Opera Desktop Team

Widgets UI improvements!

By Huib Kleinhouthuibk. Friday, March 24, 2006 5:08:55 PM

Don't be shocked when you run this weekly build. The Widgets user interface has dramatically changed! The first thing you will notice, is the Opera Widgets label on the top of your screen. It allows you to quickly pull up your widgets, from within any application. The widgets are now shown in a faded background. This makes it easier to distinguish them from other applications. And more fun to use! Can't find your favourite widget? Check the Opera Widgets Developers Documentation to see how you can make your own. Changelog
  • New widget User interface:
  • Some of the new widget User interface is not yet available on Linux, UNIX, or Mac.
  • Widgets will not work on some Linux or UNIX installations, while work is being carried out on the new widget User interface.
  • Widget thumb is shown at the top of the screen, providing quick access to widgets (this can be removed using the settings button when viewing widgets).
  • Widgets are now displayed on a faded background.
  • Pinned widgets have their own tasks, and can be activated with Alt+Tab as with normal application windows.
  • Pinned widgets can be kept on top using the right-click menu.
  • New welcome mail to replace dialog when first creating a mail account.
  • History panel now uses localised time when grouping by date.
  • Optimised tooltip formatting to prevent long tooltips from causing Opera to become unresponsive.
  • Re-added gender setting to voice preferences.
  • Fix for display of toolbar button text.
  • Content blocker now collapses blocked iframes.
  • Improved handing of image changes through CSS :hover effects.
  • Shift+Enter in forms is no longer detected as an unwanted pop-up.
  • Support PUT method for XMLHttpRequest.
  • Fixed support for LSSerializer.writeToURI.
  • Improved support for HTML output in XSLT.
Windows specific:
  • MSI installer can now download the Windows Installer if it is not yet installed on the system.
UNIX specific:
  • Fix for downloading files to desktop.
  • A static build is available again.
And many other fixes!

Download links:

In memory of Geir Ivarsøy

about:installerMacBuild 3295 Crash on startup solution

Comments

Jakub81 Friday, March 24, 2006 6:06:26 PM

Thanks! I have been waiting for widget improvements since TP2!

Hasinahasina Friday, March 24, 2006 6:06:54 PM

yes

Love you Opera.

Espen B. AnderssonEspenA Friday, March 24, 2006 6:08:34 PM

Great!

kisu kangcielkisu Friday, March 24, 2006 6:09:09 PM

yay! opera rox!

superjoppe Friday, March 24, 2006 6:13:23 PM

So late, didnt think we would get anything to play with this weekend smile

Ar1Pear1pe Friday, March 24, 2006 6:14:56 PM

Thanks again bigsmile

SergeiVinny-perm Friday, March 24, 2006 6:14:59 PM

:-) downloading...

Thomas vFRaven Friday, March 24, 2006 6:15:47 PM

Thanks!

Hover works again as it should - good!

Some minor issues:
- Widgets don't stay on top (makes the clock widgets much less useful)
- In the font listing, all fonts are listed twice again

Dennis-Hawks Friday, March 24, 2006 6:18:20 PM

@Raven
did you try to right click on the widget and select "Always on Top?

chrislu Friday, March 24, 2006 6:21:43 PM

vbulletin and gmx.de still broken :/

Non-Tropponon-troppo Friday, March 24, 2006 6:21:45 PM

it is annoying i have to uninstall before installing with the MSI... i forget whether that was raised beofre?

EDIT: running MSI again now gave me option to upgrade.

Widgets: much better!!! - though remember your "faded" display doesn't really work on multi-monitor setups (only one display fades)! They are finally useful now. I don't like the little tab but it is disableable. The fact of having widgets accessible to ALT+TAB when pinned (but not always on top - btw you have a typo there) just rocks!

NoobSaibot Friday, March 24, 2006 6:22:13 PM

NTLM finally?

Osman YukselYuXeL Friday, March 24, 2006 6:25:27 PM

Cant find debian packages for this weekly sad

PatentEater Friday, March 24, 2006 6:26:48 PM

Yep, no debian packages sad

velmu Friday, March 24, 2006 6:33:10 PM

The Mac build crashes at startup sad

[r4] Friday, March 24, 2006 6:35:05 PM

I'm wondering whether it's supposed to be that way... I mean - widgets. After running up a new Opera I got that nifty looking window in the center of the upper border of the screen. And when I click it - no widgets are selected nor installed though - the screen goes all black, the only thing that remains is this widget manager. When I click Opera Widgets again it disappears, returning the desktop to the way it was before. Is this normal?

Non-Tropponon-troppo Friday, March 24, 2006 6:36:36 PM

[r4] - yes, it toggles a "widget space" - you can break them out of widget space by pinning them.

