The Good Life... a weblog about life, technology, and the Opera Web browser

And now for something almost completely different. Yesterday, March 31st, was my last day as an Opera Software employee. It's been a great six years and it saddens me that I won't be working with the great folks at Opera any longer. Opera Software truly employees some of the best and brightest developers and QA in the world and I was extremely lucky to be a part of such a talented team of individuals so early in my professional life.

Opera makes great software and deserves much more respect than it gets in the USA. The company has many obstacles to overcome in order to increase their desktop market share in the USA and I hope that they rise to the challenge. I will be watching and contributing as I can to the effort and I encourage all Opera fans to do the same.

What's next for me? On Sunday, my wife, daughter, and I arrived in Cupertino, CA where I'll be working for a certain consumer-oriented hardware and software maker. How do you like them Apples?

Unlike its brethren on Windows and UNIX/Linux, it has not been possible to specify the profile directory for Opera on OS X, making it difficult to maintain multiple installations. This is particularly problematic if snapshots are not set to use the correct profile directories (which happens from time to time) or when trying to migrate from a snapshot to a final release. Discussed below are two ways to circumvent these problems.

The PrefsSuffix File

To force snapshots to use a different profile for snapshots, a single file is added to the Opera.app package: PrefsSuffix (with no file extension). This file should be located in the Opera.app/Contents/Resources/ directory and contains a string to append to the default profile directories. For instance, the Opera 10.0 snapshots' PrefsSuffix file contains "10" (sans quotes), which makes the profile directory ~/Library/Preferences/Opera Preferences 10/ instead of the default ~/Library/Preferences/Opera Preferences/. The PrefsSuffix is also appended to the default Application Support and Cache directories, making Opera use a completely unique profile.

Here's a step-by-step method for using a PrefsSuffix file:

1. Create a text file named "PrefsSuffix" with no extension.
2. Add the desired profile directories suffix in the text file. For instance, if you want Opera to use "Opera Preferences Peregrine Beta" for preferences, you'll put "Peregrine Beta" (sans quotes) in the text file.
3. Right-click on the Opera.app and choose "Show Package Contents".
4. Navigate to Contents/Resources/ and copy the "PrefsSuffix" file there.
5. Optionally rename Opera.app.

The PrefsSuffix can contain alphanumeric characters (A-Za-z), spaces (" "), and/or dashes ("-").

It's important to remember to update the PrefsSuffix file any time the Opera.app package is changed, such as when installing a new snapshot or when auto-updating. If the PrefsSuffix file is missing, the default profile directories will be used.

All paths in Opera's preferences files must be updated before a profile can be copied from the default location to a new directory for use with a PrefsSuffix.

Setting the PrefsSuffix from the Command-Line

Since it's not always easy to remember to update the PrefsSuffix file, there's another method to set the PrefsSuffix from the command-line. Opera can be run from the command-line with the "-pd" switch followed by a string to append to the default profile directory locations. For instance, if Opera.app is in /Applications/, you would type "/Applications/Opera.app/Contents/MacOS/Opera -pd 10" to use the ~/Library/Preferences/Opera Preferences 10/ preferences directory. If the desired PrefsSuffix contains whitespace, the string should be quoted (e.g. '/Applications/Opera.app/Contents/MacOS/Opera -pd "Peregrine Beta"'.

Running Opera from the command-line using "-pd" will not override a PrefsSuffix file in Opera.app.

Tips and Tricks

Using the PrefsSuffix file, it's easy to have multiple versions of Opera running side-by-side. For instance, a user could have "Opera Kestrel.app" with a PrefsSuffix file containing "Kestrel" and "Opera Snapshot.app" with a PrefsSuffix containing "Snapshot" to keep the latest stable and snapshot versions separated. Using QuickSilver, you can easily run each version of Opera simultaneously.

Since running a snapshot without a PrefsSuffix can have unintended consequences, it's a good idea to always use a PrefsSuffix file with Opera. Thus, if an unstable build inadvertently doesn't use a PrefsSuffix, it can't cause problems with a users' primary Opera installation.

The Opera 10.0 snapshot released today includes a new feature that allows users to click on mailto links and have them open in web mail providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Windows Live Hotmail. This is particularly useful for individuals that primarily use web mail instead of a standalone e-mail client.

