No flexibility to show up "Menu Bar" & neither an Option to Update the Opera Browser!?

[saurabhdua]

saurabhdua last edited by

Hello folks!

Iam using Opera 22.0 version on my Windows 8 Desktop PC. Iam disappointed to see a No flexibility to show up the much revered "Menu Bar", neither does there exists a "Home Page" Button!? To add to my agony, I do not see any exclusive option to "Update" my Browser to the latest version!?

In order to lure the Smart Phones & Tablet users, I suppose that you have dearly compromised on the interests of the Normal Desktop users like us! I do not wish to see the Start tiles based screen by pressing onto that Weird looking Button(in place of Home page), that cannot be described in easy words!

Tell me on how to Update to 22.0.1471.70? I feel handicap without the Menu bar & Home page button! Help me retain my faith over your offering. Cooperation will be sincerely appreciated

[lem729]

lem729 last edited by

@saurabhdua

Try the Home Page in New Tab extension. https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/homepage-in-new-tab/
If you install it, it will set up a nice Home Page Button on the icon bar of the browser. Anytime you want to go home, just click on it, and you will get your home page in a new tab. All you have to do is to go into options for that icon/button, and put in the web address of your home page.

Now there's still that + sign on the tab bar. If you click on it, you get a new tab, (or if you type ctrl T on your keyboard), and that new tab will be the speed dial. If you don't want the speed dial to come up then, you can also use the Custom New Tab Page extension. https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/custom-new-tab-page/?display=en
If you program it with the address of your home page, anytime you press the + tab, or go ctrl T your home page will also come up in the new tab.

And of course for starting the browser, you can have your home page come up by going to settings, Alt P, put the dot in Opera a specific page or set of pages, and program (with the address of where you want the browser to open). You can even set multiple pages, or a file on your computer for the browser to open to.

The speed dial can be quite beautiful, so you may want to experiment with it at your leisure. By right clicking on the dial, you can set up custom art, change the theme, add themes, right click on art on a web page, and add it as a theme, and have multiple speed dial items. In fact here's a new feature in that speed dial. If you drag one speed dial bookmark/thumbnail on top of another, you create a speed dial folder. So you can have a speed dial of folders. You can also drag bookmarks from the speed dial to the Personal Bookmarks Bar, and vice versa -- from the Personal Bookmarks Bar to the Speed Dial.

And don't forget to go to Settings, and put a check in Show the Bookmarks Bar if you want to see it.

Now on the menu, just click the Opera logo on the upper left of the browser, and you can see it. Many of the items have keyboard shortcuts, so that once you use Opera 22 for a while, you can type the keyboard shortcut, and avoid having to go to the menu at all. Still, one click on that Opera logo and you easily open the menu. Opera chose no horizontal menu across the top of the browser to save viewing space, and presumably to make the browser interface look less cluttered.

[lem729]

lem729 last edited by

I forgot ont point to address something you asked. Desktop Opera updates automatically. No need to worry about having to do something.

[saurabhdua]

saurabhdua last edited by

Hello lem729!

I appreciate your patience for dealing with an ominous critique like me:-) Now, the question is why didn't you allow all these simple configurations (New Tab, Home Page Button..etc. etc.) right from within the Settings Window only? Why on earth a user have to download "Extensions"-that connote the requirement for some serious enhancements, in order to accomplish that mere simple objectives?

Secondly, earlier versions(when you were peddling with Presto) of Opera used to sport a Horizontal Menu bar::File, Edit, View...& so on & thus were more affable to the end user. I remember clicking "Check for Updates" often to fancy my charm to fetch new Updates ASAP.

With the current version, I didn't see any such option within the Settings that can let a user choose whether to go for Automatic Updates, Prompt for a New available Update, or simply Prefer a MANUAL Update check!? Frankly, I would always prefer a Manual Update Check & its installation.

Have you shunned the Previous generation? Are the ones with tipsy-topsy fingers which sways the screen at will, only left as the intended end users for you? In the wake of this anguish, I would rather suggest you to append the list of Opera Next, Opera Mobile, Opera Mini..with an another option aka Opera Gold---intended for Oldies like us, the one that can boast of an impeccable "User Accessibility" Scores.

