User Centered

Theres a wave in the Opera community to get feedback from people on the 5 things they'd like to see in Opera. This is a pretty broad scoped question, so I'll try to use some of my five to hit on several of the possible paths.

First, I was tagged by non-troppo- and that list was *pretty darn good* as it is. I'll add a few thoughts and links that I've collected throughout the years.


My number one issue is hand in hand with non-troppo's second issue.

1. I think getting a metadata focus on the mail, bookmarks, notes, etc would be a great step. I want to treat my address bar like a command line- I already get bookmarks/nicknames, query tons of search engines, opera:config, opera:history, not to mention the occasional URL input. There are tons of "quick search" boxes around the UI- it would be nice to get those integrated.
   
   
2. "User Constructed Browsing" focus
   Tighter integration of notes to the URL- something very similar to the "post-it" projects that have come along. Ideally- when you went to a URL, the notes panel would "focus" a note connected to that URL
   
   Most things we bookmark we dont' really want to bookmark. I think most of the sites I want to bookmark are represented with my "top 10" and my speed dial. Everything else is just for reference.
   
   
3. Discoverability of advanced features- I like how Opera hides features and lets you uncover them- like mouse gestures, and how the mail accounts are hidden from the UI until you set up accounts. Opera should put some thought into how users discover features. Tie it in with the Opera Community to give it some "social" impact- Something like a "power user" score that users can earn that is reflected in the community. Maybe a "myers-briggs" type of score that shows what kind of Opera user the person is. Opera can set up tests in the community for users to learn features, or have it based on what number of features (like mouse gestures) are active/used in the browser. The user would have to opt in of course.
   
   
   
4. "I prefer ergonomics over being a populist platform." (non-troppo) Do not conform to "browser standards" (meaning browser client, not web standards- *do* conform to those please!) unless it makes sense to do so. You're an innovative company- I use your product because it's different than the others. Truth be told, I don't care about Javascript or rendering speed, I like your interface better than others. Its not for everyone, and maybe Opera won't be for me in the future, but I want you to keep innovating.
   
   sub note: Personally, I don't care how much marketshare you have (I know *you* do ) The only thing that matters is that you continue to make a good product. I'll pay for Opera (I did in the past) and I'd pay for Opera Mobile if it was available for my phone. I've paid for the Opera browser on Nintendo DS and I'll pay for it on a Wii if I ever get my hands on one.
   
   
5. Tighter my.opera.com integration with the browser- you have a great community, it would be nice to easily blog and post from within the browser. Portable browser bookmarks, sessions and settings across my many installs and Opera Mini, and Nintendo DS.
   
   

Bonus Time!- Ten Small Improvements for the Opera UI (Number 4 on that list is now available! That document is a year old now and needs to be revisited) I particularly would like someone to do number 10 on that list- Allow us to save a wand/password *after* we've logged in to a site (handle it like the pop-up blocked dialog)

I'd like to hear from Dan/dantesoft, WillYum, Ken/kmaage(who's view will not necessarily reflect those of his employer), Schneemann, FataL, and Dave (there's an extra one there in case one of you are already tagged)