Tuesday, 23. March 2010, 01:14:14
opera, 10.51, peacekeeper, speed
I noticed some
pro-Chrome and
pro-Opera bitching in the
Desktop team blog comments around performance of Opera 10.51 in the Peacekeeper benchmark. I wrote something to use in a comment there, but then I decided to blog it here instead. It's been a while
Some choice quotes:
Originally posted by VarunM:
Chrome 5.0.356.2 destroys Opera 10.51 Especially the "Data" section is ridiculous. Chrome was 300% faster than Opera.
Originally posted by Asires:
"Data" is unimportant in rendering. "Rendering" is important. Opera is twice faster than Chrome in rendering.. So, Opera is 200% faster than Chrome.
It is pretty much all nonsense to focus on the details and comparing them across systems, to be honest... It is great that the top-score belongs to Opera for now (though the Chrome developers are
of course not resting before they get on top again!), and to see Opera in the front lines on all systems. It shows that the JavaScript developers (and other Core and Desktop developers) must be doing something right :-)
But how well a browser really serves you is a highly personal experience. It depends a lot on what kind of sites you visit, what hardware you run your browser on, your Windows version, and what extra browser features you can use/add/customize/get distracted by. The Peacekeeper benchmark seems to be a bit sensitive of your underlying system, in some cases Chrome beats Opera, in others it is the other way around. I don't think speed will be a limiting factor with either of these modern browsers to enjoy the current web.
Saturday, 18. October 2008, 22:07:08
opera, customization, tweak, shortcuts
Now that Opera 9.5+ ships with a set of keyboard shortcuts where cat-owners are protected from accidental exposure to Opera's features by disabling the single-key shortcuts by default, I wanted to expand the shortcuts that can be enabled with the checkbox under 'Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Shortcuts'. After all, there is no need to be careful anymore with single-key shortcuts if only the happy few will enable them!
Here's the current list:
| 1 |
Switch to previous tab |
2 |
Switch to next tab |
3 |
Focus next frame |
Shift+3 |
Focus previous frame |
| 4 |
Minimize page |
5 |
Maximize page | Restore page |
6 |
Zoom to 100% |
| 7 |
Zoom out 100% |
8 |
Zoom in 100% |
9 |
Zoom out 10% |
|
Zoom in 10% |
| X |
Forward |
Shift+X |
Fast forward |
Z |
Back |
Shift+Z |
Rewind |
| H |
Show typed history |
I |
Load all images |
Shift+I |
Tri-state image toggle |
Shift+G |
Toggle author/user mode |
| A |
Highlight next URL |
Q |
Highlight previous URL |
S |
Highlight next heading |
W |
Highlight previous heading |
| D |
Highlight next element |
E |
Highlight previous element |
V |
Speak selection |
Some items in this list are relics from the past that I don't need, like the number shortcuts for Zoom (I'm fine with only using '-', '+' and '*'), and the Highlight shortcuts (I much prefer to use Spatial Navigation instead). And some shortcuts are now overcomplicated, because in the past they were made harder to hit accidentally (as well as on purpose). So for my optimized single-key setup, I removed various keys, and returned to 'P' for Print Preview and 'G' for the graphics toggle. Adding a simpler shortcut for toggling User Mode came naturally then: 'U'.
And I wanted easier access to spatial navigation. On a numpad 2-4-6-8 work fine, and for notebook keyboards the A-S-D-W keys can be used instead. Looking at the numpad again, I then switched to using 1 and 3 to switch tabs, and 7 and 9 to switch frame focus.
Some specific additions for webpage tinkering: 'R' for Refresh display (after editing cached documents) and 'Shift+R' for refreshing after editing user style sheets (yes, there's an action available for that, to prevent having to restart all the time when testing user stylesheets). I've also made 'M' the 'Boss key' to minimize (hide) Opera. This leaves me with this set of single-key shortcuts:
| A |
Navigate left |
D |
Navigate right |
W |
Navigate up |
S |
Navigate down |
| 4 |
Navigate left |
6 |
Navigate right |
8 |
Navigate up |
2 |
Navigate down |
| 1 |
Switch to previous tab |
3 |
Switch to next tab |
7 |
Focus previous frame |
9 |
Focus next frame |
| X |
Forward |
Shift+X |
Fast forward |
Z |
Back |
Shift+Z |
Rewind |
| G |
Tri-state image toggle |
P |
Toggle Print Preview |
R |
Refresh display |
U |
Toggle author/user mode |
| M |
Hide Opera |
Shift+R |
Reload stylesheets |
H |
Show typed history |
V |
Speak selection |
One problem: there are still lots of keys available! I could use some suggestions for shortcuts for common actions to add to my setup. Preferably with some mnenomic connection between the key and the action
And no, this is not an announcement of a change in Opera, just some private tweaking.
Saturday, 13. September 2008, 00:05:44
setup, customization, ribbon, opera
...
