Well, it's that time again. Here are my favorite changes in Opera 8.0 Beta 3:
- SVG 1.1 Tiny support. Need I say more?
- All protocols can be redirected to other applications. IRC://, NNTP://, and news:// URLs can now be set to open with other applications. And, if you run a standalone Opera Mail installation, HTTP:// and HTTPS:// URLs can be redirected to your browser installation![1]
- The "Title" setting in the [User Prefs] section of opera6.ini can now contain a "%t" variable, which will be the page title. In other words, you can set the order that information appears in the Title bar. If you want the Opera build number first, use something like "Title=Opera 8.0.%s - %t". If "%t" is left out, the title will show before the custom Title setting.
- Save attachments dialog. At long last, you can save multiple attachments to messages quickly. There are still several rough spots in attachment handling, but things are definitely getting better.
- The bug where "$" couldn't be used in search strings is fixed. I do a lot of message-id searches in Google Groups, which often triggered this bug. It's so nice to have one more annoyance gone.
- Improved collapsed address bar. If a page opens a pop-up without an address bar, the pop-up will now have a small bar at the top that shows the hostname and security information (if any) for the page. I'm starting to wish that it worked on all pages, not just pop-ups. :)
- Various prototype objects are now available to scripts. I really don't know what this means, but some of our testers were pretty excited about it. ;)
- Better form styling. We fixed a couple of bugs with the way form elements are styled, so things are working better and are more consistent with other browsers.
- Display notifiers immediately if special effects are turned off. If you're annoyed by the slow rising and falling of the notification dialogs, but still want to know when stuff is happening, you can disable skin special effects[2] and notifications show briefly, then vanish without all the scrolling.
- New preferences dialog. The new dialog has better organization and will probably be less daunting for new users. Some stuff that should have stayed didn't, though.
[1] Admittedly, there's a slight problem with this: if you open a link from an e-mail, a blank page is still opened even if the link is sent to another application. So, it may not be a complete solution yet, but it's a large step in the right direction.
[2] Unfortunately, that setting is currently only available by messing with opera6.ini. Set "Special effects=0" in the [User Prefs] section of opera6.ini to try it out. Note that this setting affects some skin styles, too.
