Opera FAQs, Tips, Tricks & Tweaks

Cool tips for Opera browser since 2005

Maximize Opera viewing area for better browsing experience

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 11:28:31 PM

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I don't use any toolbars except tab bar to get maximum screen space for browsing. Here are a few tips to gain more space for viewing websites in Opera.

  1. Hide menu bar

    Shrink entire menu bar to a small button in tab bar File > Show Menu Bar. You can also remove menu button Right click on menu button > Customize > Remove From Toolbar and access menus using Alt key.

    Opera menu button
    Menu button

  2. Disable address bar

    Disable address bar Tools > Appearance... > Toolbars > Address bar and access address bar functions using alternate methods.

    To access address bar button functions use mouse gestures or keyboard shortcuts.

    To enter web address use keyboard shortcut, F2 or drag & drop address field from Tools > Appearance... > Toolbars > Buttons > Browser view to other toolbar. Enable show address in caption and restart Opera to show web address in title bar or use Breadcrumb URL UserJS to show web address at top left corner of the page.

    Opera address field in tab bar
    Address field in tab bar

    Opera UserJS Breadcrumb URL
    Breadcrumb URL

    To view page loading progress Tools > Appearance... > Toolbars > Progress bar > Pop-up at bottom.

    Opera progress bar pop-up at bottom
    Progress bar pop-up at bottom

    Use Get feed link UserJS to show feed icons at the top left corner of the page.

    Opera UserJS Get Feed Link
    Get feed link

    To search type search engine keyword followed by search query in address field with space in between them. For example, g opera tips will search for opera tips in Google. If there is more than one search word you can search without entering search engine keyword in default search engine.

  3. Disable status bar

    Right click on status bar > Customize > Appearance... > Toolbars then drag & drop required buttons from status bar to another toolbar and disable status bar.

  4. Personal bar

    Change the placement of personal bar to left/right and style to images only or disable it Tools > Appearance... > Toolbars > personal bar and use the following alternate methods.

    Add frequently visited sites to Speed Dial by changing number of Speed Dials to predefined layout (Ctrl+T > Configure Speed Dial > Speed Dial layout) or custom layout with custom thumbnail images.

    Add button to websites in toolbar by holding Shift key and dragging & dropping links or tab to toolbar.

  5. Full screen mode

    Run Opera in full screen mode (F11 key) without any toolbars or full screen mode with toolbars.

  6. Space saving skin

    Use space saving skin with smaller toolbars like Opera Standard 10 Slim Skin to get a little extra space.

    Opera Standard Slim Skin
    Opera Standard 10 Slim skin

  7. Auto-hide toolbars after certain time.
  8. Hide title bar (Windows only)

Web page looks different in Opera?Opera Community Member Statistics for 2009

Comments

Charles SchlossChas4 Wednesday, December 30, 2009 11:34:21 PM

cool banana

S a msamfresco Wednesday, December 30, 2009 11:35:35 PM

Very Good as always! bigsmile

Agmagor Wednesday, December 30, 2009 11:54:29 PM

Thanks.

Aleksander AasAleksander Wednesday, December 30, 2009 11:56:08 PM

awesome as always smile

lamarca lamarca Thursday, December 31, 2009 12:30:06 AM

excellent. have a banana

dirkthetomster Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:06:33 AM

up another one in my bookmarks, excellent, Tamil up

Kyle Bakerkyleabaker Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:16:05 AM

Excellent work Tamil! Placing the address box in the tab bar has never crossed my mind before. Very space efficient!

d4rkn1ght Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:56:38 AM

cool

Anonymous Thursday, December 31, 2009 4:11:35 AM

Anonymní writes: Did you see new Opera build guys? (That one added 8 days before this tip...)

Marcelo Javierpunkesito Thursday, December 31, 2009 4:32:13 AM

Tamil FTW!!! thanks for your work, from argentina.

Dacotah Thursday, December 31, 2009 5:13:00 AM

banana

z@h3kZAHEK Thursday, December 31, 2009 5:51:16 AM

Nice tips smile Thanks.

Charles SchlossChas4 Thursday, December 31, 2009 6:17:39 AM

Originally posted by anonymous:

Anonymní writes:

Did you see new Opera build guys? (That one added 8 days before this tip...)



