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Network latency improvements, Microdata and QRESYNC

By RamūnasRamunas. Wednesday, July 27, 2011 1:15:41 PM

, , , , ,

Hello!
My name is Ramūnas, and I'm a summer intern here at Opera HQ in Oslo. I'm in Desktop QA, doing bug testing for Windows/Mac and occasionally some Linux.

In this snapshot we have numerous Core updates and fixes, plus some very interesting mail work. I'd advise you to look through the changelog, though highlights include HTML5 Microdata work and network latency improvements on the Core side, and new QRESYNC support for Opera's mail client, M2.

For those not familiar, QRESYNC is an IMAP extension that enables you to synchronize message metadata using much less overhead. It allows clients to request all changes since the last time they were connected, instead of having to check each message for changes. Not all IMAP servers support it, but Opera's Fastmail and My Opera Mail of course lead the way. This change should be particularly welcome for users on capped or slow connections.

This build also contains improvements to the database backends used in Opera's mail client, M2. They will now create less fragmented files, allowing for faster writing and retrieving of data (though this does not apply to upgraded mail profiles).

Note: Due to changes in the mail storage format you cannot downgrade after your mail profile has been updated by this build. Therefore, we strongly recommend you backup your profile.

One small extra point with regards to the Core network latency fixes, just to avoid confusion. You will not see any real difference testing against popular benchmarks (which focus on rendering and JavaScript performance); this kind of work is more likely to have an impact on regular "day to day" browsing. However, it can result in pages loading in half the time! up You are most likely to see a difference if you have a poor network connection and others may notice improved performance when connecting to a webserver hosted on another continent.

As always, let us know what you think and any new issues you encounter.

WARNING: This is a development snapshot: It contains the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes, and data loss situations. In fact, it may not work at all.

Download

Changelog

Core
  • Network performance improvements - for high latency connections
  • CORE-37823 (Very slow redraw of elements added by a bookmarklet)
  • CORE-39445 (text-overflow: ellipsis doesn't fontswitch if font lacks full stop glyph)
  • CORE-35923 (NPAPI Missing support for ClearSiteData): This allows Flash (and other plug-in) data to be cleared
  • CORE-39378 (Change event does not fire when clicking label associated with checkbox)
  • CORE-39462 (href of a link element is empty when the href is the document URL)
  • CORE-37519 (string.replace with number reference returns a wrong string)
  • CORE-28884 (Inset box-shadow for <input>)
  • CORE-36758 (background-origin ignored in extra-ordinary conditions)
  • CORE-33027 (Inconsistent handling of EOF, in CSS <color>, between the CSS parser and the <canvas> color parser)
  • CORE-39163 (Update HTMLInputElement.stepUp()/stepDown())
  • CORE-7579 (maxlength attribute of input element ignored if set to zero)
  • CORE-35076 (HTML5 Forms: type=url, email incorrectly wider than type=text)
  • CORE-39532 (Optimize the (source-)over filter)
  • CORE-36783 (Spaces disappear when text in rich text editor is made bold (TinyMCE, Evernote.com))
  • CORE-32992 (Opera not rending Lightbox properly - reading computed overflow on display:none div returns unexpected 'visible')
  • CORE-38509 (It's possible to scroll overflow container with overflow: hidden using spatnav)
  • CORE-24647 (Fixed-positioned boxes incorrectly creates a new stacking context)
  • CORE-32455 (Plus sign allows text wrap on bild.de)
  • CORE-25622 (HTML5 microdata): Not complete on Mac and Linux/FreeBSD
  • CORE-40018 (Crash when accessing expert.no)
  • CORE-40159 (http://jsfiddle.net ceased to function)
  • Further crash fixes

Desktop
  • DSK-343044 (Video preload can freeze Opera)

Mail
  • Added support for QRESYNC - efficient IMAP sync
  • DSK-333904 (Grouped journaling + fragmentation fixes)
  • DSK-338715 (Occasional Crash on marking e-mail messages as 'Not Spam')
  • DSK-340672 (Mail in IMAP sent folder not marked as sent)
  • DSK-324277 (Different mail tabs turn the same when Opera restarted)

Windows
  • DSK-342555 (Opera crashes when you right click Opera on the Taskbar)

Linux/FreeBSD
  • Initial work towards GTK3 skinning support - no visible changes yet but look out for regressions in GTK2 support

Updated Ragnarök (HTML5 parser) Labs BuildLion Full Screen and further skin refinements

Comments

Obese MauriceObeseMaurice Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:16:39 PM

Thank you! cheers

Edit: When I'm trying to download this snapshot, Opera crashes instantly when I click the "save" button.

