NotScripts is available for Opera 11.10 or newer. the installation process is a bit on the complicated side. Here are the instructions on how to install NotScripts correctly.

• Install the extension. You can install the latest NotScripts version right from the Opera Extensions repository.
• Close the Opera window and re-open Opera.
• Click the NotScripts button in the Opera toolbar.
  It would show you a message saying you to set User JS Storage Quota to 5000. Click the message and it will take you to the ‘User JS Storage Quota’ setting.
• Change the value of the setting from 0 to 5000.
• Click the Save button. You might need to scroll down to find the Save button.
• You may need to restart the Opera browser before the changes take effect.

Opera’s Notscript, unlike NoScript comes with three different script blocking mode. The default mode is whitelist which blocks all scripts except those that are run from whitelisted domains. Blacklist, the other option allows all scripts by default and blocks only scripts on a user maintained blacklist (much like the Firefox add-on YesScript). The last mode Whitelist + Same Origin uses the whitelist approach to block all scripts but allows scripts running on the same domain the user is on automatically.

So more choice in this regard which is really nice. When you visit a site you need to click on the NotScript icon to display the list of blocked scripts. There is no indicator that scripts where blocked which is probably the biggest usability issue. A click on the icon displays the scripts which options to allow, block or temporarily allow them individually.

If you run the blacklist mode (allow all scripts except selected ones) then you see a script listing similar to that on the screenshot above. The blue action is the current one for that script on that particular site. Just like with NoScript you can allow all scripts, globally allow all temporarily until revoked or temporarily allow the shown scripts.

NotScript seems to work considerably well. I have two big gripes with it. First the missing notification as it is a guess game if a script has been blocked or not and second that the developer has not updated the script in a while (the last update dates back to April 2011).

The extension itself works and that’s the most important aspect obviously. It is not a 100% port of NoScript but a port that brings the most important feature of the Firefox security extension to Opera. For that, it is highly recommended to be installed.

An alternative to that is the Opera NoScript Alternative BlockIt which I have reviewed in the linked article.

With the rise came add-ons and userscripts to improve various aspects of the Reddit site and user experience. The Reddit Enhancement Suite has been recently updated to version 4 for all supported browsers. It adds a custom dashboard to Reddit that adds features to the popular site.

When you first install the add-on you will probably not notice a big difference to the way the Reddit web page looked before. What you will see on the other hand is a new button at the top right corner of the screen (next to the user information) that opens the dashboard, settings console and night or day mode (the latter turns the white background into black and changes various other styles on the page).

The Settings Console is where all the new features and changes can be activated and configured.

Buttons at the top lead to configuration menus to configure accounts, comments, filters, the user interface and users. Lets take a look at each menu:

• Accounts: Option to enable the account switcher which stores Reddit usernames and password pairs to switch between accounts effortlessly. Also configured to show comment karma next to link karma.
• Comments: Adds a comment navigator to easily find comments, options to hide all child comments, live comment previews, keeping track of the comments count, option to save comments and to display parent comments when hovering over the parent link of a comment.
• Filters: Filter out not safe for work contents, add keywords to filter out, ignore subreddits and domains. Add a spam button on Reddit for easy post reporting.
• User interface: The biggest section offers a lot of different tweaks and changes. This includes adding keyboard navigation to Reddit, auto-loading new posts at the end of each page automatically for an neverending stream of posts, an inline image viewer or showing an unread message count.
• Users: Options to highlight users in comment threads, ignore users and tag users.

The Reddit Enhancement suite is available for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Safari. It can be downloaded directly from the official project website.

YouWatch is an incredible Youtube extension for the Opera web browser. The extension has two core features: YouWatch keeps tracks of watched videos on Youtube and hides them from the video portal’s search results. This way it is less likely that you accidentally click on a video that you have already watched.

Sometimes though you may want to watch a Youtube video again. That’s where the second feature comes into play. It tracks all watched videos and displays them on a new patch on Youtube that is linked on every page.

The page lists the watched videos along with their titles, screenshots, uploader comments, watches and description.

Only the last six videos are shown by default but it is possible to use Youtube’s search form to instantly search in the watched videos to find a video again. Instantly in this regard means that the results are automatically updated without page reloads. The number of videos that are shown to the user and other settings can be changed in the extension’s preferences. The database contents can be deleted in the options as well to start anew.

Best of all, no Google or Youtube account is needed for the functionality.

The one thing that’s missing at this point is the ability to hide videos that are shown under suggestions on individual video pages. Those videos are not hidden even if they have already been watched before.

YouWatch is only available for the Opera web browser. It can be directly installed at the official Opera Extensions’ gallery.

The only option to view the image completely is to resize the image.

The Opera extension Make It So does that automatically in the Opera browser. The extension resizes images automatically whenever their resolution exceeds that of the browser window.

The extension works only on images that are displayed directly in the browser window. Images embedded on web pages are not processed by the Opera extension.

Several controls are available to make the viewing of images more comfortable.

The WASD keys flip the image which can be handy if the orientation of the image is not correct. The shortcut B enables and disables a checkerboard background.

