lachblog

Today Opera unveiled Opera Unite, congratulations. I must admit that it's not exactly what I was missing most but I like the hype and the artwork and the fact that it makes people talk about Opera and lets them see how Opera is still innovating 24/7. Perhaps I'll understand the concept and it's relevance to my browsing needs later.

What's more interesting to me is that in this build the new skin is even more fine-tuned than in Opera 10 Beta 1. Jon Hicks is constantly working on it and it looks better than ever. However as you know me I had to tweak a bit here and there -- less than ever! -- so here's my personal flavour of the new Opera Mac Native skin:

Opera Browser:


Opera Mail:


If you want to, you can check the skin by clicking on the following link (one-click download + install):
http://www.demuths.de/iopera/files/skins/test/mac_skin_rads4.zip

My current Toolbar set-up:
http://www.demuths.de/iopera/files/toolbars/iOperad.ini

And in case you need a good Speed Dial background image:
http://www.opera.com/bitmaps/home/campaign/0906unite/unite.jpg

Keep up the good work Opera, and thank you for all the latest fixes and additions

Sofie turned 10 yesterday and we had a big party with her friends and the family. Thanks to the brilliant weather we also had the first BBQ 2009!



Check out all the photos here: http://my.opera.com/lachralle/albums/show.dml?id=732748

This year Sofie and Alessa wanted to participate in the annual Wasa run through the city centre of Celle. One adult had to run with them so I accompanied them on the 2.5 kms of the Mini Wasa Run which was big fun. It's a huge crowd with a range from 3 to 70 years and most of them are there to enjoy the atmosphere like we did -- competition-wise it's enough to reach the target on your own feet The weather was a bit Bergen'ish but still better than expected. We will be there again next year.

Wanna see the new Safari 4 Beta tabs Opera-style?



I pimped Khadgars great Entr'Acte 2 skin a bit and added/changed Safari 4 style tabs, iTunes style sidebar, MacFirefox style address bar and Mac-style mail header and incomplete message toolbars. If you want to give it a try in MacOpera:

Click here for the skin

Note: When you have applied the skin it's best to re-start Opera to see all User Interface changes. I'll return to my version of Khadgars Entr'Acte 2 Chrome Graphite.

Dustin Wilson comments on the Safari 4 hype and how Apple claims that it invented stuff that Opera has had for decades. I'd like to add the following two:

• Opera 10 Alpha has had Acid 3 100/100 for some time now, the first public Alpha with this was published Dec. 4, 2008. Apple says the following on their ridiculous 150 Features page: "Safari is the first — and only — web browser to pass Acid 3", marked as new for the Safari 4 Beta.
  
• Apple also says: "Safari was the first browser to let you organize tabs by dragging and dropping." Opera was! When? At least since Opera 7 I think (sorry, too lazy to check).
  

Oh and a personal comment, if Safari 4 Beta shows how unified top tabs are supposed to look on the Mac I'd like to porpose that Opera forgets about macification in that area. MacChrome pre-alpha has a better approach already IMHO.

If you want a fast and good looking Browser on the Mac use Opera and Khadgars unique and good looking skin. I always looked for mac'ish, good looking tabs that don't eat up too much space and even tried chrome'ish ones until I realized that Khadgar had everything there already, thank you. And who knows what Opera 10 will bring once Jon Hicks starts themeing it.

When we went to the doctors today for the Ultrasound I noticed a nice part of a logo of a Café in Gifhorn (a city not far from where we live):