Opera (web browser)

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Opera is an Internet suite which handles common internet-related tasks, including visiting web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, and online chat.

Opera is developed by Opera Software, based in Oslo, Norway. It runs on a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD and Linux systems. It is also used in mobile phones, smartphones, Personal Digital Assistants, game consoles and interactive televisions. Technology from Opera is also licensed by other companies for use in such products as Adobe Creative Suite.

Desktop versions of Opera are available free of charge.

Contents

History

Opera version 3.62 displaying Opera's website

Opera began in 1994 as a research project at Telenor, the largest Norwegian telecommunications company. In 1995 it branched out into an independent company named Opera Software ASA.[About Opera], URL accessed on 21 April, 2006

The Opera browser was, until version 2.0, called MultiTorg Opera and was not available to the public — although online documents show it at The Third International WWW Conference in 1995.[MultiTorg Opera], retrieved on November 5, 2005 It was known for its multiple document interface (MDI) and 'hotlist' (sidebar), which made browsing several pages at once much easier, as well as being the first browser to completely focus on adhering to the W3C standards.

1996: The first public release was Opera 2.0 for Windows, released as shareware [Opera web browser], retrieved on May 8, 2006
10 October 1997: Due to popular demand, Opera Software shows interest in programming its browser for alternate operating systems such as Apple Macintosh, QNX and BeOS. They launch "Project Magic", an effort to determine who would be willing to purchase a copy of their browser in their native OS, and to properly distribute funds to develop or outsource for such operating systems. [Opera Software's amazing 'Project Magic'] from the Internet Archive On November 30, they closed voting for which operating system to develop with. Project Magic then became a news column for updates for alternate operating systems until version 4. ['Project Magic' -- 10 February 1998 and beyond] From the Internet Archive
31 December 1997: Opera 3 was released for multiple operating systems.
1998: Opera 3.5 was released, providing the first implementation of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) support in the Opera browser.
28 June 2000: Opera 4 for Windows was released, introducing a new cross-platform core, and a new integrated e-mail client.
6 December, 2000: Opera 5 was the first version which was ad-sponsored instead of having a trial period.
29 November 2001: Opera 6 released with new features including unicode support, and offering a single document interface as well as the multiple document interface allowed by previous versions.
January 2003: Opera 7 was released and introduced a new layout engine "Presto", with improved CSS, client-side scripting, and Document Object Model (DOM) support.
August 2004: Opera 7.6 began limited alpha testing. It had more advanced standards support, and introduced voice support for Opera, as well as support for Voice XML. Opera also announced a new browser for Interactive Television, which included a fit to width option Opera 8 introduced. Fit to Width is a technology that initially utilized the power of CSS, but it is now internal Opera technology. Pages are dynamically resized by making images and/or text smaller, and even removing images with specific dimensions to make it fit on any screen width, improving the experience on smaller screens dramatically. Opera 7.6 was never officially released as a final version.
12 January 2005: Opera Software announced that it would offer free licenses to higher education institutions[Students surf safely with Opera: Opera site license free for educational institutions], January 12, 2005, retrieved on October 25, 2005 — a change from the previous cost of $1,000 USD for unlimited licenses. Schools that opted for the free license included Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, University of Oxford, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Duke University. Opera was commonly criticized for having been ad-sponsored, since this was seen as a barrier to gaining market share. In the newer versions the user was allowed a choice of generic graphical banners, or text-based targeted advertisements provided by Google based upon the page being viewed. Users could pay a licence fee to remove the advertisement bar.
19 April 2005: version 8.0 was released. Besides supporting SVG Tiny, multimodal features and User JavaScript[User Javascript], retrieved on October 25, 2005, the default user interface has been cleaned up and simplified. The default home page is an improved search portal[Opera search portal], retrieved on October 25, 2005. The changes displeased a number of existing users since some advanced settings became hidden[Get back old preferences dialog], retrieved on October 25, 2005.
20 September 2005. With the release of Opera 8.50, Opera announced that their browser would be available free of charge and without advertisements from then onwards, although the company still sells support contracts.[Feel Free: Opera Eliminates Ad Banner and Licensing Fee], retrieved on October 25, 2005 Enhancements included: automatic client-side fixing of web sites that did not render correctly, and a number of security fixes.
On February 7, 2006, Opera Labs was founded to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the latest technology and products, and where any preview/beta versions will be posted.[Opera Labs]
February 16, 2006, Opera announced with Nintendo that it will be developing and publishing an internet browser for the DS. [link]
10 May, 2006, Opera announced that they are partnering with Nintendo to develop a version of their browser that will be available for Nintendo's new console, the "Wii". [link]
20 June, 2006, Opera version 9.0 is released.[Your Web, Your Choice: Opera 9 Gives You the Control], URL accessed on 20 June, 2006

