back to article Opera 10 debuts with 'Turbo' boost

Opera Software on Wednesday is expected to release the first edition of Opera 10, a browser the company said offered a variety of new features, including compression technology that can cut by a third the time it takes pages to load on slow networks. Dubbed Opera Turbo, the server-side technology reduces the amount of data …

COMMENTS

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  1. Tim Brown
    Dead Vulture

    Huh?

    "Sadly, the browser has yet to implement a way to manage which websites get to execute Flash, javascript and similar client-side programs and which ones don't."

    Huh?? Unless they have removed a feature already present in Opera 9 you can already do that. Just right click any page you're browsing and click 'edit site preferences' to turn off/on scripting for a site or for individual bits of a page 'block content'.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Funny thing

    I had auto-updating on older versions of Opera. After your previous story on the subject I had to maintain an old computer, fired up Opera for the first time in months on it and got an auto-update dialog. So why the hell did they turn it off?

  3. Trygve

    javascript

    What are you on about? On version 9 you can switch jscript default on/off at the browser level and then override that on a site-by-site basis using the site preferences. I think it's been like that for several versions.

    A push of the F12 key and a couple of mouseclicks isn't as easy as it might be, but it still works well enough for those who like to wear a web-condom and only remove it for trusted partners.

  4. Rasczak
    Thumb Down

    Website settings

    <quote>

    Sadly, the browser has yet to implement a way to manage which websites get to execute Flash, javascript and similar client-side programs and which ones don't.

    </quote>

    OK Flash is not selectable in it, but Opera 9 and the 10 releases I have played with have an Edit Site Preferences option to set Java, javascript, frame, content blocking, popup handling and other things per domain. Tha sounds very much to me like choosing which websites get to execute things to me.

  5. Daar Istia
    Stop

    Site Based Content Blocking

    Is available in Opera 9 under site prefs-> content.

  6. Robert Ramsay
    Go

    Actually...

    you can manage your prefs for java,javascript etc by site. It's not intuitive to find, but if you go to Preferences/Content/Manage site preferences you can do it.

    Doesn't sound like Opera 10 has made it any more accessible though.

  7. Andrew Penfold
    Boffin

    Er, yes it does!

    "Sadly, the browser has yet to implement a way to manage which websites get to execute Flash, javascript and similar client-side programs and which ones don't. (Instead, users get only a binary on/off check box.) That's a pity. The NoScript extension for Firefox has become an essential ingredient for users of that browser who want to protect themselves from the growing threat of website attacks. We thought Opera would have offered something comparable by now."

    First you choose the defaults - whether Javascript, Plugins (includes flash), Java, Animated GIFs, Cookies, etc. are enabled for all web sites. All the above are set on and off independently and can be quickly toggled using the F12 menu. Then, if a particular web-site doesn't work without, say, Javascript, you can press F12 --> Edit Site Preferences and enable javascript for the domain or sub-domain you are on.

    This has been around since Opera 8 at least. I'm not familar with Firefox and Noscript so I can't say which offers the most granularity, but Opera's features are at least comparable.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Noscript?

    @Sadly, the browser has yet to implement a way to manage which websites get to execute Flash, javascript and similar client-side programs and which ones don't. (Instead, users get only a binary on/off check box.)

    I don't think so. Tools->quick preferences->edit site preferences customise to your heart's content...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Finally!

    I've been happilly using the alpha since last year with no problems. What took them so long?

  10. Dave Bell
    Boffin

    NoScript is different

    NoScript is rather simpler to use. When you load a page, you get a warning if any scripts come from previously unknown pages, and can choose whether or not to let them run. You can also give temporary permission to script sources.

    You don't have to go through the menu tree.

  11. Steve Taylor

    Many comments from non-NoScript users

    For all those who claim Opera does the same as NoScript already, you've clearly not tried it.

    I use Opera and Firefox daily, and last week installed NoScript (due to hype read on El Reg), which does far more, far more easily, than Opera does via the preferences.

    I've turned NoScript off, however, because there are virtually no sites on the internal the are usable with it fully enabled, so the default action for every page had become "load page - enable scripts", and the only advantage left was blocking google ads.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Business Model

    I used to help run a similar service that was subscription based. When the marketing bods decided that the subscription wasn't enough, they decided to anonymise and sell the squid logs on. When that wasn't enough, they decided to add their own affiliate IDs to users' Google and Yahoo searches, etc (at which point I quit). With an average of 10,000 concurrent users, they were raking in about £100K a month on just Google searches alone. Google got wise after a year or so but didn't even try to get the money back - I guess this might have opened a can of chocolate worms they don't want opened in public.