Win7 x64.

Spadar ShutSpShut Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:18:43 PM

First!
CORE-40159 (http://jsfiddle.net ceased to function) yes

Olegxlol Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:21:33 PM

Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:


When I'm trying to download this snapshot, Opera crashes instantly when I click to "save" button. Win7 x64.



and WinXP

czeci Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:22:43 PM

Opera crashes, when I,m trying to download this and other snapshots.

Obese MauriceObeseMaurice Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:24:19 PM

Originally posted by czeci:

and other snapshots



Confirmed. All snapshots, not only this one.

eini Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:25:50 PM

Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:

Edit: When I'm trying to download this snapshot, Opera crashes instantly when I click to "save" button.
Win7 x64.



Confirmed on XP-SP3. Had to use the stable to download.

Edit: Same with the new snapshot.

Obese MauriceObeseMaurice Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:30:05 PM

Originally posted by eini:

Edit: Same with the new snapshot.



+1

MountainAsh Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:31:20 PM

The workaround to download is to right-click the link and choose 'Save linked content as"
By the way, this new build still has the same problem on crashing while trying to download.

Oh, and Go Lithuania! p

Teal_One Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:32:27 PM

Originally posted by eini:

Confirmed on XP-SP3.


+1

RamūnasRamunas Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:34:48 PM

Thanks for the feedback. No need to confirm the crash on the download, but if you have any other issues, feel free to let us know smile

Swapnil RustagiSwapnil99pro Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:36:24 PM

Good work. I wonder when pre-alpha builds come with many features, how many surprises would the Opera 12 Alpha give us.

Ruarí Ødegaardruario Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:43:55 PM

Ok, I have put a work around in place for the known crash on using the download links via a recent Opera Next build.

Martin KadlecBS-Harou Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:49:35 PM

Waiting for an article about microdata on dev.opera.com smile

vilpapa Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:51:31 PM

Mail client in Opera is good.
When done that-be in your mail client and rss visited links are highlighted, as it was before?

appleboy15 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:53:29 PM

Just click to download crash.
http://py.qq.com/
...
Updated too slow.

hurug Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:55:01 PM

Thks for this under such circumstances.

Владимир Назаровirdose7 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:55:07 PM

heart heart heart up

exzentrik Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:55:50 PM

Still massive layout problems at http://www.gbase.ch/

hylik Wednesday, July 27, 2011 2:56:56 PM

Originally posted by MountainAsh:

The workaround to download is to right-click the link and choose 'Save linked content as"
By the way, this new build still has the same problem on crashing while trying to download.



still some crash as I click on Save in "Save As" dialog box!

winxpsp3

earth01 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:00:57 PM

Originally posted by Ramunas:

Network performance improvements - for high latency connections

Value at opera:config#Network|HTTPLoadingDelayedTimeout is set at 30 seconds.
For slow connections (EDGE for example), 300 seconds would be appreciated as default.

timmi Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:03:37 PM


They will now create less fragmented files, allowing for faster writing and retrieving of data (though this does not apply to upgraded mail profiles).



That means for Opera 12 there is a new mail profile needed for getting this improvement? Also exporting mails and importing it again?

Alexeyalex-shpak Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:18:48 PM

Originally posted by Ramunas:

Network performance improvements

Does it mean Opera Turbo will be even faster? Cool, Moving out to the land of a 2.5G Internet for testing!

Jamie Eppersonne081 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:24:46 PM

Out of curiousity,does this build incorporate speed and/or memory improvements from the previous labs build posted? If not,would i see more of an improvement using this latest build or sticking to the labs build for a while? Just looking for any insight someone may have,thanks bigsmile

minho Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:32:20 PM

Set a keyboard shortcut to open the news reader
Use the newly created shortcut to open the news reader
Change to any other tab
Put the mouse pointer over the tab of the news reader, no thumbnail appears
Click on news reader tab
Result: Opera crashes
Confirm?

win 7 pro sp1 x64

Martin RauscherHades32 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:33:27 PM

Does the network improvements contain httpS improvements?

What option toggles the clearing of Flash cookies now?
Edit: Never mind, there is a nice new "delete plugin data" smile

pchidamb Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:37:54 PM

DSK-326948 Please. Pretty please with cherry and strawberry on top....

http://code.google.com/p/gerrit/issues/detail?id=878

Daniel HendrycksDanielHendrycks Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:38:25 PM

"Does the network improvements contain httpS improvements?"
up

Pallab DeIndyan Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:38:52 PM

"Hello!
My name is Ramūnas, and I speak greek".
FTFY

minho Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:46:50 PM

Put an option in "delete private data" dialog to check/uncheck all options at same time, please.

shuperkiwi Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:49:32 PM

Ctrl + mouse or Ctrl + Shift + mouse (deprecated?) does not work in speed dial.

