Peregrine takes flight... Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 is here!
minch. Wednesday, 3. December 2008, 08:58:53
It seems like yesterday we released Opera 9.6 and now you can all get your hands on Opera 10.0. Rather than ramble on, here's a quick list of what's new:
Can't wait to get your hands on Opera 10.0 Alpha 1, then get it now!
Download
Download
Windows
Windows Classic
Macintosh
Macintosh (Intel-only)
UNIX
What's New
Below is an overview of the new functionality in Opera 10.0 Alpha 1.
Presto 2.2 Engine
Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 includes Presto 2.2 (Kestrel includes Presto 2.1.1), an updated version of Opera's Core. Presto 2.2 features numerous new features and loads of bug fixes, such as:
Auto-update
The long awaited auto-update functionality is here! That's right, Opera will now update itself as new versions are released. And for those of you who want every single snapshot release just enable the "Download All Snapshots" setting (opera:config#AutoUpdate). Please be aware that if you do so, you will be upgrading to all snapshots - and as you know: snapshots contain the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes and data loss situations. In fact, they may not work at all. You have been warned
Inline Spelling Checker
Opera now checks your spelling as you write! The inline spelling checker is enabled by default for multi-line edit fields and this Alpha comes with a US English dictionary. Use the context menu of input fields to change the settings, and to correct spelling errors. See the detailed changelog for information about using other dictionaries.
Opera Mail Improvements
Rich Text Composition
Opera Mail can now send rich text messages! You can insert inlined images, styled text, links, custom HTML, and more! You can also forward and redirect rich text messages or reply to them with styled text.
In the account settings select "Prefer HTML formatting" in the outgoing tab so that you can start writing rich text mails by default in our WYSIWYG editor!
Remove from server after X days (POP-only)
This new feature is for our POP users with limited server space. Opera Mail can now remove messages from the server that have been there for X days. Of course you can limit Opera Mail to only remove read messages from the server, and/or only fully downloaded messages, which works great in combination with low-bandwith mode.
Other Changes
When viewing a message, the message subjects are now a text field again instead of a button. We have added also a "Thread" button to the message list toolbar to make some features more visible.
Widget Improvements on Linux/UNIX
We have added experimental support for true transparency for widgets on Linux/UNIX. For this to work you have to have an X Server that provides a 32-bit visual device and a running composite manager. If you start Opera from a terminal it will print this message if it detects a suitable 32-bit visual device: "(experimental) ARGB visual detected: Use '-visual 0x6f' to activate it".
If you have a composite manager running you can then try it out by starting Opera with: "opera -visual 0x6f" (0x6f may be another number on your machine).
Detailed Changelogs
Enjoy!
- Presto 2.2 Engine
- Performance boost
- 100/100 and pixel-perfect on the Acid3 test
- Auto-update
- Inline spelling checker
- Opera Mail improvements, including rich text composition and delete after X days
- Widget Improvements on Linux
Can't wait to get your hands on Opera 10.0 Alpha 1, then get it now!
Download
Download
Windows
Windows Classic
Macintosh
Macintosh (Intel-only)
UNIX
What's New
Below is an overview of the new functionality in Opera 10.0 Alpha 1.
Presto 2.2 Engine
Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 includes Presto 2.2 (Kestrel includes Presto 2.1.1), an updated version of Opera's Core. Presto 2.2 features numerous new features and loads of bug fixes, such as:
- 100/100 and pixel-perfect on the Acid3 test
- New regular expression engine, which greatly improves performance
- Improved CSS performance
- Pretty-printing of unstyled XML
- Web font support
- RGBA and HSLA support
- Selectors API support
Auto-update
The long awaited auto-update functionality is here! That's right, Opera will now update itself as new versions are released. And for those of you who want every single snapshot release just enable the "Download All Snapshots" setting (opera:config#AutoUpdate). Please be aware that if you do so, you will be upgrading to all snapshots - and as you know: snapshots contain the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes and data loss situations. In fact, they may not work at all. You have been warned
Inline Spelling Checker
Opera now checks your spelling as you write! The inline spelling checker is enabled by default for multi-line edit fields and this Alpha comes with a US English dictionary. Use the context menu of input fields to change the settings, and to correct spelling errors. See the detailed changelog for information about using other dictionaries.