    The moral of this story is there is lot's of money to be made from free proxy services if you can afford the traffic...

    [WOT? No Google Icon?]

  13. Opera User

    Once again ...

    ... Opera falls foul of having lots of features that aren't obvious and are too hidden, the Site Preferences being a case in point.

    Also it has been possible to change the number of speed dials at version 9 with a simple .INI file change.

  14. Shakje

    Auto-updating

    You still have to go to the site to download updates, it just tells you about them on startup..

    Personally I prefer Opera to any other browser.

  15. Bod
    Thumb Down

    Not really the right solution

    Compressing the web so they cripple the original design of sites, isn't the solution to a slow web.

    Increase the speed of the Net, get designers to design efficient sites and corps to host on decent spec systems, stop people using slow as hell IE. Those are the answers.

    Can't see why I'd want to use Opera if it's going to compress the hell out of images.

    Proxies are a nightmare for developers trying to push out updates, having to wait for the proxies to update and struggle with content expiration. On dynamic sites I can't see their proxy being so efficient either.

    I'm betting Opera's performance gains are no better than just using Chrome anyway.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Maximum of nine?

    "An expansion of a feature known as Speed Dial. With a 5x5 grid, users now have 25 images to work with instead of the maximum of nine that was previously available"

    Rubbish!

    I'm using Version 9.63 and my Speed Dial has 12 icons (4x3). My machine at home has 25 on the grid (5x5).

    It's easilly changed in the Preferences -> Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\speeddial

    [Size]

    Rows=3

    Columns=4

    Simple!

  17. Jeremy
    Thumb Up

    Re: Trygve

    "A push of the F12 key and a couple of mouseclicks isn't as easy as it might be, but it still works well enough for those who like to wear a web-condom and only remove it for trusted partners."

    Your comment invoked the monitor/tea interface.

  18. Andrew Norton

    re: Not really the right solution

    "I'm betting Opera's performance gains are no better than just using Chrome anyway."

    I use both, and right now, O9.64 is about the same speed as chrome. I've got 10 ready to go (along with Fx3.5) on my IRC/IM/Email system (a 1ghz athlon - the slower the computer, the more obvious the speed difference) and thats supposed to be even faster.

  19. Mark
    Stop

    re: Auto-updating

    No website visiting required. Opera has always notified you with a dialog that a new version is out.

    However now it gives you a changelog, downloads it for you automatically, and offers to restart/install now or schedule the install for next restart, whenever that may be, so you can continue to browse.

    It's actually quite good.

  20. CC
    Thumb Down

    Opera takes you nowhere really FAST!

    Now you have the Turbo Boost button that scrambles graphics to gain online speed, great for dialup users or maybe they could just use the SHOW IMAGES button built into Opera....dumb!

    Opera is still the same gets you there fast then falls flat on its face browser because the "Site isn't standards compliant" while every other browser seems to do just fine.

    Opera after all these years still doesn't get it.

    With the latest Opera 10, rather than work on functionality they are more interested in "How it looks".

    Nuf said.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    "Nuf said."

    More like 'nuffing said'. Honestly, you need to really read about things before you post.

  22. A J Stiles
    Linux

    Meh

    Konqueror still has one important thing that Opera doesn't:

    The Source Code.

  23. Oninoshiko
    Flame

    @Stiles @CC

    @CC: Repeat after me, "It is not the browser's fault you are to not smart enough to write in (X)HTML," or worse "It's not the browser fault you are a twit doing UA detection"

    @Stiles: out of curiosity, just how heavily modified is the source for konqueror that you run?

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Using it on Linux ...

    Yep, seems very fast indeed. Pity it still exhibits the usual clutch of unfixed annoyances and bugs and looks as repulsive as ever.

    Still freaks out at certain things on some sites but can't deny it seems very responsive.

  25. Gareth Jones Silver badge

    Selling Points

    One of the big selling points is it's interaction with webmail services, a feature that looked useful to me. Unfortunately it turns out it only works with four webmail services: Yandex, Fastmail, Opera Web Mail and Mail.ru. I know it's only a beta, but if they want users to test this feature then they should include the big players in that field and, frankly, they don't.

    Failed on that one then.

    Turbo? Don't really see the point in such a service these days.

    Speed. Yup it renders pages quickly, but what doesn't these days?

    The other selling points are pretty minor by comparison. A resizable search field? Woo!