[lem729]

lem729 last edited by admin

Hello lem729!
I appreciate your patience for dealing with an ominous critique like me:-) Now, the question is why didn't you allow all these simple configurations (New Tab, Home Page Button..etc. etc.) right from within the Settings Window only? Why on earth a user have to download "Extensions"-that connote the requirement for some serious enhancements, in order to accomplish that mere simple objectives?

An omininous critique? Yipes, I will have to be on my toes with you. Opera changed its browser engine from Presto to Blink about a year ago. Through this change the browser is significantly faster, and is better able to access a wide range of internet sites. It is the browser that Opera is working on for the future, but it has to be reprogrammed from the beginning. Now one difference with the new engine is that there will be a greater reliance on extensions than before. In the past, there was a bundled product with many features that most users didn't use or need (although, no question, extra features people grew used to and liked). With the new browser the emphasis is more on people adding extensions to fit their need. That is not to say that some of the features you asked for (like the home page, or the changed new tab page) may not be added in the future. However, most people probably will be happy using the Speed Dial (with folders) as a home page, so there's less need of the add-ons that I have suggested for you. However, no question that some people might prefer a more traditional browser set-up, at least for a while. These extensions should work easily enough for you, and give your plenty of your desired functionality. At least, I hope so. One click on the download page for these extensions, and you can download and install. When you get the hang of doing this, it's quite easy.

Secondly, earlier versions(when you were peddling with Presto) of Opera used to sport a Horizontal Menu bar::File, Edit, View...& so on & thus were more affable to the end user. I remember clicking "Check for Updates" often to fancy my charm to fetch new Updates ASAP.>

Haha, "peddling?" Not me. I'm only a user of Opera like you. I come to the website, and follow the forum, and sometimes, when a question comes like yours that I think I can answer, I try to help out. If I mess it up, well, then, please forgive me. Now I realize some people liked the horizontal menu bar. I did too, but after a while, I've gotten used to clicking on that logo if I need it, or knowing the keyboard shortcuts, and it's nice to have the extra browser space (not made hmmm "ugly?" with the menu). Still, there is an adjustment because people get used to something. It's certainly possible that as the browser continues in its reprogramming, the option for such a feature -- the horizontal menu -- could come back.

With the current version, I didn't see any such option within the Settings that can let a user choose whether to go for Automatic Updates, Prompt for a New available Update, or simply Prefer a MANUAL Update check!? Frankly, I would always prefer a Manual Update Check & its installation.>

No question, quite a few users of the forum have asked for that, and I think it would be a good idea. Opera ought to add it, and I hope they will. For the moment, the updates are automatic, and while you can avoid it, that takes a bit of fiddling. Personally, I just take the automatic update. Hopefully, as Opera continues reprogramming the new browser, and takes feedback, it will give users the option on this issue. Here's a thread that discusses disabling auto-update.

https://forums.opera.com/topic/3196/can-you-disable-opera-autoupdate/5

As I mentioned, for me, I just deal with the update, because if there is a problem with it, it's easy enough to go back to what you had before.

Have you shunned the Previous generation? Are the ones with tipsy-topsy fingers which sways the screen at will, only left as the intended end users for you? In the wake of this anguish, I would rather suggest you to append the list of Opera Next, Opera Mobile, Opera Mini..with an another option aka Opera Gold---intended for Oldies like us, the one that can boast of an impeccable "User Accessibility" Scores. :-)>

Haha, you're funny. No, I think it's a different concept now. Everything isn't bundled in one browser. And by the way, in switching browser engines, which had to be done for a variety of technical reasons, the old programming did not carry over anyway. As I said, the whole thing would have to be reprogrammed -- a huge amount of work. Now the difference is, there are some improvements -- more speed in the browser, better able to access a wider range of sites, the ability to use a huge range of extensions (not possible before -- in the Opera Store --

https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/?ref=menu

and in the Chrome Store.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?hl=en-US

To download and install a Chrome Extension, all you need is the Opera Extension called Download Chrome Extension,

https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/download-chrome-extension-9/?display=en,

or the Opera extension called, Extension Source Viewer. https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/extension-source-viewer/?display=en

There's also in the New Opera, now a super speed dial (much more advanced than the old one), where you can create folders for each speed dial position (by dragging one speed dial bookmark/thumbnail on top of another (try exploring that, as I think you might find a lot of value in it), Stash (for saving items not quite raised to the level of a bookmark), Discover (which is a huge new resource in multiple languages and for multiple countries), etc.

