Opera

Opera is a multi-platform web browser developed by a company with the same name. 
==Overview==
Opera was first released on April 10, 1995 when the company was founded under the name of Opera Software AS by Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy, who both started developing the web browser while working at Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company. Its initial release date makes it one of the oldest web browsers on the Internet.
In the early development times of Opera, the version 2.10 was released for Windows in 1996. Opera began development of its first browser for mobile device platforms in 1998. Opera 4.0 was released in 2000, and it included a new cross-platform core that facilitated creation of editions of Opera for multiple operating systems and platforms, such as:
*Opera desktop browser for Windows, macOS, Linux
*Opera Mobile browser for Android and iOS.
Opera used to be a trialware, meaning users had to purchase this web browser after the trial period ended. From the beginning of the version 5.0 of Opera, it was then free and became ad-sponsored, displaying advertisements to users without a license.
As of January 2024, 311 million monthly active users are using Opera web browser.https://investor.opera.com/news-releases/news-release-details/opera-reports-both-revenue-and-adjusted-ebitda-above-guidance-1
==Features==
===Currently supported features===
;Access recently closed pages : Allows its users to retrieve all of the tabs or windows closed earlier in the current session from a list. Closed tabs can be recovered in the reverse sequence in which they were closed, by default this is achieved via the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + T. Users can also access recently closed tabs from other devices synced to their Opera account, including tablets and phones.
;Download manager : Like other web browsers, users can pause, resume or restart downloads. It also keeps the history of downloaded files and allows opening the files—or the folder where the file has been downloaded to—from within the browser.https://web.archive.org/web/20130906084244/http://help.opera.com/opera/Windows/1116/en/save.html#download
;Extensions : Like other web browsers, Extensions allow users to easily add functionality to their Opera browser, as well as share most APIs with the Chromium extension model. Developers can easily create extensions using open standards (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript) and specific extensions can be created to function as Speed Dial items.
;Image loading setting : Opera offers the option to load a page without images, or to use only images already in the web cache.https://web.archive.org/web/20130906080310/http://help.opera.com/opera/Windows/1116/en/controlPages.html#manageImages
;Mouse gestures : Opera supports gestures,https://www.cnet.com/news/building-a-better-computer-mouse/ which allows patterns of mouse movement to trigger common browsing actions, such as "back" or "refresh". Mouse gestures work by holding the right mouse button, moving the mouse a certain direction, then releasing the button. This option is similar to using keyboard shortcuts, as it saves time since users do not have to navigate to graphical buttons using the mouse pointer.
;Password manager : Every time a web page includes a password form, users have the option to store that password for later use. With the password manager, when a user re-visits these pages, the username and password fields will be already filled in.
;Private browsing : Opera includes its privacy mode, which allows user to browse without saving their search history or leaving other traces of the browsing session in that special window.
;Task Manager : Opera has its own task manager, which view a list of tabs with usage of CPU, RAM, graphic card, and other hardware. The feature is based on Chromium, which Opera is also based on.
;VR player : Allows users to play 360-degree videos that need be played directly into virtual reality headsets.
===Legacy features===
There were notable features in the older versions of Opera when it used its legacy layout engine Presto. Most of them were removed when Opera 12.18 was released in 2016.
;Search engine aliases : A feature that opens websites with an alias in an "omnibar" and without the need of full URL. Typing an alias in the "omnibar" (combination of address and web search bar) such as g , yt and w prior to the search string launches a search using Google, YouTube and Wikipedia respectively.
;Tooltips : Tooltips are small info boxes that displayed some additional relevant information. Some of Tooltips features include:http://help.opera.com/Windows/12.10/en/tooltips.html
::Displaying the file size and the progress of the page that was loading.
::Hovering the mouse cursor above buttons on the address bar would provide some information, inside of a small box, about that button's purpose. For some buttons, it would also display a combination of keystrokes, that one would have to press to execute the same action.
;BitTorrent : A built-in feature that transfer files.
;Content blocker : A feature used to block any content on a page such as images, videos, etc.
;Bookmarks : A feature that was initially added along with other features above. Its classic bookmark functionality was replaced by an improved Speed Dial and the introduction of the Stash feature. Many Opera users were not happy about the replacement, and bookmarks returned in a later version.https://web.archive.org/web/20150725071845/http://techifreak.com/2013/07/opera-turns-after-critizism-brings-back-bookmarks/
;Customization : Users have the option to change the appearance and functionality of every item on the UI with the exception of the minimize, maximize/restore, and exit buttons. Personal preferences for toolbar buttons and menus can be arranged with drag and drop, while access to .ini files allows one to create, define, or redefine buttons, menus tools and functions.
;Skins
;Toolbars : Opera provides toolbars that display different menus and buttons. For example, the "start" toolbar is a drop-down toolbar which can be enabled to provide access to history and bookmarks when the user focuses the address field. Additionally a "view" toolbar includes multiple shortcuts to control the page exhibition and a find in page tool, a "navigation" toolbar can show commands to navigate through webpages, etc.
;Developer tools : From versions 9.5, Opera used to have Opera Dragonfly. It is a web development tool for debugging JavaScript, viewing the DOM, monitoring network traffic, previewing resources, editing colors, etc. It was unused after versions 12.18.
;Fit to width : An initial feature that allows websites to fit within a smaller screen resolution without the need for horizontal scrolling. This feature relies on technology similar to Opera Mini's Small Screen Rendering (SSR)
;Full text history search : Words typed in the address field perform full-text search in the browser history. This allows a user to find a page previously accessed by searching by part of the text of its content. It was added in Opera 9.5.
;Hotclick : Hotclick refers to double-clicking any word in a page and having it to open the context menu instantly, which in Opera includes commands for searching the selected text in search engines and built-in translation, encyclopedia and dictionary services. In addition to this, the Hotclick menu also gives access to the 'copy', 'copy to note' (Opera 7 and later), and 'Send by email' functions.
;Opera Panels : Some tools relating to browsing and email functions are organized within Opera Panels. Users can add additional tools by downloading or creating their own. Examples of tools installed by default:
::*Bookmarks—lists all the bookmark folders and the bookmarks they contain.
::*Mail serves as access point for email accounts, folders, labels and news feeds.
::*Contacts—email address book.
::*History—provides a log of all pages accessed.
::*Links—list of links available in the current page.
::*Notes—displays all the notes folders and the notes they contain, it allows the user to edit pure text notes.
::*Info—displays page-specific information, including its MIME type, local cache, size, security information, and encoding.
::*Windows—provides management for all the tabs and windows open.
::*Transfers—simplified view of the download manager.
;Privacy and security :Opera can be configured to use proxy servers, and has a built-in cookie editor and web cache viewer. The password manager was also integrated into the browser. It allows users to set a master password to protect against unauthorized tampering or access to stored passwords. Users have full control over data supplied to the W3C Geolocation API.
===Discontinued features===
There are features that Opera used to have but now discontinued:
*Opera Link - Allowed users to synchronise their bookmarks, Speed Dial, notes, personal bar, custom search engines, typed history, and the content-blocker list across multiple computers and mobile devices. It was discontinued in 2015.
*Opera Mail - An email service within a web browser from version 2 to 12. With the release of Opera 15 in 2013, it became a separate product and is no longer bundled with Opera.
*Private Tabs - Allows users to open private tabs instead of a window. It was replaced by Private Windows in Opera 15.
*Sessions. It was featured in version 4. Since version 32, this feature can only be achieved with a combination of Speed Dial and Bookmarks, or more elegantly by installing a session-manager extension.
*Tabbed browsing features - Tabbed browsing features that were available in the older versions include:
**MDI: Tabs can be resized, moved, tiled, and cascaded like normal application windows in the operating system.
**Tab-stacking - Since version 11.0, dragging one tab over another allows a user to create a group of tabs.
**Option to have the tab bar displayed on one of the sides of the window or at the bottom. This feature is set to return in an upcoming version.
*User JavaScript - Opera supported User JavaScript (UserJS) extensions, which would execute JavaScript when pages were loaded in order to enhance site functionality. It was borrowed from UserJS.org, a currently-inactive unofficial central repository for Opera User JavaScripts. As of the latest version, extensions can make up for the need for UserJS. It was added in Opera 8 and was presumably discontinued when the 10.5x versions (codenamed Evenes) came with a new JavaScript engine. As of the latest version, extensions can make up for the need for UserJS.
*Widgets - Opera Widgets were small standalone applications sitting on the desktop that used the browser's rendering engine. It was added in Opera 8, released 19 April 2005 and were phased out starting with Opera 12.
*Others
**Save browsing history forever until manual deletion. (Chromium-Based browsers do erase old history automatically)
**Show page loading progress in the address bar (Size; Percentage; Number of loaded and total elements).
==References==
Category:Web browsers