Partial Derivatives

date: 05.09.2008, 22:50, author: Jeff Schiller

Where am I?

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Okay, so it’s been half a year since I posted here, and that was only 2 sentences. The previous post was 6 months before that, and it was a cross-post. So, yeah, I've kind of drifted away from the browser scene a bit.

So where can you find me blogging these days? Mainly, at:

• Speed Force. This is what I’ve been focusing on the last few months. It’s a comics blog for news and commentary about DC’s character, the Flash. Among other things, I’ve been promoting a book I contributed a few articles to, The Flash Companion (pictured at right).
  
• K-Squared Ramblings. I still consider this my “main” blog, and I put stuff that I expect might be interesting to a general audience here. Interesting/funny photos, tech, TV/Movies, books, comics, etc.
  
• My LiveJournal, where I post things that I figure only my friends are likely to be interested in. Slice-o-life, memes, those sorts of things.
  

I also contribute to Opera Watch from time to time, but I’ve only made a handful of posts there.

date: 05.09.2008, 19:58, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Kelson Vibber)

First Impressions of Google Chrome

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I've posted my first impressions of Chrome, Google's new web browser, after trying it out for a few hours.

date: 05.09.2008, 19:57, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Kelson Vibber)

Internet Explore Loses, Firefox, Safari, Opera Gains (August 08)

Yet another month passed by and it’s time to check how’s your favorite browser doing.

After previous 0.01% gain, Internet Explorer continues to lose its market share. It went down by 0.87%. From 73.02% to 72.15%

Firefox keeps growing. This time it grabbed quite big piece of the market share: 0.51% Increased from 19.22% to 19.73% (more…)

date: 05.09.2008, 18:22, author: Vygantas Lipskas

9.60 beta 1 RC

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Thats right, Opera 9.6 is soon ready for its first beta flight. We have now frozen all features and only critical fixes go in. Really soon now, the beta will be released, but we want more feedback from you guys before we do so.

Changelog

• Added Core version (currently "Presto/2.1.1") to the User-Agent header; all our products will include this feature soon
  
• Sites using HTTP Auth are now saved in typed history
  
• Added setting to prevent bookmarks from showing in the Address field auto-completion drop-down
  
• Properly stop loading pages with iframes when closing the page or pressing stop
  
• Fixed problem where dynamically added xml-stylesheet processing instructions were ignored
  
• Removed the document property from iframe objects for compatibility with Gecko, WebKit, and the Acid3 test
  
• Added support for the caller property on functions
  
• Fixed yet another case of having to press the back button twice
  
• Improvements to feed preview page
  
• Made feed preview page template location customizable
  
• Made reloading Speed Dial while offline actually reload all thumbnails
  
• Fixed Opera Link issue where notes could end up blank after being synced
  
• The Opera Link queue file is no longer created before using Link
  
• The fraud protection dialog now works when using a proxy
  
• Made it possible to remove Speed Dial search again by unchecking the "Use as default Speed Dial search"
  
• Fixed text input on Windows Tablet PC Edition 2005
  
• Fixed open/save of images in Opera Mail when using the image context menu
  
• Made all top-level access points (except All Messages) selectable
  
• Fixed a problem deleting drafts from the Drafts view
  
• UNIX: Additional fixes to flash plugin handling. Freezes when using flash should now be mostly gone.
  

Download
Windows
Windows Classic
Macintosh
UNIX

date: 05.09.2008, 17:05, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid ()

Member of the week

This week's spotlighted blogger is a dog.

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This is just one of many Swedish dog blogs on My Opera, but this is a really good one. :up:

We think it's great to see someone use all of My Opera's features in such a great way. We really like the photo albums, where all the pictures are really cool and of high quality.

If you haven't decided what to eat for dinner today we highly recommend this great recipe for a salmon and broccoli pie. It looks sinfully good. :chef:

We think this dog is really cool (and so should you!), so please give it up for this week's member of the week: Mr. Leffe! Congrats! :yes:

date: 05.09.2008, 16:53, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Espen André Øverdahl)

Google: Switch from Chrome to IE or Firefox

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In my previous post about Google encouraging webmasters to test in all browsers, I may have been a bit harsh. It seems that Google is at least being consistent with its browser discrimination.



There's more on Google's stance on browser discrimination over at the Opera Developer Network. As a sidenote, Microsoft has apparently often been more responsive fixing their issues than Google has when fixing theirs. Food for thought.

date: 05.09.2008, 12:36, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Haavard)

Why is Net Applications (Hitslink) changing its browser stats after publishing them?

