Opera9
Another ex-Bath student Simon Willison let me know about Opera9 via the magic of RSS. Later I noticed my ex-collegue and Opera employee Allan Clements announced Opera9.
I’ve used Opera9 quite a lot this week and it is still running alongside Firefox, though admittedly usually with less tabs. The new features that most interested me is WHATWG Web Form 2.0 support. In fact I’ve already implemented the form controls on this blog. Try enter your email incorrectly whilst commenting from Opera9.
Also my URL shortening service surink sports WF2.
Overall I like the product, but the usual proprietary software complaints kick in. For me the discussion about Opera is difficult. I had a look around at their Web forums. Hmm, not for me. Couldn’t find a mailing list. The google group opera.linux seems to be about installation issues. Lastly Alan doesn’t bother to engage in dialog with me via his blog comments! I can’t wait to spank Kamakaze in some FPS one day. ;)
I have noticed an interesting Web application blog but it seems to go on about widgets largely. Widgets don’t interest me as I am a hardened IonWM user who believes floating windows or widgets are just annoying.
Anyway I have a ton of questions and I’ll just list them here for my reference.
# How much of WF2 is supported?
# Where can I find WF2 demos? Or test cases. Come on, there must be tests…
# Can I assume “small screen” view is like Opera mini 2.0? I don’t think I can.
# What is the status of SVG? Why does it look different to Firefox’s rendering?
# Does it support SVG-T?
# Do I really have to download an SDK?
# Is the SDK Win32 centric? Because I only develop under Debian. A Debian package would be nice.
# Why do they bother with an email client. Email should be encapsulated in a Web application
# Why doesn’t chat in Gmail work?
# Why does my homepage render the bottom border funny (FF doesn’t)
# Why no audio support in Linux
# How much of Web app 1.0 is implemented? Demos?
# Feeds also should be implemented in a Web application. Feed reader bloats the browser
# How come their Java Mini 2.0 demo doesn’t work, when “About Opera” under linux seems to think I have a Java runtime installed
# What image codecs does it support. Will it support JPEG2000?
# I hate having to hover my mouse over a link to see what the link points to
# Why on earth did they implement Ad blocking. Surely they are going to piss some corp off with that.
# Why-oh-why skins
# How the hell do I customize the search widget, for Wikipedia/Debian
# Be good to know how or if greasemonkey/extensions might be compatible with FF
# The URL history isn’t as good as FF for some reason
# On some Web pages the fonts don’t look very good.
I just want to test the latest Web technologies out in Opera, with a timeline to when Opera’s mobile or DS or other ports might support said features. Is that too much to ask?
I am so demanding considering who I work for. ;)