Opera Mail Improvements
Rich Text Composition
Opera Mail can now send rich text messages! You can insert inlined images, styled text, links, custom HTML, and more! You can also forward and redirect rich text messages or reply to them with styled text.
In the account settings select "Prefer HTML formatting" in the outgoing tab so that you can start writing rich text mails by default in our WYSIWYG editor!
Remove from server after X days (POP-only)
This new feature is for our POP users with limited server space. Opera Mail can now remove messages from the server that have been there for X days. Of course you can limit Opera Mail to only remove read messages from the server, and/or only fully downloaded messages, which works great in combination with low-bandwith mode.
Other Changes
When viewing a message, the message subjects are now a text field again instead of a button. We have added also a "Thread" button to the message list toolbar to make some features more visible.
Widget Improvements on Linux/UNIX
We have added experimental support for true transparency for widgets on Linux/UNIX. For this to work you have to have an X Server that provides a 32-bit visual device and a running composite manager. If you start Opera from a terminal it will print this message if it detects a suitable 32-bit visual device: "(experimental) ARGB visual detected: Use '-visual 0x6f' to activate it".
If you have a composite manager running you can then try it out by starting Opera with: "opera -visual 0x6f" (0x6f may be another number on your machine).
Detailed Changelogs
Enjoy!
Primos, # 4. December 2008, 12:01:16
xErath, # 4. December 2008, 12:01:51
amnith, # 4. December 2008, 12:05:01
Irontiger, # 4. December 2008, 12:08:53
No Linux x86_64 build?
Should we expect one, or will we have to wait for another build?
// Edit: I see your still uploading, guess I'll wait
YeOK, # 4. December 2008, 12:08:56
that's exactly what i waited for
but isn't there .deb ?
ok they are here now
Khaled Khalil, # 4. December 2008, 12:09:03
Can't wait to give it a spin.
ColKilkenny, # 4. December 2008, 12:09:17
Cyro, # 4. December 2008, 12:11:56
nnnikolay, # 4. December 2008, 12:14:51
csant, # 4. December 2008, 12:14:57
Scrollmarker is enabled by default it seems, I like it.
(And, stating the obvious: it feels much smoother on linux for me!)
JeroenH, # 4. December 2008, 12:16:08
Serpher, # 4. December 2008, 12:16:45
iMac G5 PPC - 10.4.11
harlekinmond, # 4. December 2008, 12:18:48
Morphdreamer, # 4. December 2008, 12:21:15
FreeBrain, # 4. December 2008, 12:21:18
hansheng, # 4. December 2008, 12:22:05
Finally
cousin333, # 4. December 2008, 12:22:12
vas3k, # 4. December 2008, 12:24:13
Waiting for amd64 ones
Released the same day as Python 3.0, by the way.
Sterkrig, # 4. December 2008, 12:25:41
olmari, # 4. December 2008, 12:26:24
enddead, # 4. December 2008, 12:29:15
hurug, # 4. December 2008, 12:31:09
Why?
toscho, # 4. December 2008, 12:31:12
barnesdmd, # 4. December 2008, 12:33:42
gabill, # 4. December 2008, 12:33:49
ermir, # 4. December 2008, 12:36:36
ixuzus, # 4. December 2008, 12:38:10
ermir, # 4. December 2008, 12:38:16
Downloading
szotsaki2, # 4. December 2008, 12:38:39
http://digg.com/software/Opera_10_alpha_2
Hades32, # 4. December 2008, 12:41:31
anne, # 4. December 2008, 12:42:28
the site report that the browser is unsupported
jeanhabib2005, # 4. December 2008, 12:44:28
Ravindran, # 4. December 2008, 12:44:41
Opera(9.62, 10)
WHEN?!
v1nx, # 4. December 2008, 12:46:46
Mistrio_xp, # 4. December 2008, 12:47:57
jlarocco, # 4. December 2008, 12:49:46
v1nx, # 4. December 2008, 12:50:40
Originally posted by jeanhabib2005:
"Not rendering well" means that the site is not displaying correctly. What you are describing is something completely different - a message telling you to use a different browser. Opera 10 never even gets a chance to render anything.
haavard, # 4. December 2008, 12:51:37
Auto update is superb news!!!!!!!
Inline spell checker? Fantastic!!!!!
Acid3 completed in a snap with 100% score. Great!!
After my first test browsing I discovered a couple of glitches.
The smooth scrolling is jagged and slow. Turned that off, and everything is better, but not smooth.
Secondly, the zoom box is marked after i open a website, so when I press the down arrow key to scroll down, it chooses different zooming percentages instead. This does not happen every time as it seems...
Still no google gears support...
But all in all, a great alpha!!
(Win Vista SP1 x86)
hansbendiksen, # 4. December 2008, 12:52:22
As promised, already a very big JS performance boost at this test:
http://andrew.hedges.name/experiments/speed_test/index4.html . I was never able to get any Opera to perform below about .74 seconds, this build scored .27 seconds! (Safari nightlies hit about .165 seconds)
But not so good results at Dromaeo. A few tests were faster than 9.62, but there was a big hit in two tests that actually caused this build to be SLOWER? http://dromaeo.com/?id=53923,47066
And at Sunspider I get this vs Opera 9.5 (first number):
1.22x as fast 5759.4ms +/- 1.5% 4726.0ms +/- 4.1% significant
So a good jump there as well but Chrome/SafariNightlies still well ahead.
At Acid3 I get 100/100 but diagnostics show:
Failed 0 tests.
Test 26 passed, but took 70ms (less than 30fps)
Test 69 passed, but took 1 attempts (less than perfect).
Total elapsed time: 0.48s
Overall I am happy as a clam this being only an Alpha. I wonder though if Chromes V8 or Webkits JS can be touched at this point since they are so far ahead?
Congrats guys and thanks for the public Alpha.
Scottn1, # 4. December 2008, 12:54:01
thecdn, # 4. December 2008, 12:54:22
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/2606/dsgdfgdfgtg3.png
Morphdreamer, # 4. December 2008, 12:54:36
Unfortunately Google Calendar still looks strange ... but anyway this build feels very fast!
goetz, # 4. December 2008, 12:54:41
Three annoyances:
1) Typed text is not shown in "quick search" panel with Windows Native skin enabled.
2) Selecting item in the main menu doesn't change the font color, only the item's background. That's Windows Native bug too.
3) Scroll maker should not be enabled by default or it's purpose should be explained to the user.
LukinPl, # 4. December 2008, 12:55:27
Thanks Opera Team!
Hellene Atheist, # 4. December 2008, 12:56:05
Rafał^, # 4. December 2008, 12:57:09
The Intel-Only ~13MB is the Universal
The normal version ~8MB is the true Intel-Only!
Please fix this!
ikarigend, # 4. December 2008, 12:57:44
umonkey, # 4. December 2008, 12:57:54
I mean - when you try openning animepaper.net it is loading for several seconds, and then you see this:
Guess that is all I can add)
v1nx, # 4. December 2008, 12:57:55
Everythings seems to work very smoothly up til now.
The only thing I can comment on is that the red spellingscheck marks in the compose tab increase in size too when the font is increased (looks a little ugly)
Another mail feature that would be great is a rich text option on the signature field.
mauritskorse, # 4. December 2008, 12:58:41