Opera 10.50 Beta 2 Released, Download NOW
This is a beta version of Opera. Please use it only on properly backed up computers. It incorporates stability enhancements and improvements implemented since the Opera 10.50 beta 1 release. For your reference, the changelog for Opera 10.50 beta 1 (with Opera Widgets for Desktop) is available at the Opera Changelogs for Windows Web site.
Release date: February 24, 2010
New features
Better integration with the Windows operating system
Windows 7:
Aero Glass
Aero Peek
Jump Lists
Opera Carakan JavaScript engine
Cross-platform bytecode interpreter for a new register-based instruction set
Internal object model with automatic classification and inline property caching
Machine code generation (JIT compiler)
Divided garbage collection heap: automatically traverses the memory of active heaps
Caching of compiled programs
Reduced memory usage
Additional Carakan information (Opera Core Concerns - Carakan Revisited)
Opera "O" tab and menu
The new Opera "O" tab and its associated menu (located on the left side of the Opera Tab bar) replaces the traditional Opera Menu bar. This increases vertical space in the Opera desktop window, and centralizes frequently used features and tools in one, convenient location. Optionally, the new Opera "O" tab and menu can be replaced with the traditional Opera Menu bar by clicking "Show Menu Bar" in the Opera "O" menu. This new Opera feature contains the following items.
Tabs and Windows â–º
Page â–º
Print â–º
Bookmarks â–º
History
Downloads
Opera Unite â–º
Synchronize Opera â–º
Widgets â–º
Notes
Mail and Chat Accounts
Mail â–º
Contacts
Appearance
Settings â–º
Help â–º
Show Menu Bar
Exit
Opera Presto 2.5 rendering engine
The beta 2 release of Opera 10.50 (with Opera Widgets for Desktop) for Windows contains the latest Opera rendering engine: Opera Presto 2.5, and employs the following features from it.
CSS
CSS 2.1 visibility: collapse
CSS3 border-radius property (rounded corners)
CSS3 Backgrounds and Borders
CSS3 2D Transforms
CSS3 Transitions
HTML5
HTML5 <video> element DOM APIs to reflect changes in the specification
HTML5 <param> element (child of the HTML5 <object> element) support for controlling animations/scripts; see:
W3C testsuite (WICD 1.0 Testsuite)
W3C specification (WICD Core 1.0)
SVG
SVG buffered-rendering property; see the W3C reference (Painting: Filling, Stroking, Colors and Paint Servers ? SVG Tiny 1.2)
Text search inside SVG
Animated raster images (APNG, GIF) in all the SVG elements that support raster graphics, i.e., <image>, <foreignObject>, and <feImage>
Additional Opera Presto information (Opera's Developer Relations Team - Opera 10.5 Pre-Alpha build released: the new additions)
Opera Vega graphics library
Renders all graphics in Opera
Employs rounded corners, box shadow, animations, etc.
Contains improved support for SVG and the HTML 5 <canvas> element
Additional Vega information (Opera Core Concerns - Vega - Opera's vector graphics library)
Opera Widgets for Desktop
Although they run outside the browser, Opera Widgets have been treated as entities inside the browser in many respects. The new Opera Widgets for Desktop ends this dependency on the browser and moves Opera Widgets to the next level: that of first-class applications. Above all, Opera Widgets for Desktop gives widgets the potential to replace some native applications on the computer.
Opera Widgets for Desktop includes the following features:
A Widget menu located within the new Opera "O" menu, or optionally from the traditional Opera Menu toolbar. Menu options include:
Get Widgets
Manage Widgets... (opens the Widgets panel in the Opera user interface)
What are Opera Widgets?
Widget lifespans are separated from the Opera desktop browser.
Each widget runs in a separate process.
Integration with the operating system includes support for creating desktop and menu-based application shortcuts.
Widget control buttons organize important actions:
Move
Close
Minimize
Settings
Support is provided for different widget modes such as "Application" and "Widget".
A new widget installation/uninstallation process is supported:
Uninstallation from "Add/Remove Programs" in the Windows Control Panel
Notification pop-ups are supported.