So all is not lost. It's not so terrible to smile and welcome change But remember, if you want to use Opera 12.17, you still can. In fact you can use both browsers on the same computer easily enough. So Opera Gold (not a bad idea of yours) isn't needed quite yet. It's still available. You can download from the Opera site both Opera 12.17 (what you call, "Opera Gold") and Opera 22. Although you should keep in mind, work on Opera 12.17 is frozen. All the work, and reprogramming is going into Opera 22 now. So adjusting to the newer, faster Opera has its benefits too.

[saurabhdua]

saurabhdua last edited by

Wow! The time & effort invested by you is amazing, & I wish to express my wholehearted thanks for that:-) Yes, as you say..it would be much more desirable to stick to the latest version, & stay in tune with the upcoming developments. But time is not far...when the Browser companies will need to cater to the requirements of the Old Generation in an exclusive manner. In the same context, you may suggest incorporating an "User Accessibility" option under the Opera Icon that shows up at the Top Left hand corner of the Screen. A click to that will lead to quick transition to a Full screen view of the displayed web page, with a larger text size, & an auto enabling of the Voice Support! Voice commands of Back, Forward, Search, Update will then prove to be a stimuli for the Browser's response. I have a similar discussion(on the lack of Horizontal Menu Toolbar) going on with the makers of Avant Browser as well, & they seem to rely on a pretty simple technique to address this issue. They told me to click on the "Skins" button at the top right corner of the screen, & choose one from the stack demarcated with a dotted line, & the Menu Bar was back! So, in your case too any kind of "Theme", "Skin" or your Silver Bullet :-):::Extension can help serve the same objective too! Hope, you'll give a thought about it. Lastly, one feature that has seemingly failed to make its impact felt is Opera Turbo. I have tested it a numerous times, under varying conditions...& trust me, it only tend to create a "Reverse Placebo" effect, where you expect it render a Blitzkrieg but it disappoints you dearly:-) Does Opera Turbo thrives on the Placebo factor? I have only observed a greater than ever Latency cropping up against its activation! What's your take on the Subject? Waiting eagerly to hear from you..Thanks:-)

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

... Lastly, one feature that has seemingly failed to make its impact felt is Opera Turbo. I have tested it a numerous times, under varying conditions...& trust me, it only tend to create a "Reverse Placebo" effect, where you expect it render a Blitzkrieg but it disappoints you dearly:-) Does Opera Turbo thrives on the Placebo factor? I have only observed a greater than ever Latency cropping up against its activation! What's your take on the Subject? Waiting eagerly to hear from you..Thanks:-)

Opera's Turbo is a kind of proxy server that can be invoked by the browser for users needing to compress a website's data volume before it is routed down to the user. This is of value if the user is being billed by his Internet provider on a traffic-volume basis or if the user's Internet connection ordinarily runs very slow. When Turbo is invoked, the user's browser Internet traffic is routed through one of Opera's regional servers; this allows the return traffic from a website to be compressed by special algorithms in Opera's Turbo servers before being sent down to the user, usually at the expense of image/graphics resolution, etc.

To a user on a slow Internet connection (eg: dial-up), the effect is to make it seem as if the website's rendering has been significantly sped up, hence the term "Turbo". To a user on a high-speed Internet connection, little or no speed effects will be noted. The concept has found wide acceptance in the mobile browser markets, where Opera's servers both compress web data and format its screen shape more apporpriately for hand-held display shapes. For high-speed connection users with desktop computers, it's generally best to refrain from using Turbo since it provides little if any advantages, but does add both browsing complexity and injects a proxy server into the data flow.

