Questions from someone testing the Opera waters again
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dreamybetty last edited by
Hello everyone,
let me start this thread by mentioning, that I had been an Opera user for quite a number of years, until they announced the retirement of their own Presto engine. While I am not a fan of Google and their rather basic ideology, I now find myself in the position of needing to find a fast browser for a few dozen low-powered (older) desktop computers. My first thought was to install Firefox (I have been using it myself since Opera changed tracks from 12 to 15), but it feels very lethargic already on one of the faster systems, so there is no way to get it to work satisfactorily on even slower machines. Naturally I thought of Opera, because no matter if the old or new one and no matter what my problems with the new one are, the browser has always felt very fast and efficient. Now I'm willing to give the new one a chance once more.
Here are some of my questions which are mostly about features, the lack thereof, or workarounds to customize the new Opera at least somewhat. Please bear in mind, that the target audience for this are senior citizens, who may or may not be computer literate. Even if you can't imagine why I'm asking such a 'dumb' question, it can make a life of difference for someone else.
Q: Is there a way to remove the "x" from the tabs like one could do in the old Opera? When your target audience won't always be very accurate with mouse clicks, hitting the close-tab icon is a real danger and it has happened even to me a time or two since I began testing Opera again. To avoid this kind of hassle, I would like to remove this feature completely.
Q: Is there a way to always open new tabs last (possibly without an extension)? The people using the computers will have a difficult enough time remembering the open tabs and their positions, so why make it harder on them when each newly opened tab will throw out the previous order? I know about the "New Tabs At End" extension by "itworks", but the most recent reviews slam the changed permissions for it. Is that a case of different permission requirements for the API in recent Chrome versions or is there maybe another extension which does the same with less suspicion?
Q: Possibly related to the previous question on tab behavior and more of a personal interest, is there a way for Opera to remember the order of tabs I last viewed them in? When closing the active tab, Opera always switches to the one on the right instead of going back to the tab I viewed before the one I have just closed.
Q: Does something similar to the Firefox add-on NoSquint exist for Opera? You can guess why I'm asking this. Senior citizens generally have a lot more difficulty in reading from websites with all its different fonts, sizes and differences in general readability. The easiest solution would be an extension allowing the user to set a proper zoom level and remember it for the whole domain. Opera seems to have this built-in already on first glance, but I would appreciate some information on how this works exactly.
Q: Is there a way to always open content/websites from certain sources in a new tab? If I want to search something in the Omnibar, the search page should open a new tab (and switch to it!) but not overwrite the website in the current tab. The same should happen when clicking on a bookmark. When I'm simply browsing on a random webpage however, any click on the page should always follow what the target-attribute of the link indicates. Yes I know there exist ways - for example with bookmarks, to either click the middle mouse key/wheel or right-click and use 'open in a new tab' - but they're either not very user friendly or can't be executed on every computer in the same way, like when you don't have a mouse with a wheel or use the touch-pad of a laptop.
There will be other issues with this group of people I'm sure, but those questions are things I know how to fix in Firefox but not with a Blink-based browser. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
Bettina
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
Q: Is there a way to remove the "x" from the tabs like one could do in the old Opera?
Not that i know.
Q: Is there a way to always open new tabs last (possibly without an extension)?
Nope. New blank tabs usually opens on the right of all opened tabs. New tabs opened from links usually opens on the right of the active tab.
Q: Does something similar to the Firefox add-on NoSquint exist for Opera? You can guess why I'm asking this. Senior citizens generally have a lot more difficulty in reading from websites with all its different fonts, sizes and differences in general readability. The easiest solution would be an extension allowing the user to set a proper zoom level and remember it for the whole domain. Opera seems to have this built-in already on first glance, but I would appreciate some information on how this works exactly.
If you change the zoom level on a page, Opera will remember it for the whole domain.
Also, Opera 24+ (still in beta stage) has better hidpi support.
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lem729 last edited by
Take a look at the Opera extension, Classic tabs, which emulates tab behavior from Opera presto.
https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/classic-tabs/?display=en
It can open all new tabs at the end of the tab bar, as well as other traditional tab behavior.
On the search issue, I just get used to pressing the alt key before entering my search query. That makes sure the search opens in a new tab.
On opening links in a new tab, I don't like the middle mouse key approach. I prefer holding the ctrl key down, and then left clicking on the link. That puts the new tab in the background view. Ctrl shift [left click on the link] or shift [middle click on link] put the new tab in a foreground view.
There are extensions that can open links in a new tab, but I don't know if they permit you to just select certain sources for that kind of treatment.
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A Former User last edited by
On the search issue, I just get used to pressing the alt key before entering my search query. That makes sure the search opens in a new tab.
Pointing to Alt is correct but you meant pressing it while hitting enter after entering your search or URL in the address field. It doesn't look like this will help the target users referred by the OP.
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A Former User last edited by
Always do everything in a new tab, huh?
What if to disable the omnibar search, and if you wanna search - new/certain tab?
Or you're still gonna need to get them accustomed with Alt/Ctrl... -
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dreamybetty last edited by
If you change the zoom level on a page, Opera will remember it for the whole domain.
Great, that's exactly what NoSquint does in Firefox, only with some additional customization.
Take a look at the Opera extension, Classic tabs, which emulates tab behavior from Opera presto.
Thanks for this suggestion lem729. I tried TabsPlus, which I found in Google's Chrome web-store, but the one you provided seems to work better. Problem solved, the positioning of newly opened tabs and reverting focus to the last active tab is now working like expected.
You've helped me a lot already. Removing the close button from tabs is apparently not possible and the only thing left to solve is Opera's behavior to open new tabs by default for some sources. I know about all these different key combinations to open this or that in a new tab of course, but it won't fly under these circumstances. You have to understand, getting someone born in the first half of the 20th century to understand a single input method can be challenging enough. Asking them to combine mouse and keyboard in a simultaneous action is likely beyond most of them. Aside from that problem, I don't imagine it to be very comfortable even for those people who are aware of it.
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Deleted User last edited by
We're all different, dreamybetty, with different requirements that we place upon our browser of choice. I'm one of those born in the first half of the 20th century and would agree that making many adjustments is a very high hurdle to surmount. It's one of the reasons I've found workarounds and simpler ways of doing things. Then again, my demands of the software are in all probability not as high as your own and I don't require tabs to work in just such a manner. I will also add that I'm sometimes amazed at the inability of many young people to adapt their ways of doing things. One would have thought they more than those our age would be able to "roll with the punches" but in truth, at times they seem far less able to adapt than we.