I think you are talking about Opera 10.5 pre-alpha

Tamil Thursday, December 31, 2009 7:55:12 AM

@Chas4, lamarca & Dacotah:

Abhinavdecodedthought Thursday, December 31, 2009 10:40:57 AM

ouzowtfouzoWTF Thursday, December 31, 2009 12:54:57 PM

Can you please post a complete screenshot of your Opera window? I'd like to see how it looks with breadcrumb url in the page itself and without any other toolbars. I'm currently using only tabbar, adressbar and statusbar.
Thanks for this blog post and a happy new year to everybody!
banana banana banana banana banana

Tamil Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:12:42 PM

I have only tab bar with following buttons and don't use breadcrumb URL UserJS.
  1. Proxy on/off button
  2. Content blocker on/off button
  3. Hide/Show title bar button
  4. Undo button
My old screenshot at Lifehacker.

Nicola MantovaniIron84 Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:16:27 PM

even better, just keep the address bar with all the button you may find useful and scroll tabs via right mouse button + scroll wheel.
plus, mouse gesture to open/close tabs and show/hide necessary toolbars happy

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Thursday, December 31, 2009 3:26:27 PM

Originally posted by Samuel:

Very good as always! bigsmile


Originally posted by Aleksandra Aas:

Awesome as always smile


yeah up party for Tamil

Dacotah Thursday, December 31, 2009 7:16:13 PM

smile

Tamil Friday, January 1, 2010 12:13:38 AM

smile

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Friday, January 1, 2010 2:22:01 AM

Happy new year guys! smile
Edit : 2010's first comment on this post! lol

Tamil Friday, January 1, 2010 3:01:29 AM

It depends on time zone.

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Friday, January 1, 2010 6:36:07 AM

Originally posted by Tamil:

It depends on time zone.

smile I know lol it's just that I didn't count yours because you're the one who own the post! smile

Tamil Friday, January 1, 2010 7:18:23 AM

Dacotah's comment is first in my time zone. smile

Dacotah Friday, January 1, 2010 9:10:29 AM

party Happy New Year Tamil. banana

Dacotah Friday, January 1, 2010 9:11:12 AM

pssst It's "Dacotah's comment"

Tamil Friday, January 1, 2010 9:24:01 AM

party

Typo corrected.

Dacotah Friday, January 1, 2010 9:37:08 AM

party
banana happy

Tamil Friday, January 1, 2010 9:44:03 AM

happy

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Friday, January 1, 2010 11:06:58 AM

zip lol happy new year Dacotah

Dacotah Friday, January 1, 2010 11:48:57 AM

Tamil smile

Thank you Holo3D, Happy New Year to you too.

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Friday, January 1, 2010 12:13:18 PM

Thanks! up

Anonymous Saturday, January 2, 2010 4:24:00 AM

OldTimeOpera writes: Hi Tamil, when the address field is placed in the tab bar as shown in your screenshot, what can be done to change its width? It is a little narrow for my liking but otherwise it is perfect! Thank you!

Tamil Saturday, January 2, 2010 5:02:06 AM

You can't change width. sad

See http://my.opera.com/Tamil/albums/showpic.dml?album=281397&picture=7734647

Anonymous Saturday, January 2, 2010 7:09:14 AM

Anonymous writes: Is there a way to hide the title bar on ubuntu? I thought I saw that on this blog before?

Tamil Saturday, January 2, 2010 9:07:22 AM

I don't know.

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Saturday, January 2, 2010 4:25:20 PM

p

KryptoKnightAleksOD Sunday, January 3, 2010 1:18:45 AM

Thanks for the tips! Very helpful, indeed! up

LéazzBabyJay99 Friday, January 15, 2010 9:16:41 AM

cool banana for Sir monkey Tamil wink

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Friday, January 15, 2010 10:19:54 AM

bigsmile

Tamil Friday, January 15, 2010 11:16:33 AM

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D Friday, January 15, 2010 11:24:50 AM

bigsmile

LéazzBabyJay99 Friday, January 15, 2010 1:50:11 PM

lol

Tamil Friday, January 15, 2010 2:12:31 PM

LéazzBabyJay99 Saturday, January 23, 2010 2:28:38 PM



banana

Tamil Saturday, January 23, 2010 2:47:10 PM

party

LéazzBabyJay99 Saturday, January 23, 2010 2:50:11 PM

up wink

Olalere TemitopeAlharho Saturday, January 23, 2010 9:28:11 PM

Good!!! _tamil. wink

rezadotcom Sunday, January 31, 2010 2:44:23 AM

up

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