I was curious to see how the uptake of Google's Chrome browser would be, considering that they were promoting it on their front page. I looked it up on a special page set up by Net Applications to track Chrome usage before I left for work. It seemed to do pretty well, as it climbed above 1%, passing Opera's alleged market share. Not really surprising considering the massive media coverage it was getting.

When I got back later and reloaded the page, I noticed that it had gone down to 0.5% or so the last few hours. I still left the page open, and returned a little later. To my surprise, the page was no longer showing the same numbers for the same time. It's as if it had never shown 0.5%.

I tried to get my hands on a cached copy of the page to make sure that it wasn't just a mistake on my part, and indeed, it was not. Apparently Net Applications decided to change the numbers after they had been published.

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You can actually still access the original graph from their site. Compare this to the current graph:

Edit: It looks like the original image has been removed from the server, so I uploaded both of them here instead:

Original graph: Current graph:

The numbers are 0.56% and 1.18% respectively for 9/4/2008 11:00:00 AM (EDT).

See the full images in my Net Applications/Chrome stats photo album.

This is not the first or even second time the numbers published by Net Applications have "myseriously" changed from one day to the next. A few years ago, Opera showed up with up to 5% in their stats. Apparently they figured that this was too high, so the numbers were slashed. Then, last year, Opera for Desktop was climbing above 1%, and Opera Mini was up to 0,6% or so, and climbing fast. Overnight, the figures changed completely, and Opera Mini was down to 0.1% or so, while desktop was at about 0.5%.

Now, what is the reason for this apparent tampering with the stats? I really don't know. It could have a perfectly valid explanation (even though I can't think of one at the top of my head), but Net Applications seems to stay quite tight-lipped about how their stats are measured. For example, they claim that theirs are "global stats", but aren't their customers mainly located in the United States?

In any case, this highlights just how unreliable browser statistics are. While one browser might re-fetch resources from the server fairly often, another browser might use the cache more aggressively, and thus cause fewer "hits", and show up lower in the statistics. This depends on how the stats are measured, of course, but many stats companies refuse to share their actual methodology.

And when their numbers are seemingly manipulated without any explanation what so ever, this raises serious questions about how reliable they are, and whether they should be quoted at all when discussing browser usage.

date: 04.09.2008, 21:13, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Haavard)

Summer stories

Summer is over and we're eager to find out what you did.

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Summer is over and we're eager to find out what you did. :) Did you go by interail in Europe, or had a big city vacation? Maybe you had to work all summer and nothing happened? Anyway, we want to hear it, so we're hosting a "We don't know what you did this summer" story contest. The rules are simple:

• Write a story on your My Opera blog about what you did this summer and tag it "summer story".
• You are not allowed to use more than 1000 words.
• The post must include pictures.
• You must be a registered member of the My Opera Community to participate.
• It is prohibited to publish any content which is defamatory, offensive or abusive or of an obscene or menacing nature (will result in disqualification).
• Submit a link to your blog post either by e-mail (espenao[at]opera.com) or private message.
• Contest ends Tuesday, September 16th.
• Winners will be determined by community vote — for one week — so everyone can vote on their favorite summer holiday story.

We will also provide everyone who participates with banners and artwork they can use to spread the word and increase their winning chances. :yes:

The top-3 with the highest amount of votes will receive a very special Opera "back to school" kit, including a really cool bag you can use for school or work. We will also throw in some Opera pens, memo books, and some other useful items. :cool:

Best of luck to everyone who wish to participate! We're looking forward to reading and sharing your summer stories!

Kudos to community hero fritter for this great contest idea!

date: 04.09.2008, 18:37, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Espen André Øverdahl)

Google browser sniffing and the Open Web

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As well as being a valuable partner to Opera, with the release of Google Chrome, Google has also become a competitor. We welcome that as more competitors means more innovation, and less likelihood that the Web will be dominated by one single vendor.

However, now Google has become a competitor with its own self interests in promoting its own browser, it brings new responsibility. Google themselves state the following in their Google developer documentation (emphasis mine):

Internet users have an increasing number of choices for web browsers today, including Firefox, Safari, Opera, and now Google Chrome. Sometimes web pages look and work differently in each browser, so it’s important to test your site across all of them to ensure all your visitors can enjoy the experience you’ve designed. – Google Chrome

They also state in Google DocType that is is bad code that checks for browser names:

Since there is so much bad code out there already that does check for specific browser names, some browsers have options to give out false information about who they are. – Google DocType

Why is this important? Well, in these places and others, Google’s developer documentation and PR is telling us that Google believes in the Open Web, we should test in multiple browsers, and browser sniffing is bad. With these statements, and the fact that Google is now a member of the browser market, it is clear that it is important that they do not warn users of their services against using certain browsers, or block them completely, and that they would be against such policies anyway. You could consider it an anti-competitive move if they do so, while allowing access to their own browser.