In a clean install, clicking a mailto link will trigger the e-mail client selection dialog, which allows users to choose between using Opera Mail, the system default mailer, or various web mail providers. When you select a web mail provider (and check the "Do not show this dialog again" checkbox), all mailto links will open in the specified web mail provider and automatically fill in parts of the compose window. For instance, the maillto link above will put "Test Mail" in the compose window subject. Users can change their settings in Preferences > Advanced > Programs by editing the "mailto" handler.

The web mail providers currently supported are Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Windows Live Hotmail. Yahoo! Mail and Windows Live Hotmail will not work very well if you aren't running a recent browser.js, as neither official supports Opera. Furthermore, Yahoo! Mail currently only opens the welcome page, but doesn't open a compose window.

This feature works via a list of web mail providers in the webmailproviders.ini file in the "defaults" sub-directory of the Opera program directory. On Windows, for instance, the file will be in "C:\Program Files\Opera\defaults\" if you install Opera in "C:\Program Files\Opera\". On OS X, the file is in the Opera.app package in the "Contents/Resources/defaults/" directory. Opera will need to be restarted to pick up new/changed entries in the file. Web mail providers are defined via the following format:

[Gmail]
ID=1
URL=https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s
ICON=http://mail.google.com/favicon.ico

• The provider name shown in the UI is enclosed in square brackets.
• ID is a unique integer identifier for each entry in the file.
• URL is the web mail provider's mailto handler URL. "%s" will be replaced with the clicked mailto URL. Currently, data and javascript URLs are allowed.
• Icon is a link to a favicon representing the web mail provider.

Some web mail providers do not have a mailto handler URL, but can prefill compose windows by specifying each parameter separately, e.g. "http://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&to=%t&su=%s&body=%m&cc=%c&bcc=%b" where %t represents the message recipient, %s the message subject, %m the message body, %c CC'd recipients, and %b BCC'd recipients. The current implementation does not natively support this style of URL, but it is possible to get around this limitation using a javascript or data URL to process the clicked mailto URL into separate parameters. For instance, the following entry could be added to webmailproviders.ini to make Opera work with Opera Web Mail (special thanks to Michael A. Puls II for providing this URL):

