Kestrel is coming!
By huibk. Friday, 22. June 2007, 09:00:48
The last couple of months we've been working hard on the upcoming Opera 9.5 release, codename Kestrel. Opera 9.5 will contain many cool new features, improvement of existing features, and we fixed a lot of bugs. Within a few weeks we will publish 9.5 weeklies on this blog so everyone can start playing with it. 
What's new!
After the release of Opera 9 last year, we continued the development of Opera's rendering engine for inclusion in the 9.5 release. As a result, Opera 9.5 contains more than a year of improvements on the rendering engine. This includes improved CSS3 support (text-shadow anyone
), superior SVG support and a brand new javascript engine with support for ECMAScript 4 'getters' and 'setters'. Apart from being the best standard compliant browser, Opera 9.5 will also display even more webpages with bad coding.
User Interface
Earlier we asked our users for feedback by enabling the usage statistics. Thanks to all the feedback that we got, we now know more about which features are most popular and which ones are used less. In the Opera 9.5 user interface we made several usability improvements that make the popular features easier to access, and more consistent with other browsers.
Accessibility
Opera's zoom function has always been a very popular accessibility feature. Opera 9.5 takes a big step forward in accessibility by introducing screen reader support
, improved keyboard navigation and more consistent keyboard shortcuts.
Platform integration
To make sure that Opera remains the best choice on your platform, we spend a lot of time making Opera feel more integrated with your platform. Mac users can expect a nice new visual look and feel. Opera for Linux will add a QT4 build, so you can easily adjust the skin to match with desktop. There will also be 64-bit Linux/FreeBSD packages made available.
Performance
If you like speed, we've got good news for you! Opera 9.5 will be much faster, both in benchmarks (and we don't have to cheat
) and most important: on real web pages. The user interface will also feel snappier and more responsive, for example switching tabs is now a lot faster on UNIX.
And there is so much more!
While we're preparing the first weekly build for you, we will introduce you to more new features and changes in 9.5. Keep yourself updated!
What's new!
After the release of Opera 9 last year, we continued the development of Opera's rendering engine for inclusion in the 9.5 release. As a result, Opera 9.5 contains more than a year of improvements on the rendering engine. This includes improved CSS3 support (text-shadow anyone
), superior SVG support and a brand new javascript engine with support for ECMAScript 4 'getters' and 'setters'. Apart from being the best standard compliant browser, Opera 9.5 will also display even more webpages with bad coding.User Interface
Earlier we asked our users for feedback by enabling the usage statistics. Thanks to all the feedback that we got, we now know more about which features are most popular and which ones are used less. In the Opera 9.5 user interface we made several usability improvements that make the popular features easier to access, and more consistent with other browsers.
Accessibility
Opera's zoom function has always been a very popular accessibility feature. Opera 9.5 takes a big step forward in accessibility by introducing screen reader support
, improved keyboard navigation and more consistent keyboard shortcuts.Platform integration
To make sure that Opera remains the best choice on your platform, we spend a lot of time making Opera feel more integrated with your platform. Mac users can expect a nice new visual look and feel. Opera for Linux will add a QT4 build, so you can easily adjust the skin to match with desktop. There will also be 64-bit Linux/FreeBSD packages made available.
Performance
If you like speed, we've got good news for you! Opera 9.5 will be much faster, both in benchmarks (and we don't have to cheat
) and most important: on real web pages. The user interface will also feel snappier and more responsive, for example switching tabs is now a lot faster on UNIX.And there is so much more!
While we're preparing the first weekly build for you, we will introduce you to more new features and changes in 9.5. Keep yourself updated!
You must be logged in to write a comment. if you're not a registered member, please 
By rejdi, # 22. June 2007, 14:19:44
By Tamil, # 22. June 2007, 14:22:06
By hermen2048, # 22. June 2007, 14:22:19
By BAMAToNE, # 22. June 2007, 14:22:48
By Nequissimus, # 22. June 2007, 14:26:24
By Kirill.Fenix, # 22. June 2007, 14:26:33
By asif2bd, # 22. June 2007, 14:27:14
Does anyone knows what is being "censored" in the CSS image? I'm so curious...
