Tabs not working

in Opera 11.51 on my 64-bit Ubuntu 11.04 (x86_64, 2.6.38-11-generic) machine. I first noticed this in connexion with an earlier update to Opera ; no «New tab» button is displayed in the GUI, and as can be seen in this screenshot, when I perform «Ctrl+T» all that happens is that my current tab is replaced by the Opera Speed Dial ! Nor does middle-clicking with my three-button mouse give the result expected ; a new tab is not opened. This problem, which I have attempted to resolve by re-installing Opera several times with, alas, no results, renders the browser, which thitherto had been one of my favourites, useless to me. I should be most grateful for any suggestions which could help me resolve the issue....

Henri

When I use the new tab button or shortcut, the current page is not replaced, a new tab opens with the speed dial.

A speed dial tab is a new tab. It is just the same a new blank page with a few optional extras. Delete the unwanted speed dial slots or replace them with your own favourites. Or, just type a URL in the address bar as you used to do on a blank page.

I have no idea why you think this makes Opera useless to you. What could you do before with a blank new tab that you cannot do now with a speed dial tab?

If it really annoys you to see anything in the new tab, set the Speed Dial State to 3 to disable it completely.

Thanks for your speedy reply, Pesala ! Perhaps I didn't make my plight sufficiently clear - as a long-time Opera user, I am well aware that Opera can be set to open a new tab to the Speed Dial - but my problem is rather that whenever I try to open a new tab next to the active one, the latter is always replaced. This, notwithstanding the fact that my Opera is set to «Open a new tab next to the active tab» under «Preferences» → «Advanced» → «Tabs». This, no matter whether I try to use «Ctrl+T», which leads to the active tab being replaced by the Speed Dial, or middle-click on a link, which does nothing but rather leaves me on the original tab. And, as I noted above, there is no «New Tab» button in the user interface. Given that Opera was the browser in which tabs were first introduced, I suspect most Opera users will understand me when I say that not being able to use tabs in Opera renders the browser useless to me ; it feels like using IE6....

It's probably some simple settings error which is bedevilling me here, but in that case I find it difficult to understand why un-installing Opera and then re-installing the browser doesn't resolve the problem. Grateful for any tips I can get which can help me do so ; until then, I guess I'll continue to use FF Nightly (as I am now) or Chrome/Chromium....

Henri

Try testing on a clean install: run the installer, change the install location, select the usb install mode. Run Opera from that location and see if the problem still exists.

Thanks for your post, LeoCG ! As mentioned above, I had previously un-installed and then re-installed Opera without the positive result for which I had hoped, but after reading your post, I decided to try once again, this time taking care not merely to un-install the browser via Ubuntu's package manager Synaptic, but also to go in via /usr/lib/Opera and remove the Opera plugins. To my great joy, when I launched Opera after the re-installation, the «Next Tab» button (the «plus sign») was now visible in the tab bar, and I could confirm that both «Ctrl+T» and middle-clicking were working nominally. So now I've got my Opera back and can use it alongside my other browsers. I am a very happy camper....

Henri