Opera 9.5 (Kestrel) Alpha is out

LeperousDust · 04-09-2007, 23:18

Not many people care about poor old opera, but it really is one of the better browsers out there. 9.5 also known as kestrel brings a whole host of new features plus better/faster rendering more google support (as half of there stuff never seemed to quite work properly with opera 9.2).

See a review here. Daz it now syncs with my.opera.com (your own user details) and remembers bookmarks speed dial page (an amazing feature that browsers should have had for years!) and personal bar.

Basically opera has everything already included, it does everrything out of the box very well. I'm still messing about with the alpha along side the current 9.23 stable but i can't fault it so far... Execpt they've missed out the inline spell checked that really would sell it for me. However this is an Alpha release so things can only get better!

Discuss.

Oh and you can get it here the opera weeklies (well so much weekly anymore

) blog.

Joe 90 · 04-09-2007, 23:34

tried to use Opera before, but after using firefox for so long its hard to use something different when it doesn't work the same and feels 'empty' and 'new' in comparison.

LeperousDust · 05-09-2007, 00:10

I'd sorely consider forcing yourself to use it for a week or so, rather than rely on another browser on your "lazy" days. I think you'll find there are a lot of power features. Firefox can be made to do the same, but its like building a jenga tower with everyones own blocks (extensions) to the same effect. Everything is designed and built to definately work on the off with Opera. Save wand which is working in this Alpha, but being an alpha i'll let them off, i've just filed a bug report to sort it out

Opera is formidable, its only problem was when firefox was rising to power opera wasn't free, if it was things probably wouldn't be how they are today!

Out of the box opera support:
Feeds (albeit crap atm, but theyre sorting them 9.5 onwards)
POP/IMAP Mail (used to be awful again thats one of the major improvements for 9.5)
Bittorrent, doesnt do anything for me i use newsgroups
Newsgroups, for browsing rather than binary downloading unfortunately chaps but its still good for signing up to newsgroups like the opera.beta newsgroup
They are the big main features, its got all the other stuff as well as the fastest rendering engine out of any of the browsers so far:

Internet Explorer 7: 18 seconds
Firefox 2: 15 seconds
Opera 9.23: 12 seconds
Firefox 3 Nightly: 11 seconds
Opera 9.5 Alpha: 8 seconds

Definately give it a try i say!

Joe 90 · 05-09-2007, 00:14

i'll install it on my machine at work tomorrow

will it import all my firefox stuff?

*edit*
in fact i'm too impatient for that so its on my home PC now

nowt else to do whilst watching 'this is england'

LeperousDust · 05-09-2007, 00:25

Imports all these

:

I hope you're impressed!

Del Lardo · 05-09-2007, 00:35

Been using Opera for longer than I can think of now I try to think of it and despite trying most of the other major browsers at some point I've always ended up coming back to Opera.

Joe 90 · 05-09-2007, 00:40

oo this scroll feels a bit different...

*edit*
its shown itself now...just had to go back into toolbar customise and it was there ready to be gone.

oh, btw - wtfs this 'wand' button?

oo i do like this 'speed dial' page when i open a new tab

LeperousDust · 05-09-2007, 00:52

Wand remembers your passwords for you, except mine isn't quite doing that in this alpha build so far

It's only inputting username and then submitting the form without password. Which is to say the least useless... I;ve already submitted a bug report, if yours is behaving the same by all means submit on too.

I'd suggest going into preferences going to advanced, then security. Set a Master Password, and then set it to ask "once per session" and tick "use master password to protect saved passwords" and tick "fraud protection" if you want to be very sure about sites, but tbh its an uneeded check if you have any sense. Its the same feature that IE has basically checks all sites against a white/black list...

Anyway with all that set up it now remembers passwords for all your visited sites and asks you for one master password the start of an opera session (when wand is used) just to ensure someone else isn't using your opera behind your back

Joe 90 · 05-09-2007, 01:24

whoo w1n - thanks

its not too bad so far - got a few widgets open on my other monitor and other than the crap looking toolbar buttons its quite nice

LeperousDust · 05-09-2007, 01:51

I actually hate the widgets, mail, rss, and torrent crap, oh and panels, haha but avoiding those is quite easy really. The widget thing feels horribly stuck on to me. They are working on integrating it properly or so i've heard so you can dock them and control them properly... But i'm not sure what that would entail just yet...

Glad you like it anyway

Give it a week of solid use, see how it goes!