[lem729]

lem729 last edited by

In the same context, you may suggest incorporating an "User Accessibility" option under the Opera Icon that shows up at the Top Left hand corner of the Screen. A click to that will lead to quick transition to a Full screen view of the displayed web page, with a larger text size, & an auto enabling of the Voice Support! Voice commands of Back, Forward, Search, Update will then prove to be a stimuli for the Browser's response.>

I like your idea about voice support. The only question is whether browser makers can provide that along with a free browser. Still, whether as part of the native browser, or through extension support, it would be great.

For want of that (either adequate voice support in the native browser, or through extension), for years I played with Dragon Naturally Speaking, but got frustrated because some conflict would come along, and it would stop working, and then I'd pretty much have to buy a new version. So I'd spend a lot of money for one version after another. Now while Dragon is great for typing memos, e:mail, or letters, for browsing alone, and if you use Windows 7 (and possibly 8, though I have Windows 7 so can only speak well for it), I use sometimes the Microsoft Speech Recognition program that comes with it. It's quite impressive, though with Opera, one needs a bit more. I, therefore, added the program Voice Finger, that operates along with with Microsoft's Speech Recognition. http://download.cnet.com/Voice-Finger/3000-7239_4-75118688.html. I believe you could test it free for a number of days, and then there was a small charge -- well worth it.

With these two Voice programs working in tandem you can easily do hands free browsing with Opera 22 (or for that matter) any browser (and the result for that browser is even better than the result I'd gotten with Dragon Naturally Speaking). I was even playing hands free chess. What a challenge, to even win a game against a good opponent (like maybe Shredder Classic at a reasonably high level) without lifting a finger. (Notwithstanding the above, Firefox worked the best with these voice add-ons, though Opera 22 still did quite well).

Now I don't have to use these Voice programs, but I find them fun to use on occasion, and a break for my hands when I have badly over-used them.

On accessibility features in general, Opera Presto was better than the new Opera is right now, though I am hopeful with time -- and after Opera 22 receives the more essential re-programming (by then, it may be Opera 32), it will improve, even in this area. I'm not as impatient as some are for instant features, or else they feel (from a free browser no less indignant, lol, outraged, violated, cursing the greed of the company.

[saurabhdua]

saurabhdua last edited by

Hello Blackbird71!

Iam strictly a Desktop user, I have tried this feature of Opera Turbo while surfing the Internet using Mobile Broadband Dongle & found its performance to be Dismal! Worth to note, my Area do not enjoys a Superior Network coverage, & thus Latency is very much expected, & thus the slow rendering of the Webpages. Therefore, it such a scenario can one expect the Opera Turbo to unleash the Magic!?...OR, are there any prerequisites for it to work as Advertised? Secondly, Iam curious to know that can't this stage of introducing a Proxy server be intermingled with the Domain Name Resolution stage(DNS)? Many third party, DNS Providers such OpenDNS, DNS Advantage highlight fast access as the key feature. Can't they be even faster by accomplishing the "Data Compression" stage too at their own level?

I have clear memories of using Google Web accelerator way back in the Year 2006-2007, & Man, the experience was awesome. The functioning of that Client Software, the sizzling Speedometer at the Tray Icon were actually rendering my webpages way faster in comparison to the Normal access method!

Alas, it was discontinued in an abrupt manner! Nevertheless, can't Opera replicate the Sizzling magic of Google Web accelerator?..OR, come up with its own set of DNS Servers too in order to marry the both concepts?

[stealth789]

stealth789 last edited by

I forgot ont point to address something you asked. Desktop Opera updates automatically. No need to worry about having to do something.

You can also use menu "About Opera" for manual check. Page opera://about/. Basically on every reload of this page it's manually checking. You can see text near version "Checking for updates...".

