Last August 27 we witnessed the release of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 which introduced a wide array of new features for your browsing needs. IE8 boast its new Tab Isolation which prevents one buggy tab to crash your whole browser. Because browser tabs (and the main browser window) run in separate processes, one crashed page has no effect on other tabs.
Google follows with the surprise release of its browser Chrome. Though lacking in customizability found in other browser, nevertheless it boasts fast browsing and minimalistic design. Chrome also has the Tab Isolation feature found in IE8.
In retaliation, Mozilla previewed their new SeaMonkey improvement for JavaScript support. No longer will the browser interpret java codes but with SeaMonkey, JavaScriptwill be compiled for faster execution. This resulted in great speed improvement in sites that heavily rely on JavaScript.
But Opera will not sit idly by watching the big guys showcase their new technologies. Today Opera Software released Opera 9.60 Beta 1 with new and improved features.
The list of new features and improvements are as follows:
OPERA LINK
Custom search engines and typed history (typed history is only the history you explicitly type or select from the address bar) are now joining bookmarks, speed dial, personal bar, and notes in Opera Link.
FEED PREVIEW
Now you can preview an RSS/Atom feed before subscribing.
OPERA MAIL
Low Bandwidth Mode
Low Bandwidth Mode is a setting on mail accounts that makes Opera Mail use as little bandwidth as possible.
- For IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), this means that Opera will only synchronise new messages and it will not fetch message attachments unless requested
- For POP (Post Office Protocol), Opera will not fetch more than the first 100 lines of a message unless requested
Follow/Ignore threads and contacts
Follow and Ignore are new features for users that receive numerous messages. It makes it easier to dismiss unimportant messages and easier to recognise important messages.
Activate this feature by selecting Follow/Ignore in the email context menu (or click the message subject header), then select either Follow Thread or Ignore Thread. Also, you can click the names in the From or To headers to enable the following or ignoring of contacts.
Go To Thread
You can now also use “Go to thread” which means that you can view only the messages from that thread. This is useful for those that employ flat view.
Opera out of the box has the same functionality as Firefox with 40+ modules. This makes it more ideal and stable for people who wants a browser with full of features upon installation.
Opera has built in email support and IRC client built into its browser.
You may download Opera 9.60 Beta 1 at http://www.opera.com/download/?ver=9.60b1