The reality is though that Google has and continues to block Opera (and other browsers) from accessing their services, or warns against using them. Sometimes for entire services, or sometimes for specific features. Often the only change needed to allow those services to work is to bypass Google’s browser sniffing. It will be telling if Google changes their tune now that Google Chrome has been released. A list of Google sites that currently block or warn against Opera includes, but is not limited to:

• Google Notebook
• Google Groups
• Google Spreadsheets (they have promised to remove the block but this is not live yet
• Google Presentations
• Google Picasa
• Google Sites
• Blogger (patched in browser.js to allow us to get the rich text editor)
• Lively

It is not all bad. There are certainly people in Google that are very helpful to Opera, such as the Google GWT team, and in recent weeks and months I’ve been able to find contacts that have fixed issues and removed the browser sniffing that stopped Opera working on properties such as Orkut, Google Docs, and GMail (mobile specific). The Google Spreadsheets team has also recently been helpful and promised to remove the block on that property soon. I look forward to this collaboration continuing, and for Google to stick to the principles they mention on their sites about testing in all browsers. I hope that there is commitment from higher up in Google to make sure that all discrimination against Opera (and other browsers) is removed. If they test their new features and services in Opera, I’d be happy to work with Google and our QA team to look into any problems they find in our browsers that cause them problems.

date: 04.09.2008, 17:51, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (David Storey)

Google says: "It's important to test your site across all browsers!"

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According to Google's "Information for web developers" page (emphasis mine):

Internet users have an increasing number of choices for web browsers today, including Firefox, Safari, Opera, and now Google Chrome. Sometimes web pages look and work differently in each browser, so it's important to test your site across all of them to ensure all your visitors can enjoy the experience you've designed.

Thank you, Google! Now let's see if you can practice what you preach, and get all those services working smoothly in Opera at all times.

It's also nice to see Google acknowledging Opera now, as they have mostly failed to do so in their Chrome PR material. They've borrowed heavily from Opera, but have only mentioned Firefox and Safari.

date: 04.09.2008, 11:03, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Haavard)

Marriott Mobile recommends Opera Mini

The Marriott is now recommending visitors to its mobile website to download and use the Opera Mini browser. Nice!

(Via: WapReview.com)

date: 04.09.2008, 01:49, author: Daniel Goldman

More reaction from Opera CEO on Google Chrome

Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner doesn’t seem to concerned with the newly launched Google Chrome browser. In fact he finds it kind of flattering that Google is copying many of Opera’s innovative features, such as Speed Dial.

The media rounds
Opera boss: Imitation is flattering - The Register
Google Chrome ‘borrows’ from Opera browser - PC Advisor

date: 04.09.2008, 01:38, author: Daniel Goldman

Mobile style - CSS Mobile Profile 2.0

In this article, David Storey looks at CSS Mobile Profile 2.0, the W3C’s recommended subset of CSS that should be used for styling your documents if you intend them to be viewed across mobile devices. He lists what is supported under the Mobile Profile, how it differs from CSS 2.1, and some advice on progressive enhancement (applying more advanced styles to more capable devices).

date: 04.09.2008, 00:01

Opera University Tours

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Be sure to check out the blog covering our recently completed university tour in South Africa: http://my.opera.com/universitytours/blog/

From that blog, I just watched the video interview featuring Charles and Jan, and I downloaded the podcast which I'll listen to later.

As far as I know, the next stop of the tour hasn't been announced yet (check here for updates: http://www.opera.com/education/tours/ ), but I do know that Opera is planning something for the US, and I'll be involved in some way. I'll post more details as they become available.

Since I started my new role earlier this year, heading up Opera's user research efforts, I've had the chance to meet and talk with a lot of interesting people from various walks of life. As part of the US university tour, I'm really looking forward to talking with more students about their internet use and how Opera can meet their needs, while inspiring them to find new ways of using the Web for fun and profit.

date: 03.09.2008, 21:18, author: lawrence.eng@opera.com (Lawrence Eng)

Opera CEO reacts to Google Chrome browser

Opera’s founder and CEO Jon von Tetzchner posted his thoughts on the Choose Opera blog about new Google Chrome browser, which was released yesterday.

Read: Choice in the browser industry - By Jon von Tetzchner

date: 03.09.2008, 18:29, author: Daniel Goldman

Firefox 3 (3.1) vs. Google Chrome vs. Safari 3 vs. Opera 9.5 vs. Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) vs. Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)

John Resig did a great job by comparing Firefox 3, Firefox 3.1, Google Chrome, Safari 3, Opera 9.5, Internet Explorer 8 and 7 JavaScript performance.

