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Tag: Opera 12

  • Opera 12 Exits Beta With New Features

    Opera 12 went into beta back in April. The newest version of the underdog browser brought along some great new features like improved HTML5 support and better security. Opera 12 is now out of beta and brings along with it all the great stuff from before, plus a few new tricks.

    Outside of the improvements from the beta, Opera 12 has added three features that are great for developers and users alike. One of the features in particular is pretty exciting from a development standpoint.

    First up is the obvious change for every new browser – speed enhancements. Opera 12 promises “faster startup and quick page loading.” It will do this through a new responsive tab loading sequence that allows the browser to start up or shut down relatively fast. The improvements also extend to general browsing with page load speeds being increased.

    Opera 12 now has support for new themes. It has borrowed from what both Firefox and Chrome has done in the field of themes to allow users to create their own or use one that has already been created. What’s even better is that Opera can update themes without having to restart the browser. Check out the community to see the themes that are available.

    The most exciting new feature of all, however, is the browser’s ability to use your webcam. Web sites with support for the feature can take control of your webcam for all kinds of applications. The most obvious of course being on the spot photographs for new profile pictures on social networks. It could be applied in many other ways though. One inventive idea would be to figure out how to make gamified apps using the webcam as the input method. I’m sure somebody will figure it out.

    Features carried over from the beta include the aforementioned security badges and HTML5 support. It doesn’t stop there, however, as the browser is also host to new APIs, right-to-left script support, experimental WebGL support, and the discontinuation of Opera Unite, Opera Widgets and Voice.

    It’s easy to see why Opera has such a fervent fanbase even when its user count is far below that of Firefox, Chrome and others. I’ve always appreciated the browser for its dedication to quality by making sure everything is in perfect working order before shipping the stable version of its latest release.

    You can grab Opera 12 at the official site. If you haven’t used it before, I suggest giving it a try. I’m still a Firefox diehard, but I appreciate Opera and what it does. Besides, it’s still one of the only browsers to ship a stable 64-bit version. That’s worth all the praise in the world.

  • Opera 12 Beta Gains A Lot, Loses A Little

    Opera is one of those less talked about browsers out there. That’s not to say it’s a bad browser, it just gets ignored somehow when the subject is brought up. It really is one of the best browsers out there in terms of security, but it has been behind in a few key areas – not anymore.

    Opera announced the availability of the Opera 12 beta today that features a lot of great new features that puts the browser on par with recent Firefox and Chrome releases. It just lost a few of its more unique features to get there.

    Let’s cover the good news first though. The first update you’ll see is some enhanced performance from the browser in the form of 64-bit support on Windows and Mac. It has also sped up page loading even on secure pages.

    Even though I can hear the “copycat” calls now, Opera now has themes that users can apply to the browser. Just like all the other theme extensions, you can apply these themes at the click of a button without having to exit the browser.

    Remember when I said that Opera security was awesome? It just got more awesome and helpful with a redesigned security badge system. It has added color coded security badges in the address bar to let you know if the site in question has enough security in place.

    They have also enabled camera and extension API support. This is for face tracking applications, but also for cool future stuff like WebRTC. More on that later.

    There is now right-to-left scripts support in Opera which enables those who speak such languages to enjoy the browser natively. On top of that, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Hebrew are now supported in their native format.

    Opera is now getting into hardcore support for Web standards and HTML5 with this release. The first is support for WebGL which enables the browser to take advantage of your video card to display 3D images in browser. On top of that, there is now support for new Web standards including WebRTC, HTML5 Drag and Drop, CSS3 Animations and Transitions, Do-Not-Track, and CSS Generated Content for Paged Media.

    Now for the bad news: Opera is discontinuing support for Opera Unite, Opera Widgets and Voice. Unite and Widgets are removed by default, but you can move these solutions to the extension platform if you so wish.

    Overall, this is a fantastic release for Opera and it sets up the browser to be even better. Now if only we can work on its notoriety.