What is the Opera Web Browser?

The Opera web browser is a web browser created by the Norwegian company Opera Software. It is one step ahead of other browsers with its speed, security, standard support, small size, and continuous innovation.

It has differentiating features such as tabbed browsing, speed dialing, mouse movements during navigation, personalization by site, and thumbnail view on tabs.

What is Opera Web Browser, and What Does It Do?

Opera is available for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, OS/2, Solaris, and FreeBSD. In addition, it has two mobile versions, Opera Mini and Mobile.

Besides these versions, this browser is also available on Nintendo DS and Wii game consoles. It can also be used on the browser for televisions and DVD players.

History

Opera was launched in 1994 as a research project in Telenor, Norway’s largest telecommunications company, and later became a new company called Opera Software ASA in 1995.

It was later released for the first time with the 2.0 version and was only compatible with Microsoft Windows systems in 1996.

To capitalize on the emerging technology market, a new project for mobile platforms was launched in 1998.

With the release of version 4.0 in 2000, a new kernel and tabbed browsing design were introduced, which ran on multiple operating systems and platforms.

Until now, the Opera web browser has been available as a trial version, which requires purchase after the trial period has expired.

With the release of version 5.0, this requirement came to an end, and instead, ads were shown to non-paying users.

In its later versions, it added the option to display Google banner ads or text ads to the user. Later, in version 8.5, the ads were removed entirely.

Features included in version 9.1 were fraud protection using GeoTrust technology, a provider of digital certificates, and PhishTank systems, an organization that monitors well-known Phishing websites.

Additionally, in 2006, browser versions compatible with the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS game systems were developed. But these versions were initially available for a fee. Later, it became available for free again after 2009.

Properties

1. Although it is a quality web browser, some unsupported languages ​​can be found in forums or the community.
2. It allows you to navigate browser functions easily using mouse movements.
3. It allows the addition of favorite websites on the quick search page, allowing a unique design for the user.
4. It allows the detection of unsafe websites or phishing.
5. It provides more professional work thanks to the widgets developed by users.
6. Hovering over a tab shows a preview of the website open on that tab.
7. It offers the latest publications of your favorite websites on the homepage with RSS and Atom support.
8. It displays a preview of the content to the user before they subscribe to the RSS and Atom features.
9. The integrated e-mail application includes Opera Mail.
10. It allows you to remember account access data of any website, such as username and password, and data only for the current page.
11. It allows us to pause and resume a download as needed or to perform multiple downloads simultaneously.
12. Includes Java IRC chat client and FTP support.
13. The user can close the browser and then reopen the same pages and history per tab, allowing them to save and continue the current browsing session.
14. It allows you to save cookie settings, popups, and Java application behavior.
15. It allows you to add small text related to the page you are visiting to the clipboard.
16. It allows you to delete pages protected with cookies, data, passwords, cache, history of visited pages, history of written addresses, history of visited links, history of downloaded files, and other types of private information with a single click.
17. It allows you to block, open, or save certain links on a page. Additionally, it will enable instant calling.
18. It has the feature of popups.
19. It allows you to block ads or images from the website you are visiting.
20. It provides fast navigation, allowing you to navigate between tabs using the Ctrl + Tab Number combination.

Opera Mobile

In addition to the browser version developed for personal computers, there are also versions that can work on mobile devices. These are all based on the same kernel, but their features and user interface may differ.

Opera Mobile is a browser version designed for smartphones and PDAs.

The first version of Mobile was released for Psion Series 7 and NetBook in 2000, and then moved to Windows Mobile in 2004.

Users could try the browser for free for 30 days, but they had to buy it to continue using it.

Devices using the UIQ 3 operating system, such as Sony Ericsson P990 and Motorola RIZR Z8, were pre-installed with this version and were included in the price of the phone.

One of the main features of this version is its ability to dynamically adjust the format of web pages to better fit the screen of the mobile device.

In addition, the user can use the page zoom feature. However, like previous versions of Opera for personal computers, Mobile’s user interface is challenging to use or customize.

Opera Mini

Opera Mini, which is offered free of charge, is designed primarily for smartphones, PDAs, and mobile phones. It uses the Java ME platform and, therefore, requires the mobile device to run Java ME applications.

The mini-browser requests directly from Opera Software servers, which direct and compress information before returning pages to the mobile phone.

This compression process makes transfer time about two to three times faster, and pretreatment facilitates compatibility with web pages not designed for mobile phones.

Opera Wii

On May 10, 2006, the company developed a web browser called OperaWii for the Wii console, in collaboration with Nintendo.

Initially, this browser was available for free download. However, from July 2007 to September 2009, Wii Points were required for use on the Wii console. The browser download is now free again.