[Operamail.com]
ID=4
URL=javascript:(function(uri)%7B%0D%0Afunction%20decode(s)%7Btry%7Breturn%20decodeURIComponent(s).replace(%2F%5Cr%5Cn%7C%5Cr%7C%5Cn%2Fg%2C%22%5Cr%5Cn%22)%3B%7Dcatch(e)%7Breturn%20%22Opera%20percent-decode%20error%22%3B%7D%7D%0D%0Afunction%20encode(s)%7Btry%7Breturn%20encodeURIComponent(s)%3B%7Dcatch(e)%7Breturn%20%22Opera%2520percent-encode%2520error%22%3B%7D%7D%0D%0Afunction%20escapeInvalidHH(s)%7Breturn%20s.replace(%2F%25(%3F!%5B0-9A-F%5D%7B2%7D)%2Fgi%2Cfunction()%7Breturn%20%22%2525%22%3B%7D)%3B%7D%0D%0Afunction%20escapeUnsafeHH(s)%7Breturn%20s.replace(%2F%2500%7C%2501%7C%2502%7C%2503%7C%2504%7C%2505%7C%2506%7C%2507%7C%2508%7C%250B%7C%250C%7C%250E%7C%250F%7C%2510%7C%2511%7C%2512%7C%2513%7C%2514%7C%2515%7C%2516%7C%2517%7C%2518%7C%2519%7C%251A%7C%251B%7C%251C%7C%251D%7C%251E%7C%251F%2Fgi%2Cfunction(match)%7Breturn%20encode(match)%3B%7D)%3B%7D%0D%0Afunction%20filterSingleLine(s)%7Breturn%20s.replace(%2F%5Cr%7C%5Cn%2Fg%2C%22%22)%3B%7D%0D%0Afunction%20MailtoURIParser(s)%7Bthis.parse(escapeUnsafeHH(escapeInvalidHH(%22to%3D%22%2Buri.substr(7).replace(%2F%5C%3F%2F%2C%22%26%22))))%3B%7D%0D%0AMailtoURIParser.prototype%3D%7Bparse%3Afunction(dataset)%7Bthis.to%3Dthis.subject%3Dthis.body%3Dthis.cc%3Dthis.bcc%3D%22%22%3Bvar%20ref%3Dthis%3Bdataset.replace(%2F(%5B%5E%3D%26%5D%2B)%3D(%5B%5E%26%5D*)%2Fg%2Cfunction(match%2Chname%2Chvalue)%7Bhname%3Ddecode(hname).toLowerCase()%3Bif(hname%3D%3D%22to%22)%7Bif(hvalue!%3D%22%22)%7Bif(ref.to!%3D%22%22)%7Bref.to%2B%3D%22%252C%2520%22%3B%7Dref.to%2B%3Dhvalue%3B%7D%7Delse%20if(hname%3D%3D%22cc%22)%7Bif(hvalue!%3D%22%22)%7Bif(ref.cc!%3D%22%22)%7Bref.cc%2B%3D%22%252C%2520%22%3B%7Dref.cc%2B%3Dhvalue%3B%7D%7Delse%20if(hname%3D%3D%22bcc%22)%7Bif(hvalue!%3D%22%22)%7Bif(ref.bcc!%3D%22%22)%7Bref.bcc%2B%3D%22%252C%2520%22%3B%7Dref.bcc%2B%3Dhvalue%3B%7D%7Delse%20if(hname%3D%3D%22subject%22)%7Bref.subject%3Dhvalue%3B%7Delse%20if(hname%3D%3D%22body%22)%7Bif(!(hvalue%3D%3D%22%22%26%26ref.body%3D%3D%22%22))%7Bif(ref.body!%3D%22%22)%7Bref.body%2B%3D%22%250D%250A%22%3B%7Dref.body%2B%3Dhvalue%3B%7D%7D%7D)%3Bthis.to%3Dencode(filterSingleLine(decode(this.to)))%3Bthis.subject%3Dencode(filterSingleLine(decode(this.subject)))%3Bthis.body%3Dencode(decode(this.body))%3Bthis.cc%3Dencode(filterSingleLine(decode(this.cc)))%3Bthis.bcc%3Dencode(filterSingleLine(decode(this.bcc)))%3B%7D%2Cformat%3Afunction(s)%7Bvar%20ref%3Dthis%3Breturn%20s.replace(%2F(%25%25)%7C(%25T)%7C(%25S)%7C(%25M)%7C(%25C)%7C(%25B)%7C(%25w)%2Fg%2Cfunction(match%2Ca%2Cb%2Cc%2Cd%2Ce%2Cf%2Cg)%7Bif(a)return%20%22%25%22%3Bif(b)return%20ref.to%3Bif(c)return%20ref.subject%3Bif(d)return%20ref.body%3Bif(e)return%20ref.cc%3Bif(f)return%20ref.bcc%3Bif(g)return%20encode(%22mailto%3A%22%2Bref.to%2B%22%3Fsubject%3D%22%2Bref.subject%2B%22%26body%3D%22%2Bref.body%2B%22%26cc%3D%22%2Bref.cc%2B%22%26bcc%3D%22%2Bref.bcc)%3B%7D)%3B%7D%7D%3B%0D%0Aif(uri.search(%2Fmailto%3A%2Fi)!%3D0)%7Bthrow%20%22Not%20a%20MailtoURI%22%3B%7D%0D%0Avar%20parser%3Dnew%20MailtoURIParser(uri)%3B%0D%0Avar%20compose%3Dparser.format(%22http%3A%2F%2Fmymail.operamail.com%2Fscripts%2Fmail%2FOutblaze.mail%3Fcompose%3D1%26did%3D1%26a%3D1%26to%3D%25T%26subject%3D%25S%26body%3D%25M%26cc%3D%25C%26bcc%3D%25B%22)%3B%0D%0Avar%20a%3Ddocument.createElementNS(%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2Fxhtml%22%2C%22a%22)%3Ba.href%3Dcompose%3Ba.click()%3B%0D%0A%7D)(%22%s%22)%3B
ICON=http://www.opera.com/favicon.ico

This feature is a work in progress and we hope to work out all of the kinks with web mail providers before the final release of Opera 10.0.

Update (2009-01-13 2:25pm ET): The initial operamail.com URL was wrong and has now been updated.