JavaScriptCore: The engine that powers Safari/WebKit (up until Safari 3.1).
SquirrelFish: The engine used by Safari 4.0.
V8: The engine used by Google Chrome.
SpiderMonkey: The engine that powers Firefox (up to, and including, Firefox 3.0). (more…)

date: 03.09.2008, 17:50, author: Vygantas Lipskas

Choice in the browser industry

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My friends,

Change is probably the aspect of the browser industry I enjoy most. We get to help mold the future of the Web every single day. It's a challenge, but an exciting one.

A lot of companies want to put their stamp on the Web, and a browser is the primary tool to bring that experience to life. So it was with no real surprise that Google launched a browser yesterday. It is flattering that they chose several features from Opera to include in their browser.

We believe in offering free choice of browsers. We welcome competition because it helps drive the Web forward and offers more robust choices for consumers.

As you know, Google has been a great partner to Opera in the past and will be in the future. Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, and our desktop browser all include Google as the default search. We are also working with them to bring Gears into our desktop and mobile products. Collaboration with Google will continue to be an important aspect of our product development.

In welcoming Google to the browser industry, we also call on them to seize the new responsibility they now have to ensure their products and services work in all browsers. This way, they will protect the free and open Web.

We at Opera are pleased to see a new browser alternative emerge. More people discover Opera as they become aware that alternatives--free, more powerful, faster, and more secure--exist and can make for a more enjoyable time on the Web.

But we have another very powerful ally: the support of a vibrant and active community who helps new consumers discover Opera and make the most out of their discovery. Your support keeps our focus where it must always be: giving people everywhere the best possible browser. And with you in mind we constantly innovate and improve our product to meet your evolving demands. I hope you will continue to help us spread the word and show people how great their Web experience can be when they choose Opera.

Regards/Vennlig hilsen/Kær kvedja...

Jon S. von Tetzchner

date: 03.09.2008, 15:20, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Jon S. von Tetzchner)

More About Chrome

date: 03.09.2008, 05:58, author: Jeff Schiller

Google Chrome Beta released

Google has released the first beta of Chrome, the new competitor in the web browser field for dominance with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari.

Although currently only available for Windows, Google is feeling pressure to get it out for Linux and Mac and has assured through the press event that Chrome has been developed from the start as being multi-platform.

When downloading Chrome you will have a small installer that will download the full application. Chrome is bundled with 43 language options, so if you want it localized, it will most likely be available (through the options window). On first encounter Chrome can import Internet Explorer or Firefox settings, including passwords, bookmarks and history.

Google Chrome Beta is available from the official site, where also an extensive tour (with videos) is available. Enjoy, but remember it's beta.

Update: There have been several (rightful) concerns with Chrome, such as upcoming extensions support (Chrome API), how-to crash your entire Chrome (all tabs/windows), does Google own all your content, Chrome phones home, and more.

read more

date: 02.09.2008, 21:02, author: Alastor

The Browser Wars Are Back

Google shook up the Internet earlier today with an announcement of their own browser to be called Google Chrome (announced via a cartoon). While the browser is not yet available for download, there has been some basic information released:

• The rendering engine will be WebKit, which is the same engine as Apple’s Safari and originally descended from the Linux KDE Project’s Konqueror browser. It is interested to note that Google is snubbing Mozilla’s Gecko considering their historical support for Mozilla.
• The Javascript engine will be a new faster engine from Denmark-based team called V8 (contrast with Safari’s upcoming SquirrelFish and Firefox’s planned TraceMonkey that focus on the same goal)
• Each tab will run in its own process, insulating the other tabs from crashes (somewhat like IE’s “Launch browser windows in a new process”)
• Open source but no word on what type of license (interestingly enough there is a Google code project called “chrome” which is currently forbidden for access). Mozilla and Konqueror are open source, but Safari, IE and Opera are not (while Safari’s rendering engine, WebKit, is open source, there are many parts of the browser that aren’t).
• Includes a list of malware sites which will auto-synchronize from Google (probably the safe browsing API that Firefox uses and similar to Opera’s feature)
• Lots of nifty visual tricks

Two additional very important points:

• Bundled with Google Gears which lets web application take data offline
• Lets web application launch in their own window (similar to Mozilla’s Prism and Opera’s Widgets)

The overall impression seems to be that Google wants a browser that is faster, specifically on Javascript performance which is important for today’s AJAX heavy web apps like Google’s own, more stable (especially with tendency of the same web apps to crash browsers more often), desktop/offline integration features for web apps and security. Of course one cannot miss the promotion of Google’s own Gears and Safe Browsing API.

