Opera 15 gets Mozilla PDF.js support
Opera 15 is the first version of the Opera web browser that is based on Blink and not the engine used in previous versions of the browser. That is a big change which has consequences for that first version. First, it is only available for Windows and Mac systems and not Linux.
Opera Software promised to deliver a Linux version of the new Opera at a later point in time, but not initially. The new browser is also bare bones in comparison to previous versions and while that will remain so for a while, it is again something that Opera Software promises to change in the future.
Opera 15 shares many features with Google Chrome on the other hand. Especially the browser engine needs to be mentioned here as it is improving site compatibility and speed for Opera users who upgraded to it from Opera 12.
Even though the two browser's share the same core, some features are not shared. This includes the native Adobe Flash integration of Chrome and also the browser's pdf viewer.
That's likely the reason why Opera decided to integrate Mozilla's PDF.js into Opera. Unlike Mozilla, which added the pdf viewer natively into Firefox, Opera Software made the decision to create it as an extension. This benefits users as they can now decide whether they want to integrate the pdf viewer into the web browser or not.
Note that the PDF Viewer extension requires Opera 15 or higher and won't run on older versions of the web browser. It works exactly like the implementation in Firefox after installation.
Any pdf document that you click on in Opera is opened in the browser's interface directly.
Here you get a set of controls at the top that include options to zoom in and out, find text in the document, jump to a specific page of interest, open it in full screen, print it, or download it to the local system.
The core benefit of the extension is that you do not need to load third party plugins in the browser anymore to get pdf viewing capabilities in it as it is all handled by HTML5 and JavaScript. (thanks Arpit for the tip)
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I am bitterly disappointed in Opera. The way they’re carrying on seems to indicate that some type of pond-slime such as a MBA or lawyer has taken over management.
Luckily I’ve switched over to Ubuntu (although I miss Irfanview desperately), I suppose I shall have to switch over to Firefox sometime. I love Opera and have used it since the early years, but the Opera fora seem to indicate that they just aren’t listening to their users.
That i would not recommend, Firefox is on the same way like Opera, at least design wise and in getting dumbed down function wise.
The only difference is that Mozilla so far believes they do not need to use Webkit/Blink or even copy Chromium and put some Firefox Skin on it ;)
I would recommend you check out Qupzilla or Midori. Webkit Browsers with some customizations. While no replacement for Opera 12.x – this is the closes you will get in customizations in the Future Browser wise :)
You can’t even ctrl+enter, what a joke of POS this has become.
What does POS mean?
Piece of…you know.
“Even though the two browser’s share the same core, some features are not shared. This includes the native Adobe Flash integration of Chrome and also the browser’s pdf viewer.”
I don’t think Opera can use Chrome’s PDF viewer or integrate Flash Player. The reason is only Chromium is open-source not Chrome. The Flash Player and PDF viewer aren’t part of Chromium.
It’s not about bugs for me. I’ve used opera for ages I’m used to some things just not working at times. I get that there will most likely be bugs now and there are still features missing and will be for some time. It’s about them flat out dropping essential features (bookmarks) and they have no real replacement for them, they have also said they have no plans to implement a bookmark feature anymore. Bookmarks alone are pretty much enough for me to make the move, then there is all the other things.
I’m an opera user since v4/5 and I’m moving to another browser soon. Opera is ignoring so many questions about the move to a new engine and it isn’t looking too good for many of the features I personally love in Opera. Bookmarks (dropped), UI customization (no mention so far), keyboard shortcut customization etc. Continuing to use opera 12 isn’t an option since they won’t be releasing security updates for it for much longer.
I would love ~Opera 12 with Blink which is what they told us we would get, but we are not. I don’t much care if they want to give us a simplified experience but Opera used to be ALL ABOUT options, now we are getting almost none. Opera have handled this move horribly and they really need to communicate with their community.
Before switching to another browser I’d wait for the final release, or maybe 15.02 or something like that. The very first stable release will presumably have some bugs, it cannot be avoided, I believe :)
My take is that Opera 15 will look pretty much like it does right now and that it won’t have all the functionality that we are missing right now. The team may implement one or the other feature in it before release but that is about it.
The first version that may see big improvements is likely Opera 16.
Wondering why I never stick with Opera. The times I’ve used it, I’ve liked it; but I always go back to Firefox–maybe the add-ons or the familiarity.
opera 15 i hope its not to much like chrome , chrome is the worst browser no settings cannot customize it or rearrange buttons like in opera 12.15. why any company would copy google chrome is a mystery. opera user for 12 years.
dennis