Opera Mail just grew up. A lot. During the past two years, the Opera Mail team has been working feverishly to improve robustness, stability, performance, and user experience. The results of our labor will soon be available in the final release of Opera 9.5 (previously referred to by the code-name "Kestrel"). Check the full changelog (once available) for the list of changes since 9.27. Below are some additional notes that didn't quite fit in the changelog:

Known Issues

• On the initial check after upgrading, all deleted feed items still available in feeds will be redownloaded. In other words, if a user performs an upgrade installation all old feed items will be downloaded again and marked unseen. Since feeds generally contain about twenty-five items, this won't be too bad, but it's probably still worth preparing for. A user with existing feed items could, for instance, label them or add them to a filter to keep track of them, then press the Update button in the Feeds view (Feeds > Read Feeds) to force updates for all subscribed feeds. Note that it's possible to get never-before-seen feed items in addition to redownloaded feed items, so users should take care when deleting apparently redownloaded feed items. Feed items that have been downloaded with a previous install, but have not been deleted should not be duplicated.
• The Check/Send button no longer changes into a Stop button during server communication. Users that have customized the toolbar won't get the new button and the old button will permanently be stuck at Stop. Reset the toolbar to fix the problem.
• The Delete button has gone through some changes, so users should make sure they reset their mail view toolbars. If not, it's possible that messages may be inadvertently deleted when trying to undelete messages from, for instance, the Trash view.

What to Expect when Upgrading

The process of upgrading from previous Opera releases is straight-forward. On the first start-up after installation, Opera will notify the user that the mail database needs to be updated. During this process, Opera Mail will not be accessible. The update generally goes quickly, upgrading several thousand messages per minute. When the upgrade process is finished, the user will need to restart Opera before Opera Mail is accessible. After restarting Opera may take a long time to start up, sometimes in excess of thirty minutes. This is a necessary part of the upgrade process, so don't interrupt it!

Note: Once this process begins, Opera Mail can no longer be downgraded! Users should create a backup of their Mail directory before upgrading.

Attention POP users: If users with POP accounts set to "Leave messages on server" empty their trash, Opera will delete the trashed messages on the server. Users can disable this behavior by setting "Permanent delete=0" for the relevant account in accounts.ini. Also, there's no longer a warning when disabling "Leave mesasges on server": all messages on the server will be deleted automatically.

More information about some of the behind-the-scenes changes in Opera Mail will be available in the coming weeks.

Two days ago, we announced we had achieved 100/100 on the DOM portion of the Acid3 test. Later that evening, a bug was found in the Acid3 test itself. The bug was fixed and the WebKit team announced that they had achieved 100/100 on the DOM portion of the test and they had pixel-perfect rendering, making them the first to achieve two of the three pass conditions (congrats on that, by the way!).

Today, we'd like to announce the same. We have achieved 100/100 with pixel perfect rendering:

This screenshot is copyright Opera Software ASA and released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Windows and Linux users may test this out themselves by downloading the GOGI build available from the Opera Labs. A note about these builds: GOGI, short for Generic Opera Graphics Interface, is a tool our Core team uses internally to develop our cross-platform/cross-project code. It has a very simple UI, which is nothing at all like Opera for Desktop. It is in no way meant to replace Opera for Desktop and we don't expect to duplicate any GOGI features in Opera for Desktop. It also lacks some security features, and thus we recommend that it not be used for regular surfing. Furthermore, please don't file bug reports about problems you find in GOGI.

Now, WebKit and Opera have reached the same point and have the same challenge: optimize enough to run test 26 in 33ms.

At the beginning of March, the Web Standards Project (WaSP) released Acid3, a web standards spot-checking test. As with Acid2, the goal of the test is to improve interoperability between web browsers. The Acid3 test consists of 100 DOM sub-tests, which assess a browser's support for DOM, CSS, SVG, and ECMAscript, as well as some rendering tests. To pass the test, a browser must render the test pixel for pixel identical to the reference rendering, pass all 100 DOM tests, and animate the test smoothly. So far, Opera is the only browser to pass all 100 DOM tests (more on that in a bit). Information about the pass rates for browsers is available in Wikipedia's excellent article about Acid3.

While browser vendors implement the same web standards, their implementations are sometimes incompatible due to bugs, different interpretations of the standards, or missing functionality. Incompatible implementations increase the development time and decrease the innovation of web sites/applications. Thus, the WaSP Acid tests establish a compatibility baseline that web developers can count on during development. That is, once browser vendors pass the tests.

As with the Acid2 test, the Acid3 test should not be viewed as a race. It's all about improving interoperability and making the Web a better place. If only one or two browsers pass the test, the test isn't a success and the Web can't improve. It's important that all major browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari) pass the test. The Acid2 test was released in April 2005, yet three years later only final releases of Opera and Safari pass it. That means web developers still can't rely on the functionality in Acid2 as a baseline. It'll probably be at least two or three years before the functionality tested it Acid3 can be used as a baseline.