Features

In addition to the web browser, the other main component in the desktop versions of the Opera suite is the Opera Mail client, previously known as M2. Opera Mail supports regular POP and SMTP mail as well as IMAP. It also has an Address book. Opera Mail also features a newsreader and a newsfeed reader for RSS and Atom, as well as an IRC client for online chat.

New features in Opera 9

There are several new features in Opera 9. The most important ones are:

Simple BitTorrent client, targeted towards novice users.
Content blocker (also known as AdBlock).
Thumbnail preview of tabs (when hovering mouse over them).
Widgets.
Site specific preferences (pop-up blocking, cookies, scripts, user style sheets, user-agent masking)
The ability to create search engines from a textfield.
Improved rich text editing (WYSIWYG editor)

Technologies implemented/improved

XSLT, XPath
SVG/1.1 Basic
TLS/1.1

Accessibility

Opera was designed to run on low-end and small computers, and with a commitment to computer accessibility for users who may have visual or mobility impairments.

It is possible to control nearly every aspect of the browser using only the keyboard, and the default keyboard shortcuts can be modified to suit the user. Opera also supports the use of access keys. Opera was also one of the first browsers to support mouse gestures,[Building a better computer mouse], Evan Hansen, October , 2002, retrieved on October 30, 2005 allowing patterns of mouse movement to trigger browser actions, such as "back" or "refresh".
Page zooming allows text, images and other content such as Macromedia Flash, Java and Scalable Vector Graphics to be increased or decreased in size to help those with impaired vision. User stylesheets may also be used to do this and to enable high contrast coloured fonts.
Voice control, co-developed with IBM, allows control of the browser without the use of a keyboard or mouse. It can also read aloud pages and marked text. IBM has a browser based on Opera[IBM article] on multimodal technology, retrieved on October 25, 2005.
A "Fit to Window" feature that relies on technology similar to Opera Mini's Small Screen Rendering (SSR), allowing websites to fit within a smaller screen without the need for horizontal scrolling.

Sessions

Opera allows the user to save a collection of open pages as a session. This set of pages can then be opened later in a new Opera window, or inserted into the current one. Opera can also be set up to start with the pages that were open when the browser was last closed. A saved session includes the independent history of each page and the settings each page had, such as scrolling position, images on/off, etc.

Each session is saved in a file that can be transferred to another computer via mail or otherwise.

MDI and Tabs

The Opera browser (version 9.0 Preview 1) with a customized interface and MDI.

Opera supports tabbed browsing and has a true multiple document interface. This means multiple Web pages can be opened within the same application window and resized, moved, tiled and cascaded like normal application windows in the operating system.

In subsequent years the default settings have changed from MDI to the simpler concept of tabs. Since version 6.0, Opera offers users the choice of three modes: Tabs, MDI, and SDI (No tabs).

Pop-up blocking

Opera lets the user control whether Web sites can open pop up windows. By default Opera blocks all unrequested popups, but can work in a variety of different ways, such as opening a pop-up as a background window, or only blocking pop-ups when they do not result from a user action like clicking on a link. Windows that have been blocked may be later opened at the user's discretion.

Download manager

Opera allows the user to list, pause, resume or restart the downloading of files. It also keeps history of recently downloaded files and allows opening them from within the browser. Since Opera 9 BitTorrent downloads can be handled just like regular HTTP/FTP downloads.

Opera can also be used with external download managers.

Search facilities

Opera provides quick access to a variety of search engines and commerce sites, such as Google, Amazon.com, Ebay. Users can define their own search engines. It also allows a user to translate a paragraph or look for meaning of a word directly by a right mouse click.

With the latest version of Opera, a user can have access to any Search Engine without opening the corresponding page. Right Click in a Search Field and then use the CREATE SEARCH option. The Search Engine will be listed in Opera in future.