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

Hello Blackbird71!
Iam strictly a Desktop user, I have tried this feature of Opera Turbo while surfing the Internet using Mobile Broadband Dongle & found its performance to be Dismal! Worth to note, my Area do not enjoys a Superior Network coverage, & thus Latency is very much expected, & thus the slow rendering of the Webpages. Therefore, i(n) such a scenario can one expect the Opera Turbo to unleash the Magic!?...OR, are there any prerequisites for it to work as Advertised?

Running a desktop system through a Mobile Dongle allows it to connect over 3G/4G cellular networks. However, that doesn't make the desktop into a smart phone, nor is the Opera desktop browser the same product as Opera's mobile browsers. The mobile browsers are optimized for mobile devices, and the Turbo-like compression they can utilize is different from the Turbo compression for a desktop... both utilize Opera proxies for the compression, but the algorithms are not the same for both types of Opera browsers (in part because a mobile device's screen is generally of a different shape-factor, smaller, and its resolution significantly lower than a typical desktop/laptop display, hence a different algorithm is needed for the two cases).

Given that dial-up at best runs at 57 kB/sec, and most DSL connections run much faster (even the "slow" ones), whether you can see much effect depends on your actual ISP connection speed, as well as the connection speed of the system if it's running over a Mobile Dongle to a cellular interface.

I'm not a Turbo user, so I don't have first-hand experience in where the speed improvement typically "kicks in" for a desktop system, though I've seen numerous posts from users (mainly 3rd-world) who absolutely rely on Turbo to speed up their dial-up Internet usage and/or reduce their data volume on graphics-rich websites when their data usage is either capped or sur-charged by their ISP. There may also be some differences in how a Blink Opera version reacts under Turbo, compared with an older Presto Opera version as well... I simply don't know about that.

Secondly, Iam curious to know that can't this stage of introducing a Proxy server be intermingled with the Domain Name Resolution stage(DNS)? Many third party, DNS Providers such OpenDNS, DNS Advantage highlight fast access as the key feature. Can't they be even faster by accomplishing the "Data Compression" stage too at their own level?
...

I have little doubt that Opera possesses the knowledge/expertise to implement a DNS-lookup function. but the key questions are more in line with whether they have: the server space/bandwidth for it, the spare design time to do it, and the business interest/focus to do so. Everything costs, especially to create and maintain, so a business has to see some clear benefit from providing a 'free service'... one that outweighs the potential costs. Moreover, some ISPs run their own DNS servers, and the impact of putting something in the browser to bypass those might raise some conflict issues. You could always suggest the idea over in the Opera Suggestions forum and see what reaction you get.

[lem729]

lem729 last edited by

@saurabhduha

You said in your initial post that you feel handicapped without the menu bar.

Just press the alt. key, and it alone seems to toggle the menu open or closed. A perfect toggle switch (at least for me in Windows 7). If that doesn't work for you Opera gives for a Keyboard shortcut Alt-F in its Help section with the browser. That also opens the menu. I hope the Alt key alone works for you (as it does for me). It so simple to use and remember.

[saurabhdua]

saurabhdua last edited by

Hello lem729!

Your perseverance has empowered me to such an extent, that I do not feel Handicap any more:-) Loads of Guidance & Brainwash are the perfect two crutches to zoom past these impediments in a perfect manner.:-)

Thanks for your time & effort. I wholeheartedly appreciate that! Smile:-)

[lem729]

lem729 last edited by

Your note was as uplifting as my morning coffee (which does always lift me ;). Haha, brainwash. We all have to do that for ourselves sometimes. Every day, alas, does bring its new batch of impediments. So glad something helped you in this thread.

[sandikel]

sandikel last edited by

this is fair and good but ive downloaded the newest version and there is no option to toggle main bar on and off from this opera button full stop.

These are the only options i have i tried to printscreen into this but wouldnt work: new tab, new window, new private window, recently closed, page, zoom, download, history, settings, themes, extensions, get extensions, off road mode, more tools, developer tools help, about opera and help.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

First, you can always have both tru- and nuOpera onboard your device (as I've been informed).
Second, to avoid auto-updating, I guess one can use beta-versions instead of stable ones. :idea: