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Opera Alpha 9.5 release codenamed Kestrel

.kvn   on 05 September 2007 - 10:13 · 23 comments & 6644 views

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It's a year in the making but an Alpha version is now available for download. Kestrel has improved rendering of webpages, increased font-rendering speed, faster and less memory intensive and a more responsive user interface.

Welcome to the Opera Browser 9.5 alpha release - codenamed Kestrel. For your everyday browsing, please continue to use 9.23, the latest version of Opera's free and award-winning browser. This release is all about you: we want to hear what you think about it, what we did right and what we didn't and how we can make it even better for our beta and final releases.

Link: Bug Reporting
Download: Opera Alpha 9.5

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(2 replies) #1 cork1958 on 05 Sep 2007 - 10:22
Tried it. DID NOT like it, and I've been an Opera fanboy since version 5. Ever since version 9 though, it's been sucking more and more. Sucks so much now, I don't even have Opera on ANY of my 7 machines!!
#1.1 Eis on 05 Sep 2007 - 12:26
Well, at least you're specific about what you don't like. If you've been sending suggestions like that I can't even come close to understanding why they haven't fixed it to your liking by now.
#1.2 SHADOW-XIII on 05 Sep 2007 - 15:15
Quote - (cork1958 said @ #1)
Tried it. DID NOT like it, and I've been an Opera fanboy since version 5. Ever since version 9 though, it's been sucking more and more. Sucks so much now, I don't even have Opera on ANY of my 7 machines!!
then join buggy Firefox fanboys ...
Opera is great, what you do not like you can switch off or do not use, even though Opera got so many features it is still faster and smaller (memory, app size) and Opera 9.5 is even faster than older ones, not slightly, quite a bit.
#2 ~Neowin~ on 05 Sep 2007 - 10:23
The Best getting better
#3 Darken on 05 Sep 2007 - 11:15
Excellent alpha build.
(5 replies) #4 th3rEsa on 05 Sep 2007 - 12:48
I'm still waiting for any v10 preview, when Opera's imho ugly GUI (*) will finally be revamped.

(*): A web browser is a program where I, of course, have to see the interface.

#4.1 solardog on 05 Sep 2007 - 16:38
Really? IMO Opera is the sleekest and fastest browser right out of the box. IE7 would rank second now and FireFox is definitely the ugliest of the bunch, even after skinning it doesn't look as good as the other 2...always been way too clunky/boxy looking IMO.
#4.2 th3rEsa on 05 Sep 2007 - 17:42
Fx has a completely scriptable GUI (ever heard of XUL?), while Opera's toolbars are simply too wide... and too many.
(Fx can even be used without window borders, so the displayed part of a website is growing even bigger. But that's not the point here.)
#4.3 dangel on 06 Sep 2007 - 10:15
Quote - (th3rEsa said @ #4.2)
Fx has a completely scriptable GUI (ever heard of XUL?), while Opera's toolbars are simply too wide... and too many.
(Fx can even be used without window borders, so the displayed part of a website is growing even bigger. But that's not the point here.)


Hit F11.
#4.4 d_ralphie on 06 Sep 2007 - 19:32
Quote - (th3rEsa said @ #4.2)
Opera's toolbars are simply too wide... and too many.

# of toolbars in Firefox: 3 (address bar, bookmarks bar, status bar), 4 when you open two tabs

# of toolbars in Opera: 9.5: 3 (address bar, tab bar, status bar), 9.2: 2 (address bar, tab bar)

Too many? So basically, Firefox has too many as well?

Remember: Panels, etc. are hidden by default.

Quote -
(Fx can even be used without window borders, so the displayed part of a website is growing even bigger.

F11 in Opera.
#4.5 dangel on 07 Sep 2007 - 10:33
Quote - (d_ralphie said @ #4.4)
F11 in Opera.


Is there an echo in here?
#5 DeMo_BR on 05 Sep 2007 - 14:10
CSS3 for the win!
#6 E6400C2D2007 on 05 Sep 2007 - 19:18
**** this. Opera 9.5 Mobile FTW. I can't wait till it gets released. I hope it supports Flash.
#7 :No-Frost: on 06 Sep 2007 - 00:04
Any SS???
#8 rm20010 on 06 Sep 2007 - 03:22
Noticeable changes that are not listed on Opera's test site:

- No more view toolbar by default.
- Zoom bar moved to bottom right. Similar to IE7.
- Mousewheel scrolling is better? Seems like they put in some deceleration. Still a heck of a lot more smoother than Firefox's scrolling.
- They Now Capitalize All Words In The Menus.
- If the wand dialog asks if you want to save the password for a site, Opera no longer waits for user input before loading the page.
(1 reply) #9 Hak Foo on 06 Sep 2007 - 05:02
I want to like Opera, but aside from a want of extensions I like/use, there's some things I can't get over.

-The tabs-or-else mentality. I recall with 9.0, I had to install a customization to get both "new window" and "new tab" buttons.

