Opera : Java Glossary

2008-04-03 by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
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Opera

A small, fast, free browser that can run Java via the Java Plug-in using standard <APPLET tags. The latest version is Opera 9.27 On 2008-04-03, I determined it was last revised 2008-04-03. .

It optionally comes with the Java plug-in built-in as its native Java. It will happily work with the latest Java plug-in as well. This is the browser I use most often myself, and my web host (Inter-Corporate) also uses. It is one of the few browsers that directly supports RSS feeds.

Benefits	Backup
Gotchas	Java
Bugs	Forums
Configuring	Build Numbers
Associations	Pet Tricks
Toolbars	DDE
Panels	Links
MIME Types

Benefits

Opera is a fast light browser. Opera handles CSS style sheets better than the competition, though it still has bugs.
One of the nicest features of Opera is the fast file download. It gets on with the download in the background even before you have finished typing the file name to save as.
Opera has a rich selection of root certificates pre-installed. Any certificate authority can submit root certificates to be included.
Opera print options lets you control whether background colours are printed and whether there are headers and footers.
Opera gives you options to control the display including:
- Your personal overriding CSS style sheet.
- Ability to configure fonts and sizes.
- Zoom to control the magnification of the screen. Lets you rapidly zoom/out on a site with type and images too large or small.
Full Text History Search indexes every word from every Web page you visit. You can type keywords in the URL address bar and Opera searches every site you've visited — in real-time — and suggests links for you.

Gotchas

I use Opera for everything except filling in forms on other people’s websites, which sometimes fails. The Canadian government income tax websites refuse to work with it.
However, Opera’s JavaScript stinks. Filling in forms often fails.
Opera often cannot access the printer with print selection. I have this problem both with local and remote printers. Firefox and IE have no problem.
Opera is not a good tool to proofread images because it does not reload images, even if they are changed on disk. To see the new version of an image, you must stop and restart Opera.

Bugs

The main bug prior to Vista, that gets me is hitting view source sometimes does nothing. You have to click reload or clear cache or failing that restart to get it working again.
Opera 9.27, Opera 9.50 beta, Firefox 2.0.0.14, Sea Monkey 1.1.9, Safari 3.1.1:525.17 and Flock 1.1.2 all have a “bug”. They will not render <col class="xxxx">s correctly. IE 7.0.6000 renders it correctly. The Opera people say this is a feature not a bug. The language lawyers claim the W3 spec says that the browser is supposed to ignore the color attribute from the <col class. Logically, I think the <col styles should apply to the entire column, but not to <th rows. Last revised 2008-04-16.
For Java to work under Opera, there must be a copy of msvcr71.dll in the C:\windows\system32 folder. If there isn’t, copy it from C:\Program Files\java\jre1.6.0_06\bin .

Configuring

Every new version moves the menus around, so this information is likely to be out of date. Further you can totally customise it so that everything works the way you want. You may even do that inadvertently and confuse others when giving instructions since their program, same version is configured differently.

There are single-user and multi-user configurations. With single user, the data files are kept apart from the program in the user’s directory. With single user configuration, the data files are kept with the program. For Vista, single-user style installs are unstable. Use multi-user even when there is onely one user.

Configuring Opera
What	How
fonts	To configure fonts, you must click File ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Toolbars ⇒ Fonts and Colours. Uncheck "use system standard" and select your fonts for both active and inactive default text. This is for the menus and buttons. It does not affect document presentation, however. Click File ⇒ Preferences, ⇒ Documents ⇒ User fonts and colours. Double click normal and select a font. Continue down selecting default fonts for every kind of HTML element under the sun. Have fun. You could spend days till you get it just the way you like. If things don’t work, check that the presentation modes are still set to their defaults. See the Help menu for the proper settings.
home page	To configure a new home page, click Navigation ⇒ Global Home Page ⇒ Set Active. Then File ⇒ Preferences ⇒ start and Exit ⇒ show single window with global homepage.
skin	You can download and select custom skins with Tools ⇒ Appearances ⇒ Skin. I particularly like the work of Lars Kleinschmidt. Make sure you select a skin for the latest version of Opera. Older skins don’t have a full complement of icons. I am currently using the Phoenicity skin and neo_1.5 skin in beta. I like each of my browsers to look distinctly different so I can easily tell which one I am using. In W95/W98/Me/NT/W2K/XP , if you have configured separate profiles per user, the skins will be stored in .zip files in C:\Documents and Settings\`%username%`\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\Skin along with all the wallpapers you have collected and installed with Opera. In Vista if you have configured separate profiles per user, the skins will be stored in .zip files in C:\Users\`%username%`\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera\profile\Skin along with all the wallpapers you have collected and installed with Opera. Using separate profiles per user is strongly recommended. Further, turn on UAC when installing and removing Opera. In W95/W98/Me/NT/W2K/XP/W2K3/Vista , if you have configured a common profile, the skins will be stored in *.zip files in F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\Skin along with all the wallpapers you have collected and installed with Opera.
Source Code Editor	Configure Tools ⇒ Preferences ⇒ programs and paths ⇒ source code viewier to your favourite text editor. Then you will have something decent to look at the HTML and to trigger an edit from within Opera.
Kiosk Mode	Opera can be configured in kiosk mode for use in libraries, tourist information stands etc. In kiosk mode the user is prevented from doing anything risky like running programs or changing the configuration. You can also set to refresh an page every x seconds with just a right click on the page.
Certificates	If you import root certificates, look for PEM format, which is what Opera prefers. Just click them to import.

Associations

To set up Opera as your default browser manually set up an association for *.html to opera following the usual procedure. The magic values are:

Opera Association Configuration
action	open
application used to perform action	"F:\Program Files\Opera\Opera.exe" "%1"
use DDE	yes
application	opera
DDE application not running	blank
topic	WWW_OpenURL

Toolbars

Opera comes with many optional button panels called toolbars . You can configure which toolbars you want to appear and where using View ⇒ Toolbars .

There are the various configurable bars. Each can be configured off and on, and its contents can also be configured. Unfortunately, Opera has been very cavalier about preserving these configurations on new releases. They just tell you to start over.

Opera Toolbars
Toolbar	Purpose
Menu	Traditional Windows drop menu with File Edit View Tools Bookmarks Help
Main	Duplicate of menu commands: Open save print find home panels cascade tile cascade voice I usually have this turned off since the functionality is duplicated elsewhere.
Personal	favourite bookmarks and searches. You can set up search boxes to google web, groups, images for example.
Tab	Lets you access your open Web pages as tabs. Essential to keep track of multiple Pages open at once.
Address	This is the bar I use most. Where you can enter a URL or search. Displays current URL. I have mine also configured with quick buttons for home, way back, back, forward, way forward, reload wand
Start	Place to configure extra searches and buttons, e.g. hot lists, top 10.
View	Place to configure extra searches and buttons, e.g. author/user mode..
Navigation	Button assisted navigation for sites that support the LINK REV and LINK REL.
Status	The Status bar shows useful information when you point your mouse to different items, both in Web pages and in the user interface.
Progress	How fast and how complete the various downloads are to render the page. Usually at the bottom of the page and usually configured to disappear when nothing is happening.

Personally, I turn on PTA — Personal, Tab and Address bars.

Start by turning everything on, and gradually turn off the ones you never use. Make sure you don’t cover up the bars with the dialog box. It can be very confusing if you are trying to configure something you cannot see. Also make sure you click OK after your changes in the bottom right. If you simply click the close X , you will lose all your changes.

Panels

Opera comes with many optional displays called panels ., usually placed along the left hand side. If you dig around in them and turn the one on you need you can find everything but your socks. You can configure which panels you want and where you want them to appear using View ⇒ Panels .

Opera Panels
Panel	Purpose
Start	Show panel where you can start working with Opera
Bookmarks	Organize bookmarks to your favorite Web sites
Mail	Read, write, and organize e-mail and news
Contacts	Organize your list of contacts
Chat	Join chat rooms on the Internet and talk to people
History	Keep track of all recently visited Web pages
Transfer	Monitor file transfers
Links	View all links in Web page
Windows	Organize all your open pages and application windows
Info	Display technical information about Web sites
Notes	Write to do lists and manage clipboard

Configuring MIME Types

To run Java Web Start, you need to set up an association between MIME type application/x-java-jnlp-file , file extension jnlp , and application C:\Program Files\java\jre1.6.0_06\javaws\javaws.exe .

Opera has a less than complete list of built-in extensions and MIME types. It sometimes does bizarre things like try to render Java source code as if it were HTML or display the contents of a class file on the screen. The basic problem is the chaos on the Internet about MIME types. They are not standardised or consistently used. Some sites mark everything with MIME type text/plain . One tool you have is to try either File ⇒ Preferences ⇒ File types and tick either determine action by Mime type (for well behaved sites), or determine action by file extension if MIME is type is unreliable (for incompetent sites). Unfortunately, you must toggle it back and forth yourself manually. Opera does not remember which sites are incompetent.

You can add extensions, MIME types and associated applications with Preferences ⇒ File Types ⇒ new to make it smarter, and you can also experiment with the Preferences ⇒ File Types ⇒ Trust Server to always return correct file types. Make sure you back up your F:\Program Files\Opera\opera.ini file where all these MIME/extension configurations are stored both before and after your experiments.

Opera can also run any of the Netscape plug-ins without requiring a separate copy of the plug-in for Opera.

If the Window ⇒ Special ⇒ Plug-ins shows nothing, check that opera6.ini entry to define the plugins directory says: Plugin Path=F:\Program Files\Opera\Program\Plugins .

Backup

Make sure you backup your bookmarks, most easily done by exporting them. You can back up/restore/migrate parts of your Opera configuration as needed.

If you move Opera from drive to drive, you must adjust the settings inside opera.ini to point to the new drive.
In W95/W98/Me/NT/W2K/XP , if you have configured separate profiles per user, your bookmarks are stored in
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\opera6.adr (or the default initial settings in operadef6.adr ) and your settings in
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\opera6.ini and your search engines in
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\search.ini
Or if you installed with a common configuration for all users, your bookmarks are in
F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\opera6.adr and your settings in
F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\opera6.ini , and your search engines in
F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\search.ini .
In Vista , if you have configured separate profiles per user, the bookmarks will be stored in
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera\profile\opera6.adr , your settings in
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera\profile\opera6.ini and your search engines in C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera\profile\search.ini .
In W95/W98/Me/NT/W2K/XP/W2K3/Vista , if you have configured a common profile, your bookmarks will be stored in
F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\opera6.adr, your settings in
F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\opera6.ini and your search engines in
F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\search.ini.
In a similar pattern look for Notes: notes.adr
Personal Information: F:\Program Files\Opera\profile\opera6.ini has your name, address, phone number in the [Personal Info] section.
Wand passwords: wand.dat
Contacts: contacts.adr
Cookies: cookies4.dat
Certificates: opcacrt6.dat , opcert6.dat , opssl6.dat. These are needed for the master wand password.
Search preferences: search.ini. You will need to update the embedded version numbers to match those used by your new version of Opera.
Blocked content preferences: urlfilter.ini
Site-specific settings: override.ini
Speed dial: speeddial.ini
Widgets: widgets.adr

Backup the following directories, or copy the following directory from your old Opera profile director to the new Opera profile directory for whatever you want to migrate.

Favicons: profile\images
Keyboard (customized keyboard shortcuts): profile\keyboard
Menu (customized menus): profile\menu
Mouse (customized mouse gestures): profile\mouse
Sessions (saved sessions): profile\sessions
Skins (downloaded / custom skins): profile\skin
Styles (custom user style sheets): profile\styles
Toolbar (customized toolbar setup): profile\toolbar
Voice (customized voice setup): profile\voice
Widgets: profile\widgets

Opera also creates dozens of registry entries. The only practical way to restore them if they are damaged is to reinstall Opera.

When you click BookMarks ⇒ Manage Bookmarks sometimes all your bookmarks not in folders will have disappeared. To make them reappear, click in the white space on the left below all the folders.

Netscape can import bookmarks directly from Opera. You can export Opera bookmarks to Firefox, Sea Monkey, and Internet Explorer if you use the HTML export format. When you import into IE, it appends .url onto the end of each name. You have to manually rename each bookmark to get rid of it.

You might find the ini tidier program makes it easier if you resort to manually configuring Opera by editing or snooping through its ini files.

Use with Java

Opera now automatically works with the latest Java JRE that you installed. It bypasses the Java Plug-In. Generally it is best to get a copy of Opera without Java and install Java separately. It will work no matter which you install first. You can disable or enable Java with File ⇒ Quick Preferences . Make sure you have it enabled.

Security permissions are controlled by F:\Program Files\Opera\classes\Opera.policy . You may find Opera’s default permissions differ from the Sun standard, and so some signed Applets may not run without first modifying the file.

Opera’s classes live in F:\Program Files\Opera\classes\Opera.jar .

Forums

Opera offers forums or their website to ask questions and discuss Opera. Some of these forums may also be available via your newsreader.

If you want to test the beta Opera, you will find out how in the beta test forum. When you switch to the beta version, you will have to import your bookmarks. See below for where to look for them.

Build Numbers

Opera does not change the version number with every release of the software, especially beta tests. You have to check the build numbers. To find out the latest build numbers visit snapshot.opera.com. To display the build number add the following line to your opera6.ini file.

Title=(Opera %s) %t

You can also find the build number in the help ⇒ About Opera .

Pet Tricks

You can use CSS styles in your web pages that will insert images from the visiting Opera-user’s currently configured skin. In other words, you can surprise opera users by customising your site to their preferences. Use view source on this Dutch site to see how it is done.

In Vista, the search.ini file lives possibly in:

F:\Program Files\Opera\Profile\search.ini
F:\Program Files\Opera\search.ini
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera\profile\search.ini

You can edit it to create new types of search boxes to add to your toolbars.

DDE

If you want to set up some program, e.g. your newsreader to spawn Opera to display a URL using DDE, set it up like this:

use DDE:	yes
application:	"F:\Program Files\Opera\Opera.exe"
DDE message:	"%1"
application:	Opera
topic:	WWW_OpenURL
method:	Request

If your app does not support DDE, then set up the spawn like this:
F:\Program Files\opera\opera.exe "%1"

You need your registry set up like this to allow you to launch opera just by typing Opera on the command line.

browser
Configuring Search Engines in Opera: rolling your own custom search boxes with search.ini
console
file Opera bug report
Firefox
Flock
IE: Internet Explorer
Java Plug-in
Literary Moose on Opera CSS style sheets
Mozilla
Netscape
Opera banners and buttons
Opera bug reporting
Opera command line options
Opera file formats
Opera forums
Opera JavaScript/ECMAScript support
Opera tutorials
opera.ini file format
Search Box PlugIns for Opera
search.ini format
Testing Java in your browser

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