[r4] Friday, March 24, 2006 6:39:36 PM

@non-troppo: thanks a million. I guess I'll just have to learn to live with it p

Mark DellMadElk Friday, March 24, 2006 6:39:44 PM

@NoobSaibot
Doesn't look like it... Maybe next week

Jakub81 Friday, March 24, 2006 6:39:48 PM

I think it's illogical a bit - to release a widget from the "widget board" you have to pin it p

Non-Tropponon-troppo Friday, March 24, 2006 6:40:02 PM

However I think it is a bit confusing that clicking "Opera widgets" and entering widget space excludes pinned widgets (they remian faded in the back with other apps) - that should be changed!

EDIT: Jakub we had the same thought I think! wink

aleksandaraleksandaraleksandar Friday, March 24, 2006 6:40:52 PM

same problems:

1. Language file is useless for translation. sad
2. Where (bookmark) star is disappeared?
3. Fokus in chat windows still behave strangly.
4. Pop-up windows (and picture) appear always at upper-left corner.

Hasinahasina Friday, March 24, 2006 6:41:39 PM

Widget space. bigsmile
I like that. Once again, great job.

"The fact of having widgets accessible to ALT+TAB when pinned (but not always on top) just rocks!"

Werd.

Non-Tropponon-troppo Friday, March 24, 2006 6:42:45 PM

it is like "hyper space! p

slauf Friday, March 24, 2006 6:43:25 PM

Thank you for the new build. I found a bug when i visit http://www.umwelt.sachsen.de/lfug/hwz/MP/560051/index.html, because when i move the mouse cursor over a highwater-measurement-point i get no information box what highwater level there is and whether the water level grows up or whether it sinks down.

Secondly, a found another bug in the skin implementation since Opera TP2 and which isn't corrected since then. An extrem example is the skin : ))) ( Smile 3 ).
The problem is under Win XP SP2 (i don't know how it is on other systems, but i think it's the same problem) that the full window will be black and after a moment the Opera Browser is back. It happens when i change from one table to another when the small preview will appear.I think there is a bug in the tab preview.
Please note: Before Opera TP2 this bug doesn't exist.

Non-Tropponon-troppo Friday, March 24, 2006 6:45:15 PM

Request: the pinned widget icon in the default skin should be made less intrusive!!!

Karl-Johan SjögrenLordDaimos Friday, March 24, 2006 6:48:24 PM

I ran the MSI installer and chose Upgrade and now when I started Opera all my settings are gone! sad I know such things could happen with beta software but I almost feel like I could cry now sad. All email and stuff is gone aswell along with all rss feeds sad. Anyone else had a problem like this? sad

Hasinahasina Friday, March 24, 2006 6:49:55 PM

Can we oficially name the faded black screen thingy "Widget space" ? idea

jco Friday, March 24, 2006 6:50:01 PM

For Ubuntu users, which file should we get? I used to get the etch deb but it's not available this week.

Astranominaastranomina Friday, March 24, 2006 6:50:01 PM

The widgets are not persistent, i.e., once Opera is closed they have to be downloaded and started all over again. This behavior has not changed since TP2. Am I right or am I missing something ?

Also I am having some focus problems - with the weather widget its impossible to click and focus on the text field - have to first shift on the 'Enter' button and then Shift-Tab to the text field. Is this normal?

Well, I am asking all of this cause I am assuming these problems are trivial and should have been fixed already, and there is something wrong with my Opera installation smile

Johan Borgborg Friday, March 24, 2006 6:50:37 PM

LordDaimos: Check opera:about and see if the Preferences are saved in something that looks like the right place. Your settings are most likely not gone, just not pointed to correctly for some reason wink

Sgt_HoboSergeantHobo Friday, March 24, 2006 6:50:43 PM

Downloading now.

jco Friday, March 24, 2006 6:51:08 PM

How come there are not debs? Will this be the start of having no debs? Or is no-debs just for this week?

Johan Borgborg Friday, March 24, 2006 6:51:44 PM

astranomina, choose Continue from last time in Preferences->General. Known bug, will be fixed soon...

Johan Borgborg Friday, March 24, 2006 6:52:49 PM

I frankly don't know why there are no debs this week wink

[DAC]Stabby Friday, March 24, 2006 6:55:01 PM

Installed using the MSI installer... zero problems with installer... all settings were brought over.

Though the first thing I notice is I still have to refresh any forum I'm on after posting/editing

Numen Friday, March 24, 2006 6:57:16 PM

Finally, the text in widgets is readable with ClearType enabled (though the fonts are anti-aliased in a strange manner by first applying ClearType sub-pixels anti-aliasing and then turning the hue of the sub-pixels to match the colour of the text). Anyway, it's much better than the artificats produced before.

Some widgets don't expand any more after Opera is restarted, eg. Slashdot or digg.

It's not possible to click to select a form of some widgets, as the click is handled over to whatever the application in beneath it. Happens since build 8265, probably related to this fix: Allowed mouse events to pass through clipped or overflowed (or otherwise transparent) regions of an element, eg. touchSky weather widget. You can enter text into the fields now by getting there by means of TAB key, though.