I've been playing around with a new setup, that should be usable, useful, but also 'small' in a visual sense. So without a menu bar! Almost all Opera functions will be easily accesible. But not necessarily all from the main toolbars, which was what the
ribbonesque Twelve setup tried to do. For now I've named it
Compact, but suggestions are welcome for something more memorable. (No, not Chrome. Scandium maybe? Zircon?)
So starting with the Twelve setup, I removed lots of items (though many are still available from the Appearance dialog), moved the navigation controls back to their proper place below the tab bar, and created two menu buttons for access to various actions on the left end of the tab bar: one general menu with the Opera icon, and one with the page icon with page/text specific functions.
The 'manage' pages are hardly used in this setup, which relies on the panels instead. It should be more usable than the Twelve setup for those (like me) who use Opera's mail and chat clients, but note that the toolbars for the Mail and Chat tabs are still quite compact.
To try it out, install the
Compact Toolbar 0.10 and the
Compact Menu 0.10 that goes together with it, then hide the main menu bar.
BTW, in the screenshot I'm using the
Winvista MSO2007 Blue skin.
Wednesday, 10. September 2008, 09:56:26
lightning at sunset
Originally uploaded by wvs Testing the 'blog this' option from Flickr. This is my current desktop background image.
Monday, 28. April 2008, 23:15:56
setup, opera, ribbon, customization
...
[edit 2008-06-15]Updates updated: made the setups offered here compatible with 9.5 Final. Same URLs, a few new versions.I'm going from light blogging to no blogging apparently... a bad trend. I'm a little bit active on Twitter now, but not in a way that compares to my past blogging here. When 9.5 Final and Firefox 3 get released, I'll probably make an update for the Top 150 Extensions list.
But my customized setups can already use some updates, the 9.2 versions will have some broken functionality when used with Kestrel builds. So here are provisional 9.5-compatible setups, suitable for Kestrel Beta 2. Copying some description text from a blog post in April 2007 BTW
Below you can find the auto-install links, with links to old blog posts for some background info. Remember: use
Ctrl+F12 > Advanced > Toolbars to get back to your previous menus, shortcuts and toolbars.
TwelveRibbon-inspired radical setup. Use the menu and toolbar together. Hide the main menu with Alt+F11 after tweaking the shortcuts.
HuginMail-only setup. Use at least the menu and toolbar together.
More Mail Sort of a Hugin-lite that adds more mail-specific menus, shortcuts and buttons, but doesn't remove the browsing functionality. Use at least the menu and toolbar together.
Bigger MenusJust what it says.
Classic ClutterReturn to the toolbar-bonanza of Opera 7.23. With an additional Startbar even...
My Personal Setup Use at least the menu and toolbar together.
Sunday, 24. February 2008, 18:10:49
one word, me, life
Tim has tagged me in an internet game of answers, one...word...at...a...time.
Where is your mobile phone?
pocketDescribe your girlfriend:
happyYour hair:
goneYour mother:
ashesYour father:
busyWhat is your favourite gadget?
phoneWhat did you dream last night?
nothingWhat do you prefer to drink?
coffeeDream car?
noneWhat room are you currently in?
kitchenYour ex?
nopeYour biggest fear?
fearWhat do you want to be in 10 years?
myselfWho did you spend last night with?
twitterWhat are you not?
talkativeThe last thing you did?
eatWhat are you wearing?
jeansFavorite book?
LoTRThe last thing you ate?
mango-pieYour life?
typicalYour mood?
goodYour best friends?
scantWhat are you thinking about right now?
friendsYour car?
picassoWhat are you doing right now?
typingYour Summer?
hopefullyMarital status?
pseudoWhat is on your TV right now?
BobWhen did you last laugh?
todayWhen did you last cry?
moviesSchool?
vacationAs usual, I don't tag others. Though my girlfriend just started a (Dutch)
blog on
Hyves.nl, maybe she can pick it up
Friday, 25. January 2008, 08:27:50
beer
Tuesday, 1. January 2008, 21:49:21
geek, me
Tuesday, 20. November 2007, 10:52:09
me, css
Monday, 5. November 2007, 16:21:58
browsers, css
For a few years I've been maintaining up-to-date versions of
Eric Meyer's
HTML 4 Quick Reference and CSS 2 Quick Reference panels/sidebars. Keeping the HTML QR up-to-date is easy, as it never changes, but CSS 2 is slowly progressing towards a CSS 2.1 Recommendation and so changes every once in a while.
The
fun part in CSS developments is in the emerging CSS 3 modules. Some have been untouched for years, others get some serious work, and sometimes even new ones get created. The CSS Working Group at the W3C has this
Current Work page that you can use to keep track. The most fun is of course the implementation of new properties in browsers, the folks at
CSS3.info do a nice job of following that.
But with CSS3 modules starting to become usable for real use on the web, the CSS 2.1 QR needed an update. So I've made a new
CSS 3 Quick Reference panel that pulls all the new properties, selectors, at-rules etc together. Come and get it from
Rijk's Panelizer!