Opera's Progress on Acid3

At Opera, we rely on web standards to allow us to render live web sites correctly. Interoperability allows us to use a different rendering engine, yet render web pages the same as other browsers. That's one of the reasons we've put a lot of focus on the Acid3 test since it was released:

• Opera's latest final public release, 9.26, scores 46/100 on the test and has some significant layout problems
• The initial alpha of Kestrel, released in September 2007, scores 58/100 on the test and has some small layout problems. At that point, we had not done fixes specifically for the test, which is a testament to the rendering engine improvements in Kestrel
• Our latest snapshot release scores 77/100 and has some small layout problems
• Our latest internal build (screenshot below) scores 100/100 and renders the test almost perfectly! We have some work to do still, but we expect to have that taking care of shortly. UPDATE (2007-03-27): a bug was found in the Acid3 test, which may affect our pass rate

This screenshot (and the screenshot it links to) are copyright Opera Software ASA and released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

This is the first time a screenshot of GOGI, our internal testing platform, has been released publicly. Core developers and testers use GOGI for their development, so they have a platform-independent setup. Also, Core testers do regression testing in GOGI before Core fixes are released to the Desktop Team build. That said, Kestrel may not pass the Acid3 test, even if internal builds do. Some of the internal fixes are experimental and they need regression testing before they can become part of a Desktop release. We hope to have a public test build within the next couple weeks that passes the test.

As Opera Software's lead QA for Opera Mail, I get a lot of opportunities to analyze the communication between IMAP clients and servers. Gmail is by far the quirkiest and most troublesome IMAP implementation I've seen to date. Gmail's own documentation describes how clients must work around the deficiencies built into their implementation. I understand that Gmail's IMAP implementation is still in beta (a Google norm), but some of the basic design choices are at the heart of the problem, which leads me to believe they won't be changing. These decisions are anti-IMAP (even the IMAP spec. author finds Gmail's IMAP disappointing) and cause Opera users headaches. Here are some of the specific problems:

• Gmail's labeling system could integrate marvelously with IMAP clients if only it used IMAP keywords. Instead, IMAP mailboxes are used to represent labels. All messages (sent and received) are always available in the "Gmail/[All Mail]" mailbox, so any time a message is labeled, a duplicate message is added to the label's IMAP mailbox. IMAP clients then receive several copies of the same message, none of which integrate with the client-side labeling system. If Gmail had instead used IMAP keywords, only one message would be needed and integration would be seamless.
• Gmail doesn't allow users to change mailbox subscriptions. Unsubscribing from label mailboxes is a sensible work-around for the above design deficiency, but it's inexplicably not allowed.
• Gmail doesn't handle standard IMAP flags, such as "\Deleted", "\Answered", and "\Recent". For instance, instead of intelligent handling of "\Deleted" flags in the web interface, users are required to use a variety of work-arounds to mimic the functionality already built into the IMAP protocol.

In addition to the unfortunate design decisions listed above, Gmail's IMAP implementation has a number of bugs:

• Gmail encodes message headers containing Slavic characters (at least) incorrectly when clients download only message headers. Headers are encoded correctly if a client downloads message bodies and headers together.
• Gmail sometimes sends malformed BODYSTRUCTURE responses (often used to determine the number and size of attachments to a message before it's downloaded).

To their credit, Gmail has already fixed another bug (in the STATUS command response) we reported to them. I hope they rethink their design decisions and fix the remaining bugs soon, enabling a seamless web interface and IMAP client experience. Otherwise, the burden falls on IMAP clients to implement hackish work-arounds for Gmail, rather than relying on open standards.

Special thanks to Arjan van Leeuwen for investigating many of these issues.

I've been tagged! Rowan Mulder wants to know what five things I'd like to see in Opera. The tagging game began with Daniel Goldman (see his post for the rules) and I'm going to go ahead and tag Timothy Luoma, Rijk van Geijtenbeek, Eirik Stavem, Allan Clements, and Ian Hickson.

Picking out five things I'd like to see in Opera is actually a bit tricky for me. I spend a lot of time listening to what others want in Opera. Often when I talk about what I want in Opera, I'm just echoing what I've heard from others. After some thorough brainstorming, I hope I've filtered off the bias and will present a list that's truly my own. Since I have a unique perspective as an employee, I've bent the rules a bit and included some things that I think (and hope!) Opera Software as a company could do better in the future.