User defined themes

An example of a third party theme and user-modified toolbars

Opera supports customized user interfaces themes, allowing users to change the location and style of toolbars, buttons and menus. A drag and drop functionality allows the user to easily place links and buttons on toolbars. Many user-created themes, ranging from color changes to OS adaptations can be downloaded and installed with a few clicks thanks to the built-in automatic installer.

Extensions

Since version 8, Opera supports User JavaScript extensions. Those scripts execute when pages are loaded and are used to enhance site functionality. [UserJS.org] is the unofficial central repository for User JavaScripts.

Standards

Since version 3.5, Opera has supported CSS, and one of the inventors of CSS is the CTO at Opera.[CSS: If not now, when?], Eric Meyer, June 1999, retrieved on October 25, 2005 Up to 6.0 Opera supported most common web standards, Netscape plugins and some other recent standards such as WAP and WML for wireless devices, but its implementation of advanced ECMAScript (better known as "JavaScript") and the HTML Document Object Model was poor.

Version 7.0 introduced the faster and more powerful Presto layout engine. Opera introduced a completely new browser, which supports the standards of the older Elektra layout engine and has almost full support for the HTML DOM.

Version 8.0 introduced support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Tiny. This marked the first major web browser to natively support some form of SVG.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} Opera has a presentation mode called Opera Show, which allows the use of a single HTML or XML document for large-screen presentations, and web browsing.

Version 9.0 is the first Windows browser that passes the Acid2 test, proving robustness of its CSS and HTML implementation. This version adds XSLT and improves SVG to 1.1 Basic level.

Mobile devices

Opera 8.5 beta on Windows Mobile 2003

Opera can dynamically reformat any webpage for narrow tall viewports, such as smartphones and PDA displays. This can also be used with Panels. The technology in itself is proprietary, but authors can affect how webpages look in SSR by using Cascading Style Sheets for the media "handheld". Mobile Versions of Opera which utilize this technology are available on a number of smartphones and PDAs, including those produced by Nokia, BenQ, Sony Ericsson, Sharp Corporation, Sendo, Kyocera, Motorola, and Psion.

Opera Mini is a free compact browser for mobile phones and other devices that have Java ME installed. It uses Opera's servers to render and compress pages before sending the binary data to a small display program run by the phone. The method makes many pages mobile-compatible.

On January 1 2006 Opera announced that Google will be its default partner for its mobile browser. [Reuters: Opera Software chooses Google as search partner], URL accessed on 15 April, 2006

On February 15 2006, Opera announced that they had developed a web browser for the Nintendo DS. [Giving gamers two windows to the Web: The Opera Browser for Nintendo DS], URL accessed 15 April, 2006 It will take advantage of the system's dual screens for either zooming in on certain sections of a website or having a longer vertical view. Opera for the DS will have upgradeable firmware, which will enable software updates. The browser will go on sale in Japan on July 24 2006, for 3,800 yen. (32.15 USD). So far no U.S. or European release date has been mentioned.

Compatibility

Common compatibility problems are caused by websites not following standards, or using outdated methods for detecting the browser being used. Websites are sometimes tested only with Internet Explorer, and fail to work correctly with other browsers.

To cope with outdated detection methods or poorly built websites, Opera enables users to change the information that is sent to websites to identify what kind of browser is being used -- known as the user-agent. In previous years, Opera came preconfigured to partially "cloak" itself as Internet Explorer, but still included the word "Opera" in the user-agent information allowing the browser to be counted in web statistics. As websites modernized themselves and Opera 9 became more compatible with IE code, Opera began to use its own identification by default.

Later versions of Opera offer more advanced methods of cloaking, such as the ua.ini file. The ua.ini file does not allow the user to write arbitrary user-agent strings, but rather it allows selections from a pre-defined range including Mozilla and Internet Explorer. If needed, Opera can mask completely as Internet Explorer or Mozilla, leaving out the reference to Opera in the UA string and Javascript objects.

Version 8 of Opera introduced a further provision for dealing with faulting coding, by providing a set of scripts that can rewrite known broken pages as they are being opened. The closely-related UserJS (similar to Mozilla's Greasemonkey), allows users to run their own code at various times in the processing of a page. These techniques have allowed many popular but incompatible sites to be used fully with Opera. [UserJS site]

Opera periodically updates itself with the latest version of BrowserJS and ua.ini [Opera employee Hallvord Steen explains Opera's work on compatibility].

