates all of the external applications, and makes using downloads and web pages far simpler than in comparison to other major browsers.