    I'm a big fan of Opera and most of the innovation in the browser sphere over the years has started with them. However, I think that they have run out of new ideas. To be fair to Opera, however, I think that all the other browser developers are all out of ideas too. If Opera are out of worthwhile ideas, then it looks like it's game over for all the big players.

    Has the browser reached it's zenith then? No. I just think we need some new players on the field. Google? Nah, it's run by ex-Mozilla staff no new blood there. The market needs somebody from a different space altogether.

  26. Goat Jam

    Let's party like it's 1999!

    I'm sure these server side web compressing proxies were all the rage during the 1990's or did I imagine that?

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Site preferences and gMail

    I have Javascript disabled by default and re-enabled it for gMail in site preferences and it works fine, so I don't know what I've done that's different from the author of this post. And I'm not being a fanboy or having a swipe, but this article reads like more of a blog post than a news article, especially with the update. It doesn't say much about this new release other than a moan about site preferences and a brief mention of the new auto updater, at least at the time of publication. It's a first beta of a new major release, so surely there was more to say about what's changed and what it offers over v9.6?

    Anyway, I run with images and Javascript disabled by default and only enable JS for a few sites (gMail and the iPlayer are the main ones). I also have single-key toggles for both as well as icons on toolbars to provide a visual cue as to what mode I'm in so that I can freely enable them as I go. but I never have to enable Javascript to get into gMail.

    In fact, one annoyance I have with site preferences is that there's no easy override for those settings. Once Javascript is set to be enabled, you can't use any quick toggle to switch it off momentarily, you have to go back into the site preferences and disable it for that site again.

    Of all the things to moan about in site preferences, I would have found space to mention whether image mode is yet available in them rather than enabling Javascript, and if not ask Opera why and when they will shuffle its architecture to make image mode possible.

  28. Mark

    @Selling Points

    In Opera 10 nobody gets their mail service listed until their site is standards compliant. The fact that many big names are missing says alot about their crappy web coding....

  29. Richard Reeve
    Thumb Down

    Still wrong

    Your update about the gmail site still saying that javascript is required is just because you haven't reloaded the page. In subsequent visits to the site, that won't be necessary.

  30. Frank Zappa
    Flame

    Damn poor reporting. Get it right ffs :(

    @Richard Reeve

    Totally agree. I'm really disappointed by the cruddy journalism going on with respect to Opera's so-called lack of Black/Whitelisting javascript (and other functions) from particular sites, a feature offered (as mentioned many times above) by Edit Site Preferences.

    What really irks me though is the almost sincere apology followed by another criticism of the feature which is also wrong. Let me just clear it up for you, Firefox fanboy...

    All the functions with respect to enabling and disabling plugins, java, javascript, content blocking, browser identification etc. are available GLOBALLY and PER PAGE/SITE. Changes take effect when any page is NEXT LOADED.

    This leads to some very nice behavioural side-effects which the reviewer won't have noticed having spent no more than 30 seconds playing with Opera. For example, I have a custom button which toggles enabling/disabling plugins and javascript. Now, when I quit Opera with 20 tabs open and the button toggled to disabled, and reload Opera - all 20 tabs load up with plugins and scripting disabled by default. So Opera is incredibly light on my CPU from the get-go. Then, I can push the button to enable plugins/scripting, and as I revisit pages that require this function, just hit refresh. The result: scripts and plugins are only enabled on pages where *I* want them. Running on battery, this is a real power saver. On top of this, with site specific overrides for either black- or whitelisting a raft of functions on a per site/page basis, you have a very powerful solution that (typically Opera) integrates into the whole browser functionality nicely.

    It might work differently to Firefox et al, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily inferior. Any good reviewer knows that a good review needs a balanced perspective and a willingness to really get into what you're reviewing. Quite clearly this is not the case here. Frankly this sort of thing causes me to question the credibility of TR. If you're messing up so bad with something I know about, what about all the stuff I'm depending upon you to inform me about? Go figure..

    Effzee25 :(

    mydotoperadotcom-forwardslash-sebt

  31. KL

    Your Google Mail example DOES work with Opera

    I can safely say that the article writer is wrong in saying that Opera's Java Script enable/disable method doesn't work with Opera when logging into Google mail.

    I tried the exact steps outlined in the article and managed to log into my Google Mail.....No problem whatsoever!

    Sure "No Script "might have a few more bangs and whistles, but for most users ,Opera's Edit site preferences are more than adequate.

    Suffice to say that I have never been infected with any malicipous Spyware or Viruses when surfing with Opera (Almost daily for 6 years)

    I have however been infected with a trojan whilst using Firefox....perhaps Firefox users actually need "No Script "protection rather more than Opera users in the first place.

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