I'll think of a good title later

Rijk posted a message in the forums asking us to come up with better ideas for a start panel for use in 7.5. While beginning a mock up page I got thinking about the panel selector as it appears on the start panel. It is a button labeled start. Windows has a button labeled start as well.

Think about a young chap using a computer for the first time. He wants to get on the internet. He has been given a copy of Opera by a caring soul who doesn't want the poor newbie to get off on an Internet Explorer related foot. They've loaded it up & want to know what to do next.

The newbie looks across the room to his friend (who is popping the bubbles on the bubblewrapping that came with the new PC) for inspiration & the friend replies, "press 'start'"

Which button? Instant confusion.

First thought:

AAAAGGHH!!!! Stay calm - breathe deeply.

It is a bit different to say the least. It would appear that the 'Opera is too cluttered' complaints from the IE & Mozilla camp (simpletons ) have been taken on board with a vengeance.

On start up Opera is definitely much leaner & less cluttered. As an Opera user it seemed to me as if everything was missing although obviously this is not the case. The incompleteness of the startup shouldn't have bothered me as my first customisation of any new Opera is to remove all the buttons. I only use the Google & address fields. I perform all other functions through keyboard shortcuts & mouse gestures.

After getting my bearings I thought excellent - less components to remove.

The next problem - Opera seem to have done away with the hotlist. This is not a popular move at the moment, & not one that I'm sure I'll get used to. One of the best features about Opera for me was how you could have almost the entire screen dedicated to the webpage, then you could press F4 & easily access all the tools you need, then press F4 & it was all cleanly hidden again.

The panels button that you can apply (off by default - bad idea) works the same way as the hotlist button of old but unfortunately F4 does not. Pressing F4 will open the panle list & the top listed panel together (good) pressing F4 again closes the panel but not the panel list (bad). I consider this a serious usability flaw but I'm not sure if Opera consider this a feature.

The other problem I had with opening & closing the panels was the way it squashed the address bar. It just looks really messy & unprofessional. To overcome this I reinstated the mainbar (off by default) removed all its buttons, then switched all the fields & the panel button from the address bar to the main bar then turned off the address bar. Now opening a panel does not alter any of the toolbars giving a more consistent appearance.

The customise toolbars dialogue is nice but I prefer the dragging & dropping of previous 7s.

& what is with the start panel? A page that takes up the entire screen & only offers one new function (search mail). For 'Go to web address' people will (strangely) use the address field & to search the internet I think most people's instinct will be to use the field that says Google. An entire page for one new feature seems a little bit of an overkill for me.

So far I've spent most of my time changing Opera back to how it was.

I get the impression that this release is not for Opera users. It seems to be trying to be too much like other browsers. Part of Opera's appeal is that it is not like other browsers - this is something to be flaunted, not hidden.

The last thing Opera needs is its fans turning against Opera.

Despite all that though there are lots of backend improvements which make this release worth using.

As always more later...