-The inability to position menus in the order I prefer (navigation at the top, bookmarks below)

Idle comparison. All displaying the same page, all on 32-bit Vista:

IE 7: 14.2M
Opera 9.5: 19.0M
Firefox: about 22M.

Now, I'm sure IE can save a lot of "exclusive" memory by burying bits of itself in system shared space, but still, it's impressive. Now if only they could port FireFTP to Opera.

Last edited by Hak Foo on 06 Sep 2007 - 05:52
#9.1 d_ralphie on 06 Sep 2007 - 19:34
Quote - (Hak Foo said @ #9)
-The tabs-or-else mentality. I recall with 9.0, I had to install a customization to get both "new window" and "new tab" buttons.

Huh? Just press Ctrl+N for a new window. No idea what you are talking about.

Quote -
-The inability to position menus in the order I prefer (navigation at the top, bookmarks below)

You can do that.

Quote -
Idle comparison. All displaying the same page, all on 32-bit Vista:

IE 7: 14.2M
Opera 9.5: 19.0M
Firefox: about 22M.

Try opening 20 pages. IE is loaded with the OS, so the memory use is hidden, but open several tabs, and you'll se Opera use far less than the others.
(5 replies) #10 Diaboli on 06 Sep 2007 - 12:52
still no right click on menus...theyre so far behind on everything
#10.1 d_ralphie on 06 Sep 2007 - 19:35
Quote - (Diaboli said @ #10)
still no right click on menus...theyre so far behind on everything

Yeah, because right click on menus is "everything"... Who cares about speed, security, functionality, etc? Right click on menus is all that matters!
#10.2 Eis on 06 Sep 2007 - 20:51
The way you select browsers is quite unique...
#10.3 Diaboli on 07 Sep 2007 - 23:25
Quote - (d_ralphie said @ #10.1)
Quote - (Diaboli said @ #10)
still no right click on menus...theyre so far behind on everything

Yeah, because right click on menus is "everything"... Who cares about speed, security, functionality, etc? Right click on menus is all that matters!


ppl have been requesting right click menus for AGES on the opera forums
security and all that u can get from firefox
andmight i remind u..opera has problems loading pages cause of their stuck up standards attitude that the internet should bend towards them
so there goes functionality
security..meh..never had an issue with firefox or IE..if people are smart enough to press NO its good enough
right click menus are important to me, its how i organize my bookmarks(i keep a followup folder on my toolbar that i keep forum posts etc on)
Opera cant beat firefox until it has firefox's features and more..instead they ignore user requests for features
maybe its too hard to add, idk..but i dont like being limitted on what i can do, or having to load a differnet browser for a buncha pages
#10.4 David3k on 08 Sep 2007 - 17:03
Quote - (Diaboli said @ #10.3)
Quote - (d_ralphie said @ #10.1)
Quote - (Diaboli said @ #10)
still no right click on menus...theyre so far behind on everything

Yeah, because right click on menus is "everything"... Who cares about speed, security, functionality, etc? Right click on menus is all that matters!


ppl have been requesting right click menus for AGES on the opera forums
security and all that u can get from firefox
andmight i remind u..opera has problems loading pages cause of their stuck up standards attitude that the internet should bend towards them
so there goes functionality
security..meh..never had an issue with firefox or IE..if people are smart enough to press NO its good enough
right click menus are important to me, its how i organize my bookmarks(i keep a followup folder on my toolbar that i keep forum posts etc on)
Opera cant beat firefox until it has firefox's features and more..instead they ignore user requests for features
maybe its too hard to add, idk..but i dont like being limitted on what i can do, or having to load a differnet browser for a buncha pages


"Err, wut?"

Opera is the most standards compliant of all 3 browsers!

You're saying they're making the web bend to their will by adhering to standards??

#10.5 d_ralphie on 10 Sep 2007 - 18:17
Quote - (Diaboli said @ #10.3)
ppl have been requesting right click menus for AGES on the opera forums

So? Those people are few and far between. Just because someone requests something doesn't mean that it has to be top priority.

Quote -
security and all that u can get from firefox

No, not to the same degree as Opera.

Quote -
andmight i remind u..opera has problems loading pages cause of their stuck up standards attitude that the internet should bend towards them

This is a blatant lie. Opera has been designed from the ground up SPECIFICALLY to handle broken code. Most sites that don't work are due to browser sniffing.

Opera does NOT have an attitude that the internet should follow their command. The browser even has a complete rendering mode just for handling broken code on sites.

Quote -
Opera cant beat firefox until it has firefox's features and more..instead they ignore user requests for features

It's not about features. Firefox has lots of users because of marketing. Because Google pays people big money to place Firefox ads on their sites.

And Opera does NOT ignore user requests. Requested stuff is added all the time.

Apparently you lack knowledge about Opera, since you are wrong about both their attitude towards standards and real sites, and their willingness to take user requests into account.

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