For a moment I feared it was impossible to turn off Opera Wigets handle on top of the screen. But you can hide it by clicking the arrow next to it whilst in widget space mode:-))

Great build so far. Keep it up! :-)

Dennis-Hawks Friday, March 24, 2006 6:57:26 PM

Originally posted by non-troppo:

Request: the pinned widget icon in the default skin should be made less intrusive!!!


+1 and even further - if pinned and topped - no icon at all!

Non-Tropponon-troppo Friday, March 24, 2006 6:58:40 PM

The profile bug (which is still not fixed) causes a new problem with widgets. Load another profile and the widget config from the default profile is loaded, causing two sets of identical widgets.

Running profiles with widgets could be quite a difficult issue, each version of opera will want to have its own widget space.

Opera crashes when being closed down in this scenario.

PatentEater Friday, March 24, 2006 7:00:35 PM

Quote from the blog entry: "Widget thumb is shown at the top of the screen, providing quick access to widgets (this can be removed using the settings button when viewing widgets)."

When I click on that thumb, I get a shaded screen and the usual Pin|Add|Remove toolbar (replaces the thumb). Can somebody explain to me how I can remove that thumb, because I really can't find a "settings button".

Using Kubuntu Breezy Badger.

Non-Tropponon-troppo Friday, March 24, 2006 7:02:48 PM

GMail and EBay both have rendering regressions.

Michelkav2006 Friday, March 24, 2006 7:04:57 PM

Can you add option "Hide OperaWidgets Label from Top of Opera's window"

nolovelust Friday, March 24, 2006 7:07:40 PM

bes browser ever, but this version overrides

show close button on each tab
open windows instead of tabs
settings
and

still overwrites my own search.ini file

PatentEater Friday, March 24, 2006 7:08:23 PM

Never mind, I've already reverted back to Build 1670 (old version numbering). By the by, the layout engine still doesn't work well enough for daily use. http://derstandard.at can't be accessed at all, for example.

minime1000 Friday, March 24, 2006 7:10:56 PM

Some notes to the widget improvements (I'm using opera under Linux):
- The OperaWidget label on the top of the screen should moveable. If I use opera maximized the label is always in the middle of the top where it overlay the name of the current webpage. And IMO there should be a way to disable the lable (I couldn't find it.)
- If I click on the button I get the 3 buttons (pin,add,remove), but If I click on add the opend window is half out of the screen. This is unusable. There should be a way to move this window or the buttons. Btw. The new window with the available widgets should always fit in the screen.

Carlos Renato F. VendraminiRedPingüim Friday, March 24, 2006 7:14:18 PM

Plans to provide a tray icon to Unix versions compatible with desktop managers as gnome and kde (Linux, FreeBSD, blablabla) allowing users of those platforms to control some Opera's features (mail, etc) following the example of the current Windows' version?

Certainly a great add.. up

Kostia RomanovKildor Friday, March 24, 2006 7:15:40 PM

New welcome mail to replace dialog when first creating a mail account.
does this letter will be place in language files?

And, wish:
ability to set widget pinned, and stay on top, but without pin icon and "task"?

And, ability to switch "Widgets are now displayed on a faded background." off ;-)

PS: thanks for classic installer and build at all ;-)

Haavardhaavard Friday, March 24, 2006 7:20:59 PM

Originally posted by PatentEater:

By the by, the layout engine still doesn't work well enough for daily use. http://derstandard.at can't be accessed at all, for example.


Works fine here.

Perhaps you could try to be slightly more specific about the problems you are experiencing? Preferably in the forum.

If you don't explain what kind of problems you are experiencing, no one can fix them.

alsiladka Friday, March 24, 2006 7:21:29 PM

1. Buttons problem not solved. Gmail buttons messed up!

2. Rich text Editor

"You have set 'Rich Text Editor' as your editor but your browser isn't compatible with it. The standard editor has been used instead."

Whn shall opera be richly editable?

3. How about a Backup Profile and Restore Profile option ?

4. I installed 3 Widgets , but after them even after downloading and installing more widgets they would not display and the "Widget space" toggle button woult not function properly . I could not disable it. Had to repair Opera.

5. When i wanted to repair opera , on going to the Add / Remove programme , opera only displayed remove option. Should it not also show repair , i think on clicking remove you can repair it but just for the case of correct user options?

6. Option to have the tray icon displayed without a Mail or Chat account? because i love it , can keep opera running in background for quick loading when not using. Let the tranfers take place without having to waste the taskbar space.

Jordanjambra Friday, March 24, 2006 7:21:42 PM

Will it be possible to select where the widgets thumb is located? I keep the start bar (on autohide) at the top of my screen...it would be nice to choose which edge of the screen to place it.

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