And without further ado, five things I'd like to see in Opera:

• A better icon - Really, Opera's icon isn't very good. There are a number of design problems with it and it really can't compare to its competitors.
• A publicly accessible bug tracking system - Opera's users are awesome. They tirelessly figure out problems on web sites and find ways to reproduce really odd issues. To get the most out of their expertise, it makes sense to make the Opera Software bug tracking system publicly accessible. Our users are one of our greatest assets and I know that'd be thrilled to help kill some bugs.
• Better changelogs - When an Opera user takes the time to report a bug, the least Opera Software can do is inform them it's been fixed by listing it in the build/release changelog. Changelogs typically include less than 10% of the actual changes, though many are included in blanket statements like "improved stability".
• Opera Mail as a separate application - Opera Mail gets no respect, even less than the Opera browser. Opera Mail in Kestrel is leaps and bounds better than Opera Mail ever has been and it's going to get even better in Peregrine. I already use Opera Mail as if it were a stand-alone application, but few users probably know how to do so. Thus, I'd like Opera Software to release Opera Mail as a standalone application so others will be able to experience its greatness!
• Developer tools - One of the best ways to get more users to use Opera is to fix web site problems. One of the best ways to fix web sites problems is to provide superior tools for developers. If developers developed their web sites using Opera, then fixed the problems they find in other browsers, Opera would work out of the box. I think one of the main reasons that Mozilla and Firefox caught on is because it was early-on the defacto geek/developer browser. Those geeks/developers made their web sites work in Firefox, then spread the word and now Firefox has 10+% market share, while Opera is still hovering in the single digits.
• Bonus: Extensions - Face it, the Opera browser can't please every user. Opera Software can try to find the right balance between features and clutter, but I think that's a losing battle. What's the answer? Extensions. Let users make, rate, and install the features they want. Let users take the Opera browser to places Opera Software never imagined. They already try to do so now with various skins, toolbar setups, and hacks. If Opera Software gave them the right tools, the possibilities are almost endless. Extensions will also open the door to features from third-parties, such as the Google Toolbar and applications like RoboForm. I really want to see how much better Opera could be if the Web could apply their talent to it.

Note: The opinions expressed here are my own and are not meant to represent my employer, Opera Software.

It's been almost two months since Tim's Opera Bits v5.0, so let's get into it:

1. Opera Desktop 9.20 was released last week. 9.20 includes Speed Dial, a quick way to access the sites you visit most, and supports a Developer console. See the press release for more details.
2. The final version of the Internet Channel developed by Opera Software for the Nintendo Wii was also released last week. The Wii contains the most advanced rendering engine publicly available from Opera Software. See The Rendering Engine for the Wii for more details.
3. An experimental release of Opera Desktop with video element support is available from the Opera Labs for y'all lucky Windows users. This release has native support for the Ogg Theora video codec, which powers the video element. See the April 13, 2007 post at the Opera Labs for details.
4. Don't like Opera's built-in spelling checker? You've got a few options: OSpell (my pick) and Spell Check for Opera (via Daniel) use Opera's User Javascript feature to implement spelling checks.
5. The Nintendo DS browser developed by Opera Software will be released in the US on June 4, 2007.

That's about it. Got a question you want answered in the next Tim's Opera Bits? Ask away in the comments!

The final version of the Internet Channel developed by Opera Software for the Nintendo Wii was released last week and is available as a free download via the Wii Shop Channel. Our press release includes screenshots, a feature overview, and a tutorial video. And remember, it's only free through the end of June 2007.

The rendering engine used by the Internet Channel is the most advanced rendering engine publicly available from Opera Software. It's newer, less-buggy, and more featureful than the rendering engine in the just released Opera Desktop 9.20. If you recall point #2 from "Tim's Opera Bits v5.0", I explained that Opera 9.20 is using the same rendering engine as 9.0 with only very important bug fixes included. Opera 9.0 stopped taking in regular bug fixes in around June 2006. Since then, all the bug fixes have gone into a code branch for Kestrel, the next major update to the Opera Desktop browser. It may be months before Kestrel is publicly available, but lucky you, the Internet Channel already includes many of the bug fixes and features that will eventually be available in Kestrel!

New to the rendering engine used on the Wii is support for more CSS 3 selectors, partial text-shadow support (colors aren't correct), and many, many bug fixes (including the infamous rounding error on large values). These changes are just a preview of what you can expect from Kestrel. Current internal builds of Kestrel fix the text-shadow problems, implement even more CSS Selectors, and fix even more bugs. There are plenty more nice additions, too.