Password manager is supported.
File I/O (Input/Output) access is supported.
The upgrading of installed widgets from current to new runtime is supported.
Improved support for Opera Dragonfly is provided.
Remote debugging is possible; configurable via a widget's context menu.
Non-modal notification messages
Notification message windows no longer interrupt workflow
JavaScript alerts, HTTP notifications, password manager, etc., now display as page overlays.
Switching of tabs or windows while these dialogs are displayed is now allowed.
Private browsing
Creating, browsing, and then closing private tabs and private windows removes all records of Web sites visited through them.
Using the new Opera "O" tab and menu, go to:
Tabs and Windows > New Private Tab
Tabs and Windows > New Private Window
Using the traditional Opera Menu bar, go to:
File > New Private Tab
File > New Private Window
Web Storage
Support is established for:
Session storage: offers a temporary storage of data
Warning dialogs when exceeding storage quotas for web storage
The user can increase, or set unlimited quotas for web storage
Local storage: stores data for a longer period until the user explicitly clears it
The Address field autocomplete list now includes opera:webstorage
Added a "Delete Web storage databases" check box item in the "Delete private data" detailed options dialog
See: Web Storage W3C Working Draft (Web Storage)
Web SQL Database
Support is established for:
Storage of data in a more structured manner
Querying data using SQL
Warning dialogs when exceeding storage quotas for web database
The user can increase, or set unlimited quotas for web database
Added a "Delete Web storage databases" check box item in the "Delete private data" detailed options dialog
The Address field autocomplete list now includes opera:webdatabases
See: Web SQL Database W3C Working Draft (Web SQL Database)
Changes and improvements since Opera 10.50 beta 1 (with Opera Widgets for Desktop)
User interface
Added
Vista, Windows 7 style title bar integration on WinXP, when tabs are on top
Applies only when the WinXP default desktop/start menu is employed, and not to the Classic desktop/start menu
Opera "O" menu: changed "Page Tools" menu item to "Page"
opera:webstorage and opera:webdatabases to the Address bar history dropdown list
Opera Widgets
Widget Manger panel in the Opera user interface
Support for window style (floating/below etc)
Support for an error console
Improved
Stabilized, polished, and increased protection against spoofing of overlay dialogs
Opera Unite:
Numerous tweaks and improvements to bundled Opera Unite applications
Opera Widgets
Widget generic icon
Widget installation process
Widget documentation
Widget localization:
Various widget translation strings
Localization:
Strings for private browsing
Strings for download-acceleration software compatibility
Fixed
Image context menu items being greyed out
Title bar flickering when resizing on WinXP
Several issues regarding bookmark manipulation
An issue that occurred while Opera Turbo is running
An issue when duplicating tabs using mouse gestures
Current images mode not being inherited when opening links in a new tab
New tab gesture opening a blank page without focus in the address bar instead of in Speed Dial
Pasted bookmarks being stored in the wrong location
Page zoom menu not being keyboard accessible
Web fonts with a specified format not working
Full name of dictionaries not being shown
An issue when deleting many bookmarks freezes Opera
Import/Export only supporting the old .adr bookmark format and not the new .ini format
Trash name not being displayed if the name is absent in the bookmarks file
After importing bookmarks from Internet Explorer, the dialog cannot be opened again
Opera creating both a bookmarks.adr and a bookmarks.ini file on first start
The order of personal bar items not being remembered between sessions
Opening a new window opens a ghost window
Auto-hiding of the Windows taskbar is obscured by the Opera window
Bottom arrow in a vertical / horizontal scrollbar points up when hovering the scrollbar
Creating a "New (Private) Tab" from the task bar or systray does not maximize the Opera window
A random font being set when changing fonts in Preferences and then restarting Opera
An issue with "Open file" from the completed download notifications open sessions dialog
Replaced "Developer Tools" with "Opera Dragonfly" in the Tools > Advanced traditional Opera menu bar