By Schwenx, # 22. June 2007, 14:27:22
By Soleen, # 22. June 2007, 14:30:34
Originally posted by Schwenx:
Can I guess? Docked widgets....
By johnnysaucepn, # 22. June 2007, 14:33:11
Thanks for the big news.
By edupav, # 22. June 2007, 14:33:26
By aleksanteri, # 22. June 2007, 14:34:12
By Beerlake, # 22. June 2007, 14:34:40
I'm glad to hear there is a new Javascript Engine... JS intensive pages were where we lost against others :S... Also I'm glad to hear performance issues in *nix are improving XD.
With Safari around on windows, this are great news guys! Congratulations, and keep it up
By Camus, # 22. June 2007, 14:36:17
By zynal, # 22. June 2007, 14:36:35
By theoddbod, # 22. June 2007, 14:38:43
WOW !!!!!
By SoulOfDoinel, # 22. June 2007, 14:38:48
First weekly in few weeks.. OK! :-)
By f1avalanche, # 22. June 2007, 14:39:26
By Ibsen, # 22. June 2007, 14:39:55
By alecmg, # 22. June 2007, 14:41:30
By Mrrrrz0r, # 22. June 2007, 14:41:41
By XRock, # 22. June 2007, 14:44:07
By xyzbingo, # 22. June 2007, 14:44:14
Anyway, this just feeds my already overwhelming desire to play around with Kestrel. I can't wait. I feel like a kid who's staring into the window of new candy store that doesn't open for 3 weeks.
Thanks for the update, and keep up the great work.
BTW: Thanks for a 64-bit Linux version. I'm going to go download the x86_64 version of Fedora 7...
By GT500, # 22. June 2007, 14:45:02
By olli, # 22. June 2007, 14:46:23
By Yallis, # 22. June 2007, 14:46:30
How about a new skin for Kestrel?
By Cyro, # 22. June 2007, 14:52:26
By agony, # 22. June 2007, 14:54:06
By szh, # 22. June 2007, 14:55:59
By Bill_P, # 22. June 2007, 14:56:20
By Khadgar, # 22. June 2007, 14:59:25
My guess--a feature similar to FoXpose or Quick Tabs.
By wiley_e_wonka, # 22. June 2007, 15:04:42
By kriko, # 22. June 2007, 15:07:08
But the guessing here is interesting to read.
By Rijk, # 22. June 2007, 15:07:08
No. That's not right.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOGLE!
Opera, go forward!
By wwiii, # 22. June 2007, 15:07:23
By Zybex, # 22. June 2007, 15:07:30
By skydart, # 22. June 2007, 15:08:52
Or may be not? I am just curious about inside thoughts on this matter.
By Soleen, # 22. June 2007, 15:10:10
By graouts, # 22. June 2007, 15:10:41
By Soleen, # 22. June 2007, 15:11:23
By Real_quark, # 22. June 2007, 15:13:03
By rogerpe, # 22. June 2007, 15:17:09
Of course now. If there was a big difference, we'd have to call it 10 after all
By Rijk, # 22. June 2007, 15:17:46
Whahahah. Whahaha.
:-D
By DjiXas, # 22. June 2007, 15:19:17
By olli, # 22. June 2007, 15:20:37
Who said that there would be?
By Zotlan, # 22. June 2007, 15:21:58
By momo2, # 22. June 2007, 15:27:50
By hansbendiksen, # 22. June 2007, 15:29:34
Some questions:
- CSS3 Multiple background support? That'd be very useful, but I imagine you'd mention it if you had it...if you don't, is it because they spec's not been finalized enough?
- The new Mac look and feel wouldn't happen to include drawer support, would it?
- Aside from the previously mentioned SVG background image support in CSS, will 9.5 also allow img src="file.svg"?
- Will there be support for the VIDEO element, as also mentioned some time before?
By Fyrd, # 22. June 2007, 15:29:52
If I had to guess I think it might be related to fit-to-width somehow.
By Cyro, # 22. June 2007, 15:30:07