Saturday, 15. September 2007, 16:57:55
me
Today I've been discharged from hospital, so I'm back home behind the laptop again. Great! I can mostly help myself now at home (except for putting on socks and tying shoelaces) and the wound is healing well. No eight-hour working days for me for a while, but it is good to get back in the loop again. Though I've build up a backlog of 600 mail messages already. I'll install build 9523 soon and look at the mail later
Friday, 14. September 2007, 12:27:58
me
Great to be walking again! I now have walk around a lot. Probably going home this weekend.
Thursday, 13. September 2007, 14:03:30
me
Today: walking with crutches, not very far yet, and sitting in a chair. A pity the GPRS connection is not so good in this room.
Wednesday, 12. September 2007, 11:10:19
me
OK so far. Sat on the edge of the bed this morning. And I love Opera Mini
Monday, 10. September 2007, 23:08:46
me, screenshot, life, kestrel
While elsewhere people will be thinking of
questions to ask me, I'll be off to the hospital in a few hours. I hope to be back soon, with a new left hip. The first part of me to become
bionic, a lot cheaper though... Kids, watch out for iced sidewalks - a fall on the curb can lead to a broken hip; a broken hip can lead to a dead hip; which is no fun.
For fun, here's a screenhot of my current Opera toolbar configuration:
Friday, 7. September 2007, 10:49:56
opera, customization, tweak, kestrel
...
Mitchman, Opera developer, explains
some of the new toys for tweakers in Kestrel. It will be interesting see what new shortcuts and buttons will be made with the 'delay' action.
Tuesday, 4. September 2007, 08:52:41
opera, configuration, usability, kestrel
...
Yippee, Kestrel's finally out. As buggy alpha for now, remember! You are best of testing this in a seperate installation, installing in a new directory does that trick. If you decide to upgrade, you really want to have a backup of mail (and bookmarks, wand, cookies etc if these are important for you).
Among many else, this release aims to become more usable out of the box. That means no surprising non-obvious shortcuts where you need to read the documentation to figure out how to get your normal browser back after pressing the wrong key by accident. Yes, this did happen. Quite a lot. Our Elektrans testers made it very clear that power users will dearly miss some of the one-key shortcuts like 1/2 for tab switching and z/x for navigation. So we've also thought of a way to ship with those power shortcuts in a forward-compatible manner (shipping with an extra 'classic' keyboard setup will bring problems for us later). You can find the new switch to turn these shortcuts on under 'Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Shortcuts'.
Now, what changes did we make, and why? There's a complete official list of changes available (edit: updated the link to point to the beta 2 version). And here's a list of reasons:
- Several keyboard shortcuts have been changed or added for better cross-browser compatability.
- All single letter and single number keyboard shortcuts have been removed. These one-key shortcuts are powerful, but also caused serious problems for many users. For most of them alternatives are available. They can also be switched on separately in the Preferences.
- All Shift+letter and Shift+number keyboard shortcuts have been changed or removed for the same reasons.
- All Alt+letter keyboard shortcuts have been changed or removed. These keyboard shortcuts are not compatible with many Opera localizations, because Alt+letter is used to access the main menu. Exceptions: Alt+P and the new Alt+D, both available for historical reasons. Preferred alternatives are available for the actions they perform.
- All Ctrl+Alt+letter keyboard shortcuts have been changed or removed. Windows user interface guidelines reserve these shortcuts for system wide use and as alternative input method for some keyboards.
- Keyboard shortcuts for seldomly used features have been removed, including two series of shortcuts that didn't show in the normal user interface: Ctrl+Shift+number shortcuts for 'manage' pages and Site Navigation keyboard shortcuts (think
<link rel=home ...>)
- Duplicated keyboard shortcuts that served no purpose anymore have been removed, those that were needed for compliance to operating systems guidelines have been made specific for those operating systems.
Monday, 23. July 2007, 21:04:06
opera, features
I've
been tagged,
twice even. The tagging game was started by
Daniel, because we apparently don't have a clue about where to go now, and are not already well on our way with Kestrel and Peregrine development. Or something like that.
Anyway, here's my list:
- Veto rights for me on all UI features
- Buy foobar2000 and Total Commander, and give them a Quick based user interface. That way I can use my leet Quick tweaking skills to change shortcuts and toolbars, instead of painfully having to master their systems.
- Moving the desktop team to a new base in Wijk bij Duurstede, The Netherlands. There is still some space to let over here.
- Some userscript enhancement that lets me send Jack Bauer to all site owners that don't test their work in Opera.
- A pony.
And the tag stops here, I
don't like tagging games. Otherwise I would have tagged
Eric Meyer .
Friday, 8. June 2007, 01:14:15
By far the most popular posting on this blog has been
Top 150 Popular Firefox Extensions and Opera. To oblige all those readers coming here by way of Google, I've updated the list and the summary again. Follow the link above. This was especially needed as the Firefox Addons site got an update, and the sleazy spyware toolbars were finally removed from the public site.
Friday, 1. June 2007, 10:39:16
opera, users, life, wii
...
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