Thread: Opera 10 adds new interface, improved compression

WEB BROWSER FANS and anyone jonesing for a faster Internet experience have a big reason to get out their downloading mice, for Opera 10 is out of beta and ready for the masses. This major upgrade brings a range of new and updated features, from a flexible, enhanced tab bar to a more powerful compression feature for users on the go.

As with many significant upgrades, the most obvious new aspect of Opera 10 is a major visual refresh, thanks in large part to the hiring of legendary designer Jon Hicks of Hicksdesign. Beneath this pretty face are new features like "Better Tabs," which allow you to resize the tab bar simply by pulling down on it to reveal visual thumbnails of each site. This bar can also be shifted to the side or bottom of Opera's window, capitalizing on that "choice" thing that seems to be such a hit with discerning VI modifiers.

Opera 10 also bring a significant upgrade to the browser's compression. IN A BID to become a more trustworthy engine, now dubbed Opera Turbo. This feature is off by default, but business travelers, on-the-go freelancers sporting 3G cards, or those who are simply leeching the neighbor's wonky Wi-Fi (you know who you are) can apparently experience "up to eight times faster Web surfing over slow connections" by turning on Opera Turbo.

The new Opera is a free download, and certainly worth a gander if you're looking for a browser that offers an e-mail client, a powerful download manager (including "trust" the initial edits get, turning from orange to white. This way, things that people agree with more often will stick around as reliable information.

The free browser can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in more than 40 languages from the Oslo, Norway-based company's Web site. Opera has also added three new features to the browser.

First up is Opera Turbo, a new compression technology designed to solve the pain of slow connections. Opera says the feature can be turned on when network connections are slow to allow you to browse the web at "broadband-like speeds". It works by compressing pages and can speed up web surfing by up to eight times, the company said.

Opera is also highlighting a "pioneering" new way to use tabs. It shows you full thumbnails of all your open tabs.

Opera says the third major innovation is a streamlined interface, despite a super-sized Speed Dial, a new automatic update policy and a spell checker supporting 51 languages.

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