Web-based e-mail

For a period Opera users could not empty their Hotmail trash can, due to buggy server-side browser sniffing[Javascript error in MSN Hotmail], May 3, 2004, retrieved on October 25, 2005.

When Google released Gmail in April 2004, Opera was not supported. Gmail employs the use of XMLHttpRequest, a non-standard protocol implemented in some web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Opera 8, (released April 18, 2005) almost fully supported Gmail, while Opera 9 (released June 20, 2006) is very close to fully supporting Gmail. The features known to cause issues are spell checking, and "Quick Contacts", though if the user chooses to have Opera identify itself as Mozilla, Opera will partly support "Quick Contacts".

There have been numerous problems with Yahoo! Mail, the first of which was the broken "Move" button (caused by browser sniffing). After Yahoo! Mail upgraded to a newer look, those problems vanished, but the "Move" button was a lot bigger than in other browsers. Other problems have included what is arguably a bad presentation, and has been attributed to the different style sheet Opera receives. Yahoo! also uses rich text editing, causing similar problems for Opera users as Gmail.

MSN

The Microsoft-owned MSN website has caused several problems for Opera users:

In October 2001, the MSN web page was altered shortly after the launch of Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 to exclude other browsers, including Opera and Mozilla. Users were told to upgrade to Internet Explorer 6 in order to view the page. When asked why Opera was excluded, Microsoft claimed it was because Opera did not support the latest XHTML standard. Opera responded that their browser did indeed support the standard, and following the controversy MSN made their page accessible to all browsers.[MSN.com shuts out non-Microsoft browsers], October 25, 2001, retrieved on October 25, 2005 [MSN, Opera, and Web Standards] by Hakon Wium Lie November 9, 2001, retrieved on October 25, 2005

In February 2003, Opera Software employees discovered that the MSN home page sent a different style sheet to Opera users than it sent to Internet Explorer. The two most popular browsers, Internet Explorer and Netscape each got a style sheet tailor-made to them. Opera, on the other hand, was served a generic style sheet that worked only in older Netscape browsers. Because Opera did not have the same coding, the page did not appear correctly.

The code to blame for the faulty rendering (which is a hack to fix an old Netscape bug) is this:

ul [Why doesn't MSN work with Opera?] by Hakon Wium Lie, February 2003, retrieved on October 25, 2005[Opera cries foul against MSN--again], February 5, 2005, retrieved on October 25, 2005

Testing showed that Opera was served with this old style sheet only when it was possible to discern that it was Opera being used to fetch the page. If one used a user agent like oprah, one would get a more up to date stylesheet. Opera claimed that this was a deliberate action to discredit the browser. Microsoft denied the claims, blamed it on a coding error, and fixed it.

Regardless of Microsoft's claims, Opera went public with the story, and created a "Bork" edition of their browser, which garbled www.msn.com into the speech of the Swedish Chef. Opera says that this was a joke to show how easily a web-page can be changed if one actually wants. In the press-release, they reiterated its mantra that the web should be open to all.[Opera releases "Bork" edition], February 14, 2003, retrieved on October 25, 2005

Yet another incident occurred in May 2003, when MSN's servers caused users who had altered their preferred languages for websites to get a "server error" message. Although the error also affected users of Internet Explorer, Opera makes it easier for users to change languages, so Opera users were more likely to be affected. Opera supporters once again claimed that it was an attempt by Microsoft to discredit Opera. [Opera wails about MSN problem], May 21, 2003, retrieved on October 25, 2005

Opera Software have cited the above incidents as supporting the theory that Microsoft has an anti-competitive agenda because Opera Software, as publishers of the Opera web browser, are a competitor to Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

In May 2004, an unknown entity made a 12.75 USD million payment to Opera Software. Opera CTO Håkon Wium Lie said the settlement "resolved an issue close to his heart," but no admission was made regarding who paid this money, or why. Many speculate that it was Microsoft paying to avoid embarrassment in court over the MSN issues.[Microsoft behind $12 million payment to Opera], CNET, May 24, 2004, retrieved on October 25, 2005

Market adoption

Usage share

Statistics reference: Usage share of web browsers

As of July 2006, usage data gives Opera's overall global share of the browser market as being between 0.5% and 1.0%, although Opera's usage share is over 8% in Russia [Yandex.ru], URL accessed on 1 May, 2006 [Spylog.ru], URL accessed on 1 May, 2006, over 7% in Poland [Ranking.pl], URL accessed on 7 June, 2006 and over 6% in Lithuania [Ranking.lt], URL accessed on 7 June, 2006.

