Opera is a highly user-friendly browser, allowing for customization of almost microscopic detail. This page will take you through some of the basic Opera settings.
This tutorial was last updated for Opera 9.62.
Making Opera your default browser simply means that Opera will be launched automatically when you request information from the Internet. The procedure for making Opera your default browser depends on your platform.
The second time you run Opera, it will start displaying a dialog asking if you want Opera to be your default browser. Even if you have previously cancelled this dialog, you can change the setting by doing the following:
You can set Opera as your default browser on your Macintosh by doing the following:
Note: On Mac OS X 10.2, you can also select a default browser using
For the two major desktop environments, the easiest ways of changing the default system Web browser to Opera are:
Opera is available in many languages. Depending on the version of Opera you are using, you may have multiple languages pre-installed, or you may have only a single language. In either case, additional languages may be installed by downloading the appropriate language files.
Please notice that the download page of Opera for Windows includes an option with all the current language files.
To activate your language, select it from the menu under . Once you press , the user interface should immediately change to the language of your choice, if the appropriate language file is included on your system.
If the language file of your choice is not pre-installed, you can install it manually. To see if Opera is available in your language, see the language files list, read the instructions, and download the appropriate file. Note that some localized versions have English help files.
A Web page is sometimes offered in more than one language. Opera can ask the server for a version in the language you prefer. Simply open Opera's and select a language.
For more control over preferred languages, press the Details button. Then press the Add... button and choose your language from the list. Use the Move up and Move down buttons to indicate your order of preference.
Select to customize multimedia in Opera. Images, video, and sound can be enabled or disabled separately. Turning multimedia sound on/off will not affect system or event sounds.
If you would like to associate sounds to different events while using Opera, you can do so using . From the list of events, select the one for which you would like Opera to play a sound. Click the button and browse until you find the desired sound file. Repeat this for each event, and click .
Turning event sounds on/off will not affect system or multimedia sounds.
It is often necessary to fill out forms on the Web, and most forms ask for the same information. Save this information once in Opera and it can easily be pasted into any Web form. Opera will even offer to automatically complete it.
Certain tasks can be performed automatically when you end your session:
There are numerous start-up options for Opera, available by setting :
Opera can open several Web pages at one time. You can choose to use a separate window for every page, or to hold all pages in single window, and to use the tab bar to manage them. The behavior of the tabs is controlled through the dialog box . Click on if you want to disable tab functionality. By default the tab bars have close buttons. If you accidentally close a tab, it can be recovered by clicking on the trash icon on the right end of the tab bar.
Some Web pages automatically open new pop-up windows. This behavior is sometimes useful, but often annoying. By default, Opera will block pages from opening pop-up windows without your approval. To modify this setting, go to .
Opera's toolbars allow for detailed customization. Use to select which toolbars to show. You can drag new buttons to toolbars using , or remove them by right clicking on them, and selecting "Remove from toolbar". You can also use to select which panels to show.
The dialog allows you to select a skin theme to apply to the Opera interface, what color scheme to use, and what size to make the toolbar buttons.
Don't be afraid to experiment a bit and click to see the effects, but note that changing more than one thing at the time might make it difficult to remember your original settings.
On computers with a low screen resolution, making full use of the workspace is important. You can customize Opera's toolbars to make as much space as possible available for document windows. The toolbars can also be turned on and off from on the menu bar.
Some of the useful features for low screen resolution, such as the field and the option, are located on the status bar.
There are several options to increase readability of Web pages.
If a Web site has really small fonts, and you want to make them bigger, zoom in or out by pressing the + and - buttons. Open to set the default page zoom for new pages.
If your screen is small, or you want to display a Web site with the minimum of clutter, type F11 to maximize the browser window. Now the toolbars are hidden, and the document window occupies all the available space. Press F11 again to return to normal viewing mode.
If a Web page forces you to scroll left-right to read all of its content, you can eliminate the need for scrolling by pressing Ctrl-F11. Pressing Ctrl-F11 one more time returns you to normal mode.