04-09-2007, 23:18	#1
LeperousDust Bananaman Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Liverpool/Edinburgh Posts: 4,817	Opera 9.5 (Kestrel) Alpha is out Not many people care about poor old opera, but it really is one of the better browsers out there. 9.5 also known as kestrel brings a whole host of new features plus better/faster rendering more google support (as half of there stuff never seemed to quite work properly with opera 9.2). See a review here. Daz it now syncs with my.opera.com (your own user details) and remembers bookmarks speed dial page (an amazing feature that browsers should have had for years!) and personal bar. Basically opera has everything already included, it does everrything out of the box very well. I'm still messing about with the alpha along side the current 9.23 stable but i can't fault it so far... Execpt they've missed out the inline spell checked that really would sell it for me. However this is an Alpha release so things can only get better! Discuss. Oh and you can get it here the opera weeklies (well so much weekly anymore ) blog. __________________ Last edited by LeperousDust; 04-09-2007 at 23:21.

04-09-2007, 23:34	#2
Joe 90 Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chester Posts: 2,345	tried to use Opera before, but after using firefox for so long its hard to use something different when it doesn't work the same and feels 'empty' and 'new' in comparison. __________________ 360 Blog \| Join GiffGaff \| Twitter

05-09-2007, 00:10	#3
LeperousDust Bananaman Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Liverpool/Edinburgh Posts: 4,817	I'd sorely consider forcing yourself to use it for a week or so, rather than rely on another browser on your "lazy" days. I think you'll find there are a lot of power features. Firefox can be made to do the same, but its like building a jenga tower with everyones own blocks (extensions) to the same effect. Everything is designed and built to definately work on the off with Opera. Save wand which is working in this Alpha, but being an alpha i'll let them off, i've just filed a bug report to sort it out Opera is formidable, its only problem was when firefox was rising to power opera wasn't free, if it was things probably wouldn't be how they are today! Out of the box opera support: Feeds (albeit crap atm, but theyre sorting them 9.5 onwards) POP/IMAP Mail (used to be awful again thats one of the major improvements for 9.5) Bittorrent, doesnt do anything for me i use newsgroups Newsgroups, for browsing rather than binary downloading unfortunately chaps but its still good for signing up to newsgroups like the opera.beta newsgroup They are the big main features, its got all the other stuff as well as the fastest rendering engine out of any of the browsers so far: Internet Explorer 7: 18 seconds Firefox 2: 15 seconds Opera 9.23: 12 seconds Firefox 3 Nightly: 11 seconds Opera 9.5 Alpha: 8 seconds Definately give it a try i say! __________________

05-09-2007, 00:14	#4
Joe 90 Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chester Posts: 2,345	i'll install it on my machine at work tomorrow will it import all my firefox stuff? edit in fact i'm too impatient for that so its on my home PC now nowt else to do whilst watching 'this is england' __________________ 360 Blog \| Join GiffGaff \| Twitter Last edited by Joe 90; 05-09-2007 at 00:19.

05-09-2007, 00:25	#5
LeperousDust Bananaman Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Liverpool/Edinburgh Posts: 4,817	Imports all these : I hope you're impressed! __________________

05-09-2007, 00:35	#6
Del Lardo Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Cambridge Posts: 2,539	Been using Opera for longer than I can think of now I try to think of it and despite trying most of the other major browsers at some point I've always ended up coming back to Opera.

05-09-2007, 00:40	#7
Joe 90 Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chester Posts: 2,345	oo this scroll feels a bit different... edit its shown itself now...just had to go back into toolbar customise and it was there ready to be gone. oh, btw - wtfs this 'wand' button? oo i do like this 'speed dial' page when i open a new tab __________________ 360 Blog \| Join GiffGaff \| Twitter Last edited by Joe 90; 05-09-2007 at 00:51.

05-09-2007, 00:52	#8
LeperousDust Bananaman Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Liverpool/Edinburgh Posts: 4,817	Wand remembers your passwords for you, except mine isn't quite doing that in this alpha build so far It's only inputting username and then submitting the form without password. Which is to say the least useless... I;ve already submitted a bug report, if yours is behaving the same by all means submit on too. I'd suggest going into preferences going to advanced, then security. Set a Master Password, and then set it to ask "once per session" and tick "use master password to protect saved passwords" and tick "fraud protection" if you want to be very sure about sites, but tbh its an uneeded check if you have any sense. Its the same feature that IE has basically checks all sites against a white/black list... Anyway with all that set up it now remembers passwords for all your visited sites and asks you for one master password the start of an opera session (when wand is used) just to ensure someone else isn't using your opera behind your back __________________

05-09-2007, 01:24	#9
Joe 90 Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chester Posts: 2,345	whoo w1n - thanks its not too bad so far - got a few widgets open on my other monitor and other than the crap looking toolbar buttons its quite nice __________________ 360 Blog \| Join GiffGaff \| Twitter

05-09-2007, 01:51	#10
LeperousDust Bananaman Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Liverpool/Edinburgh Posts: 4,817	I actually hate the widgets, mail, rss, and torrent crap, oh and panels, haha but avoiding those is quite easy really. The widget thing feels horribly stuck on to me. They are working on integrating it properly or so i've heard so you can dock them and control them properly... But i'm not sure what that would entail just yet... Glad you like it anyway Give it a week of solid use, see how it goes! __________________