This of course happens while Microsoft is working on IE8, Mozilla is making plans for its next version of the browser with faster Javascript, Apple’s is preping Safari 4, and Opera is working on version 10). There is also talk of HTML 5 support before official approval by the W3C, in browsers. So the browser wars are heating up again.

The offline/online intergration is particulary interesting in the light of the fact that Adobe is beginning to push its Flash and AIR technologies for richer offline/online web app intergration, while Microsoft’s Silverlight is pushing in the same direction as well. Google Gears seems to be pushing in the same direction while staying within the conventional HTML / Javascript standards used today.

Of course the basic question with Google is that of motivation. Google is not a software company like Microsoft, Apple, Opera or Adobe which sells auxiliary software, hardware and services around their free browser or plugins. Nor is it a non profit like Mozilla which has an inherent mission to develop a better browser.

When it boils down to it, Google derives virtually all of its revenue from advertising within its search engine and other applications like the free version of Gmail. But, majority of its revenue is delivered via a channel that it cannot control - the browser. Microsoft’s IE currently controls majority of the browser market with Mozilla’s Firefox second largest. The next version of IE, IE8, has some planned features that may block advertising including a possibility of blocking Google’s own ads. Firefox has a famous AdBlock extensions which blocks ads as well.

Perhaps Google simply wants to secure a beach head in the browser market that will allow an unencumbered way to deliver its advertising as well as auxiliary web applications that draw people back to its search engine. Only time will tell.

date: 02.09.2008, 19:59, author: Yakov Shafranovich

We read you...

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We're alive!

We read you, of course... It's just that we are terribly busy doing stuff... :)
No, really. We have already fixed more than 100 bugs and added several new features.
They are just waiting to be released live, because... well, because there's huge changes ahead!

BTW, the throttling measures are in place now. To all of you who asked, throttling is a way to slow down those clients or networks that clearly abuse of our services by mass-spamming or hammering the site with fake search requests and stuff. Now we have those throttling limits in place for some well known IP ranges, so that MyOpera for them just works, but they are limited to 10 requests per second, or whatever we want to...

I can't exactly tell you when we are going to release, but you will be noticed.
And you will certainly notice afterwards. :)

date: 02.09.2008, 17:39, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Cosimo)

Google Chrome coming soon!

After many rumors starting somewhere years ago in 2005 it seems that Google has finally announced one of their finest secrets and ambitions. Please welcome Chrome, Google's first attempt to enter the browser market.

We all know Google as one of the most popular search engines, and also for its dominance in the internet advertising market. With Chrome Google is going for a new way, a way that actually seems quite logical. For some time now Google has held a small grip on the market of web applications, such as Google Mail, Talk, Calendar, etc. But while it worked in many web browsers Google didn't have control on web technology and other technical issues such as stability and detaching it form the web browser.

Google Chrome is more than just a revamped web browser and judging from the public comic (yeah you read that right), Google attempted to use the DNA of several web browsers.

Stability and security
In short, a little similar to IE8, Chrome created a separate process for each tab and window, thus if a web page should hang or crash you can safely close it. Plug-ins are a different story, so Google is working on a new plug-in interface that is safer, but for the time being they've separated plug-in processes from the browser. So in case Flash crashes, Chrome will happily continue. Hell, you even have a task manager inside Chrome to monitor this.

Security remains an important feature, thus Google uses its own malware protection technology in Chrome and combines it with a sandbox approach for each web site. Chrome also has a private browsing feature similar to Safari and IE8, which allows you to browse without cache and cookies per tab.

Usability and looks
Google is aiming for a simple interface and has adopted Opera's idea of tabs with the location bar and controls below the tab, and above the page. When opening a new tab (or window), the page is filled with some of your popular pages, which seems like a variant of Opera's Speed Dial. Google also adopted a more intelligent location bar called Omnibox similar to Firefox 3's awesome bar and Opera's location bar.

Core technologies
Last but not least, the core technologies. Google Chrome uses the WebKit rendering engine used in Safari and in Google's own Android platform combined with technologies from Mozilla Firefox. WebKit has been selected for its speed and memory usage and is combined with a home brew JavaScript virtual machine (!) named V8, which introduces increased performance and is executed in separate processes per tab.