Longdesc link going to the wrong URI
Longdesc image description showing up in the image context menu
Context menu not working in the Speed Dial search box
Firewall alert when starting Opera on Windows 7
Ctrl+T keyboard shortcut missing from the File menu
Opera Unite:
Context menu missing for images and links in widgets
An issue with translations
Right-click menu missing from the path field in the Opera Unite properties dialog
Opera Widgets:
An issue with the widget Edit field context menu after Spellcheck has been enabled
An issue with password manager
An issue while downloading from an untrusted repository
Scrollbars appearing when the Yandex Traffic widget is docked
Zooming widgets displays scrollbars
Scrollbars not appearing for widgets in application mode
Downloading a widget fails if it is already in the transfers list
Display and scripting
Added
Numerous upgrades to the Carakan JavaScript engine
New backend for webstorage with improved performance
Improved
Tab hover thumbnails
Tab cycler by adding transparency
Fixed
Property caching in combination with special properties
An issue with Google Buzz
Instruction via the command line not being evaluated in local scope with Opera Dragonfly
Optimization of the <canvas> putImageData operation
Plug-in size and position not being updated when a plug-in is in synchronous state (Youtube)
SVG background-images being misplaced and clipped
An issue with third-party native skin icons
Not being able to escape <input>
An issue when using fullscreen mode
Mail, news, chat
Improved
Localization:
String for "Reply to list"
String for "Reply to sender"
Strings for "Mail progress"
Fixed
RSS/newsfeed preview being stuck at the "loading" stage
Ghost feed items appearing after restart
Smileys not showing their images in mail and chat
An issue when trying to send a file in Opera chat/IRC
No mail messages being selected on startup
"Mark messages as read" option in filters being broken
Slow loading of mail
Loading mail without showing a progress indicator
Mails being lost on IMAP when deleting a draft reply
Sent mail appearing in the received index
Cut and paste not working in the mail compose context menu
Not being able to attach files by dragging and dropping them to the compose window
The "Reply to list" button not showing for mailing list mails
Context menu for the compose window
Problem while holding the backspace key when typing a message in M2
Network
Fixed
Opera Unite:
Cross network request being issued when accessing an Opera Unite application
Miscellaneous
Improved
Cache support and stability
ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/win/1050b2/
This is a beta version of Opera. Please use it only on properly backed up computers. It incorporates stability enhancements and improvements implemented since the Opera 10.50 beta 1 release. For your reference, the changelog for Opera 10.50 beta 1 (with Opera Widgets for Desktop) is available at the Opera Changelogs for Windows Web site.
Release date: February 24, 2010
New features
Better integration with the Windows operating system
Windows 7:
Aero Glass
Aero Peek
Jump Lists
Opera Carakan JavaScript engine
Cross-platform bytecode interpreter for a new register-based instruction set
Internal object model with automatic classification and inline property caching
Machine code generation (JIT compiler)
Divided garbage collection heap: automatically traverses the memory of active heaps
Caching of compiled programs
Reduced memory usage
Additional Carakan information (Opera Core Concerns - Carakan Revisited)
Opera "O" tab and menu
The new Opera "O" tab and its associated menu (located on the left side of the Opera Tab bar) replaces the traditional Opera Menu bar. This increases vertical space in the Opera desktop window, and centralizes frequently used features and tools in one, convenient location. Optionally, the new Opera "O" tab and menu can be replaced with the traditional Opera Menu bar by clicking "Show Menu Bar" in the Opera "O" menu. This new Opera feature contains the following items.
Tabs and Windows â–º
Page â–º
Print â–º
Bookmarks â–º
History
Downloads
Opera Unite â–º
Synchronize Opera â–º
Widgets â–º
Notes
Mail and Chat Accounts
Mail â–º
Contacts
Appearance
Settings â–º
Help â–º
Show Menu Bar
Exit
Opera Presto 2.5 rendering engine
The beta 2 release of Opera 10.50 (with Opera Widgets for Desktop) for Windows contains the latest Opera rendering engine: Opera Presto 2.5, and employs the following features from it.
