Opera 8 Beta 2

[az]

Direct download for windows here. No official changelogs yet, but Opera employee blog posts here (unofficial changelog) and here (tweaks). There will be a unix beta later, no mac beta this time, but a preview will follow soon, which should also be released for the mac.

Paddy: Be on the lookout, the final isn't far away

AZ

[az]

Highlights from the changelog, with my comments:

Fix for IDN spoofing, by introducing a whitelist for safe top-level domains (curently :no:jp:de:se:kr:tw:cn:at:dk:ch:li. Sites not in the whitelist will show the encoded domain in the URL field. The list is updated automatically when Opera checks for a new version - This is great. Firefox's "fix" for this was a hack that just disabled a feature, this keeps the feature but makes it secure. The "check for next version" was introduced in one of the previews and is also a great thing wished for many times. The default was once a week last time I checked.

Automatic site-specific UA spoofing, which is updated every time Opera checks for a new version. Stored in ua.ini. - Great feature that was unfortunately needed because some sites insisted on sending Opera wrong code (MSN, dpreview.com etc.), which made it look like Opera didn't render correctly when in fact it was only sent garbage. Now that the user agent is automatically spoofed for these sites this should happen much less often, except if it is done on purpose (MSN).

Report problems with a site from the Help menu - great in conjunction with the above. Obviously, the competition from FF is keeping Opera Software on their toes, compatibility with poorly coded sites was not one of Opera's strong points in the past (but has already increased tremendously with the introduction of the various 7.x versions)

Open transfers in the background when starting a download. Something that was there in Opera 6 and was apparently forgotten in the complete rewrite to version 7. Wished for by many, finally it's there.

Show EXIF data in image properties dialog. - YES! Something I posted a wish for on their wishlist forum a while ago. Great for digital photography enthusiasts.

Have fun with it! I can't await the final!

AZ

[PAugustin]

Great thanks !

I'm downloading right now

[az]

official changelog.

Also, the mail client back-end is being completely rewritten for better IMAP compatibility and to serve as a basis for future improvements to the mail client. The new back-end will most likely not be ready for 8.00 final, and the first version featuring it will most likely look almost exactly the same as the mail client looks now.

AZ

[K6-III]

The moment they add something similar to the Adblock extension to Firefox, I may try Opera again.

It's just that Firefox seems better under Linux...and that's the only OS I use now...

[K6-III]

Just installed Opera 8 Beta 1 for Linux.

The experience now is much better than I remember, and the speed puts firefox to shame.

If only I had Bugmenot and Adblock, I'd be set...

[az]

<a href="opera:/button/Go%20to%20page,%22javascript:void(window.open('htt p://bugmenot.com/view.php?mode=bookmarklet&url=%27%2Bescape(locatio n),%27BugMeNot%27,%27location=no,status=yes,menuba r=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=385,height =450%27))%22,,%22BugMeNot%22,Wand">Bugenot button</a> (I have never tried it, so don't know how/f this works). Drag this button t your toolbar of choice (you must start dragging vertically, or you will only select text).

There is no nice click-adblock for Opera, but <a href="http://nontroppo.org/wiki/BlockAdvertisements">there are means to block ads in Opera</a>. Frankly, I don't do any adblocking except for popups, because I think sites giving me free information deserve at least their ad revenue, and I rarely visit sites with extreme ads (blinking, sound, etc.), and I don't care about bandwidth with a DSL flat rate.

AZ

[K6-III]

Thanks for the bugmenot button. I'll make sure to try it.

[Paddy]

I'm viewing this though K-Meleon of all things...

I'm waiting for the final az!

[PAugustin]

There seems to be an issue with MURC and Opera bet2, I cannot select anything in the "forum jump" menu :?
I can click the menu to open it but when I move away to click on a section it dispears.

[3dfx]

yeah I'm liking this and I have been put off opera in the past.

Good stuff and thx for link az

[Jammrock]

Originally posted by PAugustin
There seems to be an issue with MURC and Opera bet2, I cannot select anything in the "forum jump" menu :?
I can click the menu to open it but when I move away to click on a section it dispears.

No problems here.

[3dfx]

Originally posted by Jammrock
No problems here.

same here

[PAugustin]

I have the problem on 3 different computers !

My home PC (config below)
My home laptop Old Dell PII 400
My work PC (P4 3Ghz Prescott, Intel mobo...)

All running XPSP2 and Opera beta2. Eveything works fine with Beta1 but the MURC drop down menus don't work with Beta2 !

[PAugustin]

OK problem is now gone
At least on my work PC. I'll have to check my home PCs too...