Soon...
Currently Google Chrome hasn't been released yet, but to me this sounds like an exciting entrance in the browser market. Google is expected to release of Chrome for Windows together with their conference at 18.00 UTC/GMT.

read more

date: 02.09.2008, 17:17, author: Alastor

Thanks for the birthday greetings

Dear all,

Thanks for all the great birthday greetings! They made my day. :)

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Dear all,

Thanks for all the great birthday greetings! They made my day. :)

As all of you may know, I believe this community is a central part of making Opera what it is today and what we aim to become in the future.

Your efforts are what makes us want to try even harder at providing better browsers and better services overall. Your wishes on my birthday with those nice MMS messages really warmed my heart!

Cheers,

Jon

date: 02.09.2008, 11:29, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Jon S. von Tetzchner)

Google Chrome browser going live today

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Google is releasing Google Chrome, its own WebKit-based browser later today. While claiming to trying to start out fresh, they are borrowing heavily from Opera and other browsers. From Opera comes the tab bar that is outside the URL bar (I have not understood why you ever would want to have it the other way, and apparently neither has Google), a variant on the Speed Dial and the full-text search address bar. From IE 8 comes the process separation of tabs, from others come other ideas, and they seem to have come up with a few concoctions themselves.

I am looking forward to trying it out. Who knows, it might just perhaps be as good as they say. The Konqueror engine, also known under Apple’s name WebKit, is not that bad, and Safari has had success using it, so who knows. It might just work.

date: 02.09.2008, 09:53, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Peter Krefting)

Blog Action Day 2008

We call upon all members and supporters of the Opera community to attend this year's "Blog Action Day"!

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Blog Action Day

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Their aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

Last year the topic was the environment. In 2008, the theme is Poverty. You are free to interpret this as you see fit. Examine poverty from your own perspectives, look at it from the macro and micro, as a global condition and a local issue, and to bring your own idea, view and opinion on the subject.

Because Poverty as a subject for blogging can feel a little daunting, the organizers have prepared a series of resources to help bloggers get started with tackling this issue.

Register Your Blog

There are already a large number of supporting organisations and blogging communities, including the likes of TechCrunch, Mashable, LifeHacker, My Opera (:yes:), etc.

This is about MASS participation and that means we need you, your friends and your family to attend. If you're definitely going to post something on October 15th, add your blog to the participants list.

The important thing is to make that all important blog post on October 15th (and tag it "blog action day 08").

date: 01.09.2008, 15:06, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Espen André Øverdahl)

More Color Schemes in Opera

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Opera has 9 color schemes by default and you can change it from Tools → Appearance... → Skin → Color scheme. Following will add 140 (including 6 duplicates) color schemes.

Download dialog-modified.ini (file contains all dialog tweaks), enter path to dialog-modified.ini in Dialog Configuration, save and restart Opera.

[or]

Make a copy of defaults\dialog.ini from Opera installation directory, rename it to dialog-modified.ini and open it in any text editor. Under [Customize Toolbar Dialog], replace line starting with Dropdown, 0, Skin_color_scheme_dropdown with the following and save.