CSS
CSS 2.1 visibility: collapse
CSS3 border-radius property (rounded corners)
CSS3 Backgrounds and Borders
CSS3 2D Transforms
CSS3 Transitions
HTML5
HTML5 <video> element DOM APIs to reflect changes in the specification
HTML5 <param> element (child of the HTML5 <object> element) support for controlling animations/scripts; see:
W3C testsuite (WICD 1.0 Testsuite)
W3C specification (WICD Core 1.0)
SVG
SVG buffered-rendering property; see the W3C reference (Painting: Filling, Stroking, Colors and Paint Servers ? SVG Tiny 1.2)
Text search inside SVG
Animated raster images (APNG, GIF) in all the SVG elements that support raster graphics, i.e., <image>, <foreignObject>, and <feImage>
Additional Opera Presto information (Opera's Developer Relations Team - Opera 10.5 Pre-Alpha build released: the new additions)
Opera Vega graphics library
Renders all graphics in Opera
Employs rounded corners, box shadow, animations, etc.
Contains improved support for SVG and the HTML 5 <canvas> element
Additional Vega information (Opera Core Concerns - Vega - Opera's vector graphics library)
Opera Widgets for Desktop
Although they run outside the browser, Opera Widgets have been treated as entities inside the browser in many respects. The new Opera Widgets for Desktop ends this dependency on the browser and moves Opera Widgets to the next level: that of first-class applications. Above all, Opera Widgets for Desktop gives widgets the potential to replace some native applications on the computer.
Opera Widgets for Desktop includes the following features:
A Widget menu located within the new Opera "O" menu, or optionally from the traditional Opera Menu toolbar. Menu options include:
Get Widgets
Manage Widgets... (opens the Widgets panel in the Opera user interface)
What are Opera Widgets?
Widget lifespans are separated from the Opera desktop browser.
Each widget runs in a separate process.
Integration with the operating system includes support for creating desktop and menu-based application shortcuts.
Widget control buttons organize important actions:
Move
Close
Minimize
Settings
Support is provided for different widget modes such as "Application" and "Widget".
A new widget installation/uninstallation process is supported:
Uninstallation from "Add/Remove Programs" in the Windows Control Panel
Notification pop-ups are supported.
Password manager is supported.
File I/O (Input/Output) access is supported.
The upgrading of installed widgets from current to new runtime is supported.
Improved support for Opera Dragonfly is provided.
Remote debugging is possible; configurable via a widget's context menu.
Non-modal notification messages
Notification message windows no longer interrupt workflow
JavaScript alerts, HTTP notifications, password manager, etc., now display as page overlays.
Switching of tabs or windows while these dialogs are displayed is now allowed.
Private browsing
Creating, browsing, and then closing private tabs and private windows removes all records of Web sites visited through them.
Using the new Opera "O" tab and menu, go to:
Tabs and Windows > New Private Tab
Tabs and Windows > New Private Window
Using the traditional Opera Menu bar, go to:
File > New Private Tab
File > New Private Window
Web Storage
Support is established for:
Session storage: offers a temporary storage of data
Warning dialogs when exceeding storage quotas for web storage
The user can increase, or set unlimited quotas for web storage
Local storage: stores data for a longer period until the user explicitly clears it
The Address field autocomplete list now includes opera:webstorage
Added a "Delete Web storage databases" check box item in the "Delete private data" detailed options dialog
See: Web Storage W3C Working Draft (Web Storage)
Web SQL Database
Support is established for:
Storage of data in a more structured manner
Querying data using SQL
Warning dialogs when exceeding storage quotas for web database
The user can increase, or set unlimited quotas for web database
Added a "Delete Web storage databases" check box item in the "Delete private data" detailed options dialog
The Address field autocomplete list now includes opera:webdatabases
See: Web SQL Database W3C Working Draft (Web SQL Database)
Changes and improvements since Opera 10.50 beta 1 (with Opera Widgets for Desktop)
User interface
Added
Vista, Windows 7 style title bar integration on WinXP, when tabs are on top
Applies only when the WinXP default desktop/start menu is employed, and not to the Classic desktop/start menu
Opera "O" menu: changed "Page Tools" menu item to "Page"
opera:webstorage and opera:webdatabases to the Address bar history dropdown list
Opera Widgets
Widget Manger panel in the Opera user interface