Since its first release in 1996, the browser has had limited success on desktop computers in the face of competitors including Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla Application Suite and Mozilla Firefox. Opera Software has had more success in the area of mobile browsing, with product releases for a variety of platforms. There is not currently any substantial data on mobile browsing statistics (perhaps due to the tiny proportion of browsing that occurs on equipment other than desktop or laptop computers). Opera's availability on many platforms has given users access to a highly functional browser where this choice did not previously exist.

Novell distributes the Linux version of Opera (based on the Qt Library) with its SUSE Linux distribution. Prior to version 3, Xandros included Opera in its Open Circulation Edition as the default browser, but now distributes Firefox.

The Nintendo DS will use an Opera card that fits into the DS slot. This will allow the Nintendo DS to access the Internet. The Wii will also use Opera as a web browser, but it is currently unknown how it will be implemented.

Versions

Latest release versions

Note: The latest version number may differ between languages; these numbers are for the original English (US) version.

Microsoft Windows: 9.0 (Windows 95 and later)
Microsoft Windows: 3.62 ''(Windows 3.x)
Mac OS X: 9.0; Mac OS: 6.03
Linux i386, SPARC and PowerPC: 9.0
Linux arm: 7.6 (see note below)
FreeBSD i386: 9.0
Solaris SPARC and i386: 9.0
OS/2: 5.12
BeOS: 3.62
QNX: 6.0.1
Symbian OS Series 60: 8.60 (Series 60 3rd and 2nd Edition)
Symbian OS Series 60: 6.20 (Series 60 1st Edition)
Symbian OS UIQ: 6.31
EPOC: 5.14
Windows Mobile: 8.6
Java ME (Opera Mini): 2.0.4509 - pro mobils and other with MIDP 1.0
Pocket PC: 8.60 [Opera Winmobile site]
Windows CE

Preview versions

Beta releases for the desktop platforms (Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X) are tested by a selected group of beta testers. Announcements of technical preview versions are posted on Opera's newsgroup, forums,[Opera Beta forum], retrieved on October 29, 2005 and the mailing-list, so the public can test and discuss new features. On 20 April, 2006, a beta version of Opera v9 was released.

The public beta for version 9.0 has become the first Microsoft Windows browser to pass the Acid2 browser test.[Weblog of Tim Altman, Opera employee].

Weekly versions

Since February 13, 2006, Opera has been releasing a new weekly build every Friday, and sometimes a "mid-week" build before then. Builds for Windows, Mac, and Unix variants (Linux or FreeBSD) are released. These weekly builds are available at the Desktop Team blog. [The Desktop Team blog] They are more experimental than Technical Preview builds and should only be used for testing purposes.

Nintendo DS & Wii

Opera has confirmed that it will be developing an Internet browser exclusively for Nintendo's upcoming video game console Wii and the portable gaming console Nintendo DS (Nintendo DS Browser). Currently, details are limited; however it has been confirmed that the browser will be similar to Opera Software running on a PC and that it will "take advantage" of the Wii's innovative controller. The Nintendo DS Browser will not support Flash, PDF, audio or video. It was also mentioned that the browser will be loaded up in a "matter of seconds."

[Opera's official website] states that their browser for the Nintendo DS will be available in Japan from July 24th.

Notes and references

External links

Official links

[Opera Software Homepage]
[Opera Documentation]
[My Opera Community] — includes discussion, customisation, blogs and fan-sites
[Opera Labs] — news from the Opera developer center
[Desktop Team Blog]
[#Opera] – Opera IRC channel

Unofficial links

[Opera Wiki]
[Planet Opera] — An aggregation of Opera blogs
[Secunia.com Vulnerability Report on Opera 8.x]
[Secunia.com Vulnerability Report on Opera 9.x]
[Opera Version History]

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