Dropdown, 0, Skin_color_scheme_dropdown, 100, 290, 150, 23, Move down = Disable skin coloring,,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_NO_COLOR_S | Use system skin coloring,,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_SYSTEM_COLOR_S | Set skin coloring, #583F28,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_GOLD | Set skin coloring, #9A8454,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_SAND | Set skin coloring, #479B65,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_JUNGLE | Set skin coloring, #4E7A94,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_SEA | Set skin coloring, #283358,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_BLUE | Set skin coloring, #606090,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_INDIGO | Set skin coloring, #43354D,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_PURPLE | Set skin coloring, #BE324C,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_CRIMSON | Set skin coloring, #801010,,D_COLOR_SCHEME_RED | | Set skin coloring, #F0F8FF,,Alice Blue | Set skin coloring, #FAEBD7,,Antique White | Set skin coloring, #00FFFF,,Aqua | Set skin coloring, #7FFFD4,,Aquamarine | Set skin coloring, #333366,,Atlas Blue | Set skin coloring, #F0FFFF,,Azure | Set skin coloring, #F5F5DC,,Beige | Set skin coloring, #FFE4C4,,Bisque | Set skin coloring, #000000,,Black | Set skin coloring, #FFEBCD,,Blanched Almond | Set skin coloring, #0000FF,,Blue. | Set skin coloring, #8A2BE2,,Blue Violet | Set skin coloring, #A52A2A,,Brown | Set skin coloring, #DEB887,,Burly Wood | Set skin coloring, #5F9EA0,,Cadet Blue | Set skin coloring, #7FFF00,,Chartreuse | Set skin coloring, #D2691E,,Chocolate | Set skin coloring, #FF7F50,,Coral | Set skin coloring, #6495ED,,Cornflower Blue | Set skin coloring, #FFF8DC,,Cornsilk | Set skin coloring, #DC143C,,Crimson. | Set skin coloring, #00008B,,Dark Blue | Set skin coloring, #008B8B,,Dark Cyan | Set skin coloring, #B8860B,,Dark Golden Rod | Set skin coloring, #A9A9A9,,Dark Grey | Set skin coloring, #006400,,Dark Green | Set skin coloring, #BDB76B,,Dark Khaki | Set skin coloring, #8B008B,,Dark Magenta | Set skin coloring, #556B2F,,Dark Olive Green | Set skin coloring, #FF8C00,,Dark Orange | Set skin coloring, #9932CC,,Dark Orchid | Set skin coloring, #8B0000,,Dark Red | Set skin coloring, #E9967A,,Dark Salmon | Set skin coloring, #8FBC8F,,Dark Sea Green | Set skin coloring, #483D8B,,Dark Slate Blue | Set skin coloring, #2F4F4F,,Dark Slate Grey | Set skin coloring, #00CED1,,Dark Turquoise | Set skin coloring, #9400D3,,Dark Violet | Set skin coloring, #FF1493,,Deep Pink | Set skin coloring, #00BFFF,,Deep Sky Blue | Set skin coloring, #696969,,Dim Grey | Set skin coloring, #1E90FF,,Dodger Blue | Set skin coloring, #B22222,,Fire Brick | Set skin coloring, #FFFAF0,,Floral White | Set skin coloring, #228B22,,Forest Green | Set skin coloring, #FF00FF,,Fuchsia | Set skin coloring, #DCDCDC,,Gainsboro | Set skin coloring, #F8F8FF,,Ghost White | Set skin coloring, #FFD700,,Gold. | Set skin coloring, #DAA520,,Golden Rod | Set skin coloring, #808080,,Grey | Set skin coloring, #008000,,Green | Set skin coloring, #ADFF2F,,Green Yellow | Set skin coloring, #F0FFF0,,Honey Dew | Set skin coloring, #FF69B4,,Hot Pink | Set skin coloring, #CD5C5C,,Indian Red | Set skin coloring, #4B0082,,Indigo. | Set skin coloring, #FFFFF0,,Ivory | Set skin coloring, #F0E68C,,Khaki | Set skin coloring, #E6E6FA,,Lavender | Set skin coloring, #FFF0F5,,Lavender Blush | Set skin coloring, #7CFC00,,Lawn Green | Set skin coloring, #FFFACD,,Lemon Chiffon | Set skin coloring, #ADD8E6,,Light Blue | Set skin coloring, #F08080,,Light Coral | Set skin coloring, #E0FFFF,,Light Cyan | Set skin coloring, #FAFAD2,,Light Golden Rod Yellow | Set skin coloring, #D3D3D3,,Light Grey | Set skin coloring, #90EE90,,Light Green | Set skin coloring, #FFB6C1,,Light Pink | Set skin coloring, #FFA07A,,Light Salmon | Set skin coloring, #20B2AA,,Light Sea Green | Set skin coloring, #87CEFA,,Light Sky Blue | Set skin coloring, #778899,,Light Slate Grey | Set skin coloring, #B0C4DE,,Light Steel Blue | Set skin coloring, #FFFFE0,,Light Yellow | Set skin coloring, #00FF00,,Lime | Set skin coloring, #32CD32,,Lime Green | Set skin coloring, #FAF0E6,,Linen | Set skin coloring, #FF00FF,,Magenta | Set skin coloring, #800000,,Maroon | Set skin coloring, #66CDAA,,Medium Aqua Marine | Set skin coloring, #0000CD,,Medium Blue | Set skin coloring, #BA55D3,,Medium Orchid | Set skin coloring, #9370D8,,Medium Purple | Set skin coloring, #3CB371,,Medium Sea Green | Set skin coloring, #7B68EE,,Medium Slate Blue | Set skin coloring, #00FA9A,,Medium Spring Green | Set skin coloring, #48D1CC,,Medium Turquoise | Set skin coloring, #C71585,,Medium Violet Red | Set skin coloring, #191970,,Midnight Blue | Set skin coloring, #F5FFFA,,Mint Cream | Set skin coloring, #FFE4E1,,Misty Rose | Set skin coloring, #FFE4B5,,Moccasin | Set skin coloring, #FFDEAD,,Navajo White | Set skin coloring, #000080,,Navy | Set skin coloring, #FDF5E6,,Old Lace | Set skin coloring, #808000,,Olive | Set skin coloring, #688E23,,Olive Drab | Set skin coloring, #FFA500,,Orange | Set skin coloring, #FF4500,,Orange Red | Set skin coloring, #DA70D6,,Orchid | Set skin coloring, #EEE8AA,,Pale Golden Rod | Set skin coloring, #98FB98,,Pale Green | Set skin coloring, #AFEEEE,,Pale Turquoise | Set skin coloring, #D87093,,Pale Violet Red | Set skin coloring, #FFEFD5,,Papaya Whip | Set skin coloring, #FFDAB9,,Peach Puff | Set skin coloring, #CD853F,,Peru | Set skin coloring, #FFC0CB,,Pink | Set skin coloring, #DDA0DD,,Plum | Set skin coloring, #B0E0E6,,Powder Blue | Set skin coloring, #800080,,Purple. | Set skin coloring, #FF0000,,Red. | Set skin coloring, #BC8F8F,,Rosy Brown | Set skin coloring, #4169E1,,Royal Blue | Set skin coloring, #8B4513,,Saddle Brown | Set skin coloring, #FA8072,,Salmon | Set skin coloring, #F4A460,,Sandy Brown | Set skin coloring, #2E8B57,,Sea Green | Set skin coloring, #FFF5EE,,Sea Shell | Set skin coloring, #A0522D,,Sienna | Set skin coloring, #C0C0C0,,Silver | Set skin coloring, #87CEEB,,Sky Blue | Set skin coloring, #6A5ACD,,Slate Blue | Set skin coloring, #708090,,Slate Grey | Set skin coloring, #FFFAFA,,Snow | Set skin coloring, #00FF7F,,Spring Green | Set skin coloring, #4682B4,,Steel Blue | Set skin coloring, #D2B48C,,Tan | Set skin coloring, #008080,,Teal | Set skin coloring, #D8BFD8,,Thistle | Set skin coloring, #FF6347,,Tomato | Set skin coloring, #40E0D0,,Turquoise | Set skin coloring, #EE82EE,,Violet | Set skin coloring, #F5DEB3,,Wheat | Set skin coloring, #FFFFFF,,White | Set skin coloring, #F5F5F5,,White Smoke | Set skin coloring, #FFFF00,,Yellow | Set skin coloring, #9ACD32,,Yellow Green

