Opera 9.5 Beta 2 adds neat URL look-up

If you can't remember the URL of a site you've once visited, what do you do? You can either scour your history, willing the evasive address to remain listed, or you can search in Google by the keywords you remember and hope the site you want floats near the top of the results.

The latest version of Opera Software's 9.5 Beta browser, released Thursday for Windows, Mac, and Linux, makes fishing for past Web addresses much easier with a new feature called Quick Find.

Can't remember a URL? The Quick Find feature pulls up suggestions based on keyword.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Quick Find essentially bundles the keyword search directly into the Opera browser's address field. Typing in a few keywords produces a list of URLs from your past. Simply clicking the selection opens the Web page. I tested it out, and so far it works as advertised--as a fast, useful time-saver that gives your brain license to forget specific URLs.

Those familiar with Opera Mini will recognize Quick Find as the sister to the "find in page" feature in Opera Mini 4.1.

There are other updates to the beta build, but Quick Find remains the only new feature that users will engage with directly. The official Opera announcement also unveils faster e-mail rendering for its built-in client, support for EV (extended validation) SSL certificates, and more complete antiphishing protection thanks to collaboration with PhishTank and NetCraft's databases.

Then there's the unofficial announcement, leaked by Huib Kleinhout, Opera's desktop team manager, on Opera's blog. Through Opera Link, users will soon be able to synchronize notes in real time between Opera browsers for desktops, mobile phones, and devices.

That feature is in development, an Opera representative contact confirmed, and has not been released in this morning's build. For now, Opera Link behaves as it has been, populating each Opera browser you use (desktop, cell phone, Wii) with bookmarks added from any other.

[JoyceNgo-218335993631273378369]

It just gets better and better every time. Opera is always making fast and noticeable improvements.

[yhwhan]

"Then there's the unofficial announcement..."

On the contrary this (ahem) unofficial announcement is, in fact, in the second sentence of the pertinent blog post on Opera Desktop Team's offical blog, the first sentence simply being "Opera Kestrel 9.5 Beta 2 is available now!", so it barely even counts. The second sentence then begins "Beta 2 introduces Notes syncing support using Opera Link..."

Read the full post at http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/

[nourhummer]

gooooooooooooooooooood

[Len4a]

I luv Opera! The guys are great.

[abhisat]

What's a big deal about this? Firefox 3 already has this feature. FF3's address bar is the best I have ever seen.

[plings]

Actually, abishat, Opera had this before Firefox did, and Opera even searches the contents of the pages, while Firefox only search the URL/titles.

[bilditup1]

Why is this news? This has been a feature of Firefox 3 beta for several months now. Based on the screenshot above, the Firefox implementation is also more 'eye-catching' - the word being searched for is bolded and made a text size larger. Give credit where credit is due.

[plings]

Opera had this before Firefox (check out beta 1!), but Opera even goes that extra step further and searches the contents of the page in addition to just the title and URL.

YOU should give credit where credit is due since Opera did do this before Firefox. It's just banging the drum about it now.

[cousin333]

As I've written in a later comment, this was also in 9.5 alpha almost 8 months ago... Besides I don't get, why FF's solution is more eye-catching, but I'm sure it consumes more space... If you want to understand the difference, open this page you're reading right now in Opera and Firefox. Than close it, and try to find it again, acting as the whole you can remember from this page is the expression "eye-catching". So then type this expression in FF3's and Opera's URL bar, we'll see which will find it for you...

[Bansalgagan]

Thanks

[bkboza]

goooooooooooooooooooooooooood

[Osiris78]

bilditup1: This is different from what Firefox 3 does. They highlight title and url, Opera highlights titles urls and text from the pages. It means you get alot more information.
From opera.com:

"Quick Find
Forgotten the site where you found that perfect gift or idyllic vacation spot? Not to worry, Opera remembers all the text on a page you?ve visited. All you have to do is enter a few words you remember in the address bar and Opera will find the pages with that text. In the newest beta, you can also use Quick Find from your history tab, available under Tools > History."

[thinkl]

Firefox implementation is much simpler than Quick Find in Opera, which search the actual content of the pages you visit. Test it out and see the difference.

[haitham-82]

goood

[andrewdownloader]

we're already able to synchronize notes, bookmars, personal bar and speed dial.

[cousin333]

First, this version is pretty speedy and stable, worth waiting.

As others have already said, Opera's Quick Find is different from FF3's method. FF3 only searches the history of URL's and page titles (with some other nice refinements), but Opera searches through all the whole pages (found on the HDD as cache) for that word. The good thing is, that it is very very fast (searches as you type). You can also use the URL "opera:historysearch" to get a Google-like interface for that kind of search.

The other problem with this FF3 comparison (and with the arcticle), that one could find this kind of historysearch in the 9.5 alfa version from September of 2007 (of course, it's got some refinement since then). So the point is, that it was implemented before FF3 :P.

The really new thing compared to even the very latest weekly version (build 9937, while this beta is build 9945), that this "historysearch" was implemented even in the History tab's Quick search field).

"Through Opera Link, users will soon be able to synchronize notes in real time between Opera browsers for desktops, mobile phones, and devices."

I'm looking forward to sync my notes with Opera Mini, but Opera 9.5 beta 2 is actually syncronizing them right now (between two desktop 9.5b2 of course).

"Those familiar with Opera Mini will recognize Quick Find as the sister to the "find in page" feature in Opera Mini 4.1."

Unfortunatelly, Quick Find has nothing to do with find in page, because that's quite a different story. :) Inline search however (or "find in page" if you wish), has been there in desktop Opera for ages, you can reach it by pressing "." (dot) or "/" button... (and yes, this was in before Firefox ever existed). You can also use "," (comma) for links... Well, maybe the're not working by default due to "kill every one-button shortcuts" policy that Opera recently started. I still use the 9.2x layout...

[J-Do]

yhwhan, exactly. Discussing the notes-syncing in the second line of the blog WAS the "unofficial" announcement. The feature was not available on roll-out and the information about the notes was neither on the product information page on Opera.com nor in the official press release offered to journalists. Hence, a leak : )

[cousin333]

You've right it's not in the official press. But "That feature is in development, an Opera representative contact confirmed, and has not been released in this morning