Preferences are available to configure various extension settings.

This includes options to stretch small images automatically to fit the browser window, configure background colors for raster and vector images and the transition speed of the scaling.

Opera 11 users can install Make It so directly from the Opera Extensions gallery.
It is possible to click on the image to toggle between the resized view and the original resolution at any time. The image scales with the browser window which means that it is automatically resized if the browser window is resized.

A double-click on the image fits the shorter side to the browser window which usually means that the longer side becomes scrollable.

That’s just one example where redirects come in handy. Another has just been mentioned in the Bypass The Microsoft SmartScreen Filter.

LinkRedirector is an extension for the Opera 11 web browser that offers link manipulation options. The extension comes with preconfigured redirects for several popular services and websites. Among them Google, Myspace, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, various image hosting sites like Flickr, DeviantArt or Picasa, file viewers like Google Docs or Zoho and https redirects for services such as Gmail, Twitter and MySpace.

Links can furthermore be opened with Google Translate (by holding down Ctrl-Alt) or Google Web Cache (by holding down Alt).

Filters can be added but knowledge of regular expressions is needed for this. It is basically possible to redirect any link regardless of its destination. It is for instance possible to redirect images directly to an online image editor, documents to an online service that displays them in the browser or to redirect links so that they bypass interstitial pages.

Links can be configured for automatic redirection or for hotkey redirects. This would redirect the link only if the assigned hotkey is activated which makes it possible to configure multiple services for the same link or file extension.

Opera 11 users who want a versatile tool to redirect links in the web browser find additional information and installation options at the Opera Extensions Gallery.

Update: The Opera Links Redirector extension has been removed from the Opera website. It is not clear if the developer or moderators have removed it. There does not seem to be a comparable extension available for the browser at the moment.

Not all Opera users may want to disable the status bar but those who do save some screen estate by doing so. Why would some Opera users like to keep the status bar? Because it displays more than just the link target addresses.

The standard status bar in Opera displays quick links to panels, Opera Link, Unite, Turbo and View options to zoom in or out or make other view related changes.

Opera users who want to install and try Popup Statusbar find the extension available for installation at the Opera Addons website.

A click on the Install button installs the extension in Opera. Every open tab needs to be reloaded before the extension becomes active there, new tabs are automatically processed.

The screenshot above visualize the link popup of the extension and the standard status bar of the Opera browser. It obviously makes sense to only keep one of the two displays.

The fastest way to disable the Opera statusbar is to press Shift-F12, switch to the Toolbars tab in the opening Appearance window and unselect Status Bar from the options.

The developer of the Opera extension plans to add custom colored links in future updates which should be an interesting addition.

Will it have an impact on the browser’s market share? If the implementation is as solid as the rest, then it likely will.

Opera in the same post have announced that a first alpha version of Opera 11 will be made available soon at this web address.

Here are additional information about Opera 11 extension support:

What are Opera Extensions?

Extensions in Opera is a way for you to easily add new functionality to your Opera browser experience. Developers can easily create extensions using open standards (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript) and supported APIs.

Extensions will be based on the W3C Widget specifications and this is being considered for an Open Standard effort.

Will Opera Extensions be similar to extensions in other browsers?

Yes, Opera Extensions will be similar in some ways and we have tried to make it easy to port extensions from certain browsers.

We are committed to open web standards and this is an important part of our strategy, so if you find us deviating from other solutions out there, this might be why.

What does an extension look like?

Some extensions have user interface elements, but not all. An extension can for example add a button next to the Google Search field with a popup menu when you click on it. Other extensions don’t have user interfaces at all, but run in the background.

How will I install Opera Extensions?

Once you have Opera 11 installed you can click on an extension and a small Install-window will appear. Click ‘Install’ and you’re done. You can also drag and drop an extension onto Opera Desktop if you have an extension stored on your computer.

What kind of APIs will you support?

With the first iteration of Opera Extensions we are focusing on open web standards and ‘getting it right’. Our alpha release supports injectable JavaScript, callouts, certain UI items and a basic Tabs and Windows API.

How can I get Opera Extensions?

Opera Extensions is not available yet. Once Opera 11 is out, you will be able to fully enjoy and use Opera Extensions.

Where can I find developer information on extensions?

Once Opera 11 Alpha is out, you will be able to find all the information you need to develop and publish extensions on our developer site Dev Opera.

Where can I find Opera 11?

Opera 11 Alpha will be made available soon at http://www.opera.com/browser/next/.

Opera extensions may finally make Opera a valid contender in the “browser wars”. What’s your opinion on it?

Installation is straightforward. All that needs to be done by the user is to download the zip file containing the extension. A readme with instructions and troubleshooting information will be unpacked next to the setup file. Installation does not take longer than a few seconds usually. An oGet popup will appear after launching Opera that displays all supported download managers. The user has to make his selection here to use the extension.

The instructions are worth a read as they contain information about downloading files from Rapidshare and other file hosts as well as downloading pictures and flash. It also contains information about uninstalling oGet again.