Enter path to Dialog Configuration file, save and restart Opera.

More color schemes

Optional: Add HTML Named Colours & HEX Codes panel to view colors.

date: 01.09.2008, 14:05, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Tamil)

Opera completes the new ARCHOS Internet Media Tablets

Opera devices news

date: 01.09.2008, 12:00

State of the Opera: Q2 2008

The numbers for the second quarter of 2008 were presented today. There isn't much to say compared to the last couple of quarters. Opera is still experiencing rapid growth in all business segments (49% revenue growth on Desktop, 50% for Devices), and profits are soaring. Revenues are expected to continue growing in both the short and the long term. There don't seem to be any signs of anything slowing down. Opera Mini in particular has some impressive numbers to show.

---

Some highlights:

• Profits up ten times or so
  
• Number of Desktop users continues to grow, with an increase of 15% in 2Q08 vs. 4Q07 (20+ million users)
  
• Large increase in Opera Mini revenue streams
  
• Opera Mini has seen a 351% growth in number of users since July 2007 (3.5 million in June 2007, 15.8 million in June 2008)
  
• Opera Mini has seen a 330% growth in the number of viewed pages since July 2007 (860 million in June 2007, 3.7 billion in June 2008)
  
• Opera will be available on a number of different devices, such as Philips TVs, set top boxes, Archos media players
  
• NVIDIA has licensed the Opera Devices 9.5 SDK
  

It looks like everything is moving in the right direction.

date: 01.09.2008, 11:49, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Haavard)

Open the Web update: LiveJournal

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I’ve recently returned from Russia and the iCamp conference, where I meet, amongst others SUP. You may know them as the Russian company that purchased LiveJournal. They were a company I really wanted to talk to as we’ve had many reports that the rich text editor on LJ doesn’t work in our browser. This was a big issue for both ourselves and SUP as Opera is the number 2 browser in Russia, behind IE. Live Journal is also very popular in Russia and other former Soviet states.

Unlike the difficulties we often face when talking to western developers, SUP were very happy to work with us, and promised that they were looking into the issues, which would also make sure the site would work as expected in Safari as well. Today marks the fruits of that labour, and I’m happy to announce that Live Journal now fully works in Opera. That’s a nice belated birthday present for me. Let me extend my thanks for those, both in Russia and Califronia that worked on this, plus the fine folks at FCKEditor for reporting bugs and making sure it works in our browser.

date: 31.08.2008, 21:10, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (David Storey)

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