Christophchristoph142 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:51:54 PM

301 + 7 on html5test.com
(311 +7 with websockets enabled)

together with the HTML5-Parser out of the labs build Opera 12 will ROCK!!! cheers

Love it flirt

Asires Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:06:13 PM

"Redraw instantly" option will be fixed?

highstream Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:07:39 PM

Same crashes downloading files and PDFs as reported on page 4 of the last build's comments. Filed as DSK-343447.

Rafael Novaski rnovaski Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:24:04 PM

That's f****ing fast. The pages are loading in less than half the time.

EricJH Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:28:43 PM

Thanks for the update.sherlock

Could you elaborate on the network improvements? On where technically are the changes.

earth01 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:32:14 PM

http://bellard.org/jslinux/ does not load (or extremly slowly) since CORE-28530 (Compact object representation in Carakan)

Obese MauriceObeseMaurice Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:50:55 PM

I still can't see all extensions on addons.opera.com. worried

Matheusnom4d3br Wednesday, July 27, 2011 4:51:38 PM

Google Groups is working again! Thanks bigsmile

Deathamns Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:00:12 PM

Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:

I still can't see all extensions on addons.opera.com. worried

Mask as Firefox...

UnknownFactor Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:02:39 PM

As said above, 301 points on html5test.com, thanks to the new microdata support- though still missing some html5 parser goodies that were in the previous snapshot.

MorpheusMorpheusNS Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:06:17 PM

Opera crashes when trying to download from deviantart.com, as soon as I click on "Save" button.

Windows 7 x64

Joonas Lehtolahtigodjonez Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:26:08 PM

When getting new e-mail to IMAP account, in Unread view, clicking on Read button to mark the mail as read marks it as read for a split second and then it appears back as unread. You need to reselect the message and mark as read again for it to finally be marked as so. The same happened with flagging as Spam button, the mail gets spam icon for a split second and then back to regular mail envelope icon.

tisazalay Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:35:43 PM

Another cosmetic bug, possibly a regression, on M2 select a message, then hover over the tab (to display a thumbnail), the messsage title is truncated, example from "Breaking News" to "Breaking", also the time is chopped from "12:31:01 p.m." to 12:31:01". I recall earlier versions changed the size of the whole message when you displayed a thumbnail when the zoom is above 100%, that's why I guess it may be a regression.
12.00 1033 pre-alpha W7 64bit SP1

ClashCityRockerclashcityrocker Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:40:59 PM

Some serious regression with IMAP message downloading in this build, started with a clean mail profile, and it only downloads about 400 or so messages to my inbox, the other 20,000 messages in all my archive folders, my sent mail and other folders don't get downloaded.

Reverting to previous build, and a new profile setup the exact same way, and everything works correctly again.

Known issue?

Reported as: DSK-343451

gyeben Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:42:27 PM

Weird, but I don't have problems with downloading and saving. Upgraded to 12.00 b1033 from 11.50 final, on WinXP SP3.

tisazalay Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:42:30 PM

Originally posted by ne081:

Out of curiousity,does this build incorporate speed and/or memory improvements from the previous labs build posted?



My guess is NO, because bugs fixed in the labs version are still present in this version, ie. the double Ctrl-T leaves you without a search box until you hover a navigation button, most of the cosmetic bugs (The funny dancing "+" sign and a few others are still in this snapshot).
The labs build still "feels" more solid for me and the memory consumption as you stated is much better in the labs build (try stand alone the labs build with the same pages open and you'll see what I mean).

Joel Spadinspadija Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:49:53 PM

Howh exactly does the new mail database work for upgraded profiles? Do we get the less fragmented format for all new emails after the upgrade, but all the old stuff is left fragmented? Also, if that is the case, is there as simple way to upgrade everything manually, say by exporting, clearing, and re-importing everything?

VarunVarunM Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:54:26 PM

Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:

When I'm trying to download this snapshot, Opera crashes instantly when I click the "save" button.



This happens at numerous locations for various downloads BUT its not consistent, it happens occasionally and sometimes everything seems fine.
Can't seem to reproduce it on que.


less fragmented files



If this is true, for me Opera 12 is worth it just for this alone.
I have some 10000+ fragmented files in my Opera installation folder,
all of mail/feeds that i have.

Jordan TrillesCristallix Wednesday, July 27, 2011 6:34:21 PM

Yeah a new snapshot! cheers

Charlie ClarkMuzzlehatch Wednesday, July 27, 2011 7:00:25 PM

Wow, it is fast!

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