Almost any browser can display Web pages in more or less the same way, so what makes me choose my primary browser are management and conve¬nience features that are unique to each one. Among the best new features in Opera 9.50 is the ability to search the full text of all pages in the browser's history list.

This is only partly implemented in the main Beta 1 version, but I downloaded a more re¬cent nightly build from Opera's site that included History Search as one of the default options in the drop-down list of search engines in the search box in the upper-right-hand corner of the window. Now that I can enjoy the convenience of finding pages that I visited without having to remember exactly where those pages were, I wonder why I had to wait so long for it.

Name: History Searc 9.50.jpg Views: 62 Size: 33.1 KB

I also like the way Version 9.50 extends an exist¬ing,feature of Opera that lets you search standard search engines from its address bar by entering a one-letter abbreviation followed by a search string. For example, "g polygon" searches for "polygon" on Google; "y hexagon" searches for "hexagon" on Yahoo!. I created a search abbreviation that let me' enter "p opera" in the address bar to perform a search for "opera" in the search box at One minor annoyance is that you have to dig down into the Preferences menu to find a list of these search abbreviations if you forget them.