Opera 18 Dev update brings theme support

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 11, 2013
Opera
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7

I'm monitoring the development of the new Opera browser closely, not only because I'm interested in its progress but also because of nostalgic reasons.

The company maintains three releases channels, Stable, Next and Developer, and also the previous browser, even though it does not appear to be very high on the priority list anymore. It is very likely that it is maintained until Opera Software believes that the new browser is ready to replace it fully.

Opera 18 Developer has been updated just a moment ago by Opera Software. The new version introduces new features in the browser, and while that is the case, still lacks features that are important to members of the community.

The official Opera desktop team web blog highlights three of the changes in Opera 18 developer stream:

  • Tabs can now be moved between windows on Mac and Windows.
  • Theme support has been improved and is now enabled by default.
  • Moved to a new engine version.

opera 18 developer

The full changelog that is linked on the page highlights other changes. The developers have fixed several crashes, enabled Aura code on Windows, switched to WebP images in Discover, or improved DPI handling on Windows.

The same blog post offers information about new features that will land soon in Opera. This includes improvements on hard drive usage, custom searches by right-clicking on edit fields, enhancements to the Quick Access Bar, improvements to the browser's tab handling and more settings. In addition, Opera Link, the company's data synchronization product may land in Opera Dev in the coming two weeks.

Note: you can open opera://flags to enable some of the features that are still available - at least partially - but not yet ready for prime time. This includes the Quick Access Bar feature, allowing tabs to be moved between windows, or lazy session loading. The latter feature will only load the active tab when the browser restores a session on startup to speed up the load time of it.

No word yet on the long awaited Linux version of the new Opera browser or bookmarking support though.

Closing Words

Opera Software continues to work on the browser. It is still not clear when much requested features will land in the browser. The company seems to concentrate on features currently that many would consider essential, like moving tabs between the browser or themes support. Then again, bookmarking or a Linux version are also essential for many Internet users.

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Comments

  1. Pd said on July 9, 2014 at 9:14 am
    Reply

    What nostalgia reasons do you have? L opera seems like it’s never been very relevant. Did you ever use it as your primary browser?

  2. Ficho said on September 12, 2013 at 4:43 pm
    Reply

    This is funny (if you don’t speak German) :
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t4exNqYyV4

  3. RudyG said on September 12, 2013 at 9:01 am
    Reply

    I am still waiting for the ctrl enter function to work and of course the bookmarks.

  4. EuroSceptiC.GR said on September 12, 2013 at 8:36 am
    Reply

    Theme Support… The only thing I truly like and want it untouched, its Windows native Theme… On Windows 8 it looks incredible! In simplicity lies its beauty! And of course, no ugly rounded corners.

    They should better focus on other things.

  5. Cetedus said on September 11, 2013 at 7:46 pm
    Reply

    I ditched Opera for Firefox once they made the untimely move to the new engine. Still waiting for Opera Link and Bookmarks. Once they port it to the new version I’ll be able to come back.

  6. Dukislav said on September 11, 2013 at 7:21 pm
    Reply

    Ridiculous, not enough material for 18…

  7. Ficho said on September 11, 2013 at 6:56 pm
    Reply

    I am testing Opera Developer and I made it usable with the help of Chrome extensions.
    Opera themes are just background for speed dial.Support for Chrome themes would
    be nice.I’ve found many bugs in Opera 18 Developer.
    I am waiting for bookmarks sidebar (panel).

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