Support for window style (floating/below etc)
Support for an error console
Improved
Stabilized, polished, and increased protection against spoofing of overlay dialogs
Opera Unite:
Numerous tweaks and improvements to bundled Opera Unite applications
Opera Widgets
Widget generic icon
Widget installation process
Widget documentation
Widget localization:
Various widget translation strings
Localization:
Strings for private browsing
Strings for download-acceleration software compatibility
Fixed
Image context menu items being greyed out
Title bar flickering when resizing on WinXP
Several issues regarding bookmark manipulation
An issue that occurred while Opera Turbo is running
An issue when duplicating tabs using mouse gestures
Current images mode not being inherited when opening links in a new tab
New tab gesture opening a blank page without focus in the address bar instead of in Speed Dial
Pasted bookmarks being stored in the wrong location
Page zoom menu not being keyboard accessible
Web fonts with a specified format not working
Full name of dictionaries not being shown
An issue when deleting many bookmarks freezes Opera
Import/Export only supporting the old .adr bookmark format and not the new .ini format
Trash name not being displayed if the name is absent in the bookmarks file
After importing bookmarks from Internet Explorer, the dialog cannot be opened again
Opera creating both a bookmarks.adr and a bookmarks.ini file on first start
The order of personal bar items not being remembered between sessions
Opening a new window opens a ghost window
Auto-hiding of the Windows taskbar is obscured by the Opera window
Bottom arrow in a vertical / horizontal scrollbar points up when hovering the scrollbar
Creating a "New (Private) Tab" from the task bar or systray does not maximize the Opera window
A random font being set when changing fonts in Preferences and then restarting Opera
An issue with "Open file" from the completed download notifications open sessions dialog
Replaced "Developer Tools" with "Opera Dragonfly" in the Tools > Advanced traditional Opera menu bar
Longdesc link going to the wrong URI
Longdesc image description showing up in the image context menu
Context menu not working in the Speed Dial search box
Firewall alert when starting Opera on Windows 7
Ctrl+T keyboard shortcut missing from the File menu
Opera Unite:
Context menu missing for images and links in widgets
An issue with translations
Right-click menu missing from the path field in the Opera Unite properties dialog
Opera Widgets:
An issue with the widget Edit field context menu after Spellcheck has been enabled
An issue with password manager
An issue while downloading from an untrusted repository
Scrollbars appearing when the Yandex Traffic widget is docked
Zooming widgets displays scrollbars
Scrollbars not appearing for widgets in application mode
Downloading a widget fails if it is already in the transfers list
Display and scripting
Added
Numerous upgrades to the Carakan JavaScript engine
New backend for webstorage with improved performance
Improved
Tab hover thumbnails
Tab cycler by adding transparency
Fixed
Property caching in combination with special properties
An issue with Google Buzz
Instruction via the command line not being evaluated in local scope with Opera Dragonfly
Optimization of the <canvas> putImageData operation
Plug-in size and position not being updated when a plug-in is in synchronous state (Youtube)
SVG background-images being misplaced and clipped
An issue with third-party native skin icons
Not being able to escape <input>
An issue when using fullscreen mode
Mail, news, chat
Improved
Localization:
String for "Reply to list"
String for "Reply to sender"
Strings for "Mail progress"
Fixed
RSS/newsfeed preview being stuck at the "loading" stage
Ghost feed items appearing after restart
Smileys not showing their images in mail and chat
An issue when trying to send a file in Opera chat/IRC
No mail messages being selected on startup
"Mark messages as read" option in filters being broken
Slow loading of mail
Loading mail without showing a progress indicator
Mails being lost on IMAP when deleting a draft reply
Sent mail appearing in the received index
Cut and paste not working in the mail compose context menu
Not being able to attach files by dragging and dropping them to the compose window
The "Reply to list" button not showing for mailing list mails
Context menu for the compose window
Problem while holding the backspace key when typing a message in M2
Network
Fixed
Opera Unite:
Cross network request being issued when accessing an Opera Unite application
Miscellaneous
Improved
Cache support and stability
ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/win/1050b2/
