Introducing Opera 15 for Computers



    We present you the new Opera 15 for computers  - a fast, safe and convenient browser. As we already wrote , Opera 15 begins a new frequent release cycle, so get ready for updates in future versions very soon. The Opera Next and Opera Developer branches will be released shortly.

    What is new?




    First of all, you will notice a simplified interface that is tightly integrated with the platform. We want your browser to be as familiar as possible - because this is probably the most frequently used program, after the OS itself. At the first start, a window of acquaintance with new browser features will be waiting for you. This version is installed separately from Opera 12.15 and does not affect its settings.

    Express panel




    Like Opera for Android, we integrated bookmarks into the express panel, which gives you a visual representation of your favorite pages. When migrating from Opera 12 to Opera 15, you will be asked to convert your bookmarks to the express panel - just click on the orange icon in the express panel to start importing. Please note that now you can group express panel bookmarks into folders by simply dragging and dropping one onto the other. If you wish, you can name a new group - right-click on it and enter a name.



    To add a page or extension to the express panel, simply click the big plus button. You can do this right while viewing the page - just click on the “Add to Express Panel” icon in the address bar and the page will immediately appear there without too much noise.

    You can also save all open tabs to the express panel folder (if you have been looking for something or planning a vacation for a long time) - just click on the bookmarks bar and select “Save tabs as a group ...” To open all these tabs from the express panel, right-click on the folder and “Open All”.

    If you have many bookmarks in the express panel, you can quickly filter them out - hover over the search icon in the upper right corner and start typing keywords that may be relevant to what you are looking for. Website icons are filtered out in real time in response.

    Bookmarks and bookmarklets


    Despite the fact that most users do not use bookmarks (this is a fact, we checked), some of our long-standing users talked about a lot of their bookmarks, grouped into complex multi-level trees. We love our users, especially the devotees, so we, together with  Stuart Langridge , Bruce Lawson, and your humble servant, developed the Bookmarks Manager extension to return bookmarks to Opera 15 for those who lack them.



    How to use the extension:

    1. Export bookmarks from Opera 12: Bookmarks → Manage bookmarks → File → Export as HTML ...
    2. Open Opera 15 and install the Bookmarks Manager extension , which can import a structured HTML file and create an IndexedDB database based on it, which can be managed from the extension. You can also import and use bookmarklets.

    The extension is available on Github , so we will be glad to see your pull-quests. This is only the first version, we will develop it further, see the nearest plans in Readme.md . Please note that you can also convert bookmarklets to extensions for Chrome and add them to Opera 15 through the extension manager.

    Piggy bank, recommendations, compression mode, extensions and much more ...


    We already talked about the new features of Opera in a previous post and will not be repeated. Try it yourself if you still haven’t. Since the first announcement of Opera Next , a lot of interesting things have appeared in the extensions catalog : Pinterest, Pocket, Wunderlist, Evernote, Feedly, Disconnect, LastPass, WOT, Ghostery, cottonTracks - try it.





    Linux


    In short: the Linux version will be released, it’s just not ready yet. It’s difficult to rewrite the whole browser from scratch, so we had to choose priority platforms on which the most users. But we do not leave you, do not be discouraged.

    What was done


    Opera 15 runs on the new Blink web engine and V8 JavaScript engine and is based on the Chromium project. We decided to explain what the new browser consists of and what work was done on it. First of all, we rewrote the entire browser interface layer:

    • System UI
    • Express panel
    • Money box
    • Recommendations
    • Compression Mode (formerly known as Opera Turbo)
    • Theme Support
    • Reopen closed tabs
    • Browser.js component
    • Mouse gestures
    • Popup and download button
    • Search engine switch
    • Menu with red “O” on Windows
    • System context menus

    We also modified some components of Chromium:

    • Type and behavior of controls
    • Download manager
    • Settings
    • Extensions (including express panel APIs)
    • Address Bar Tips
    • Error logging

    In addition, we regularly work on the Chromium project itself and the Blink engine, improving it and sending patches. On this page you can read more about our patches, so if you are interested, subscribe to the operasoftware / upstreamtools project updates .

    This release is just the beginning of a long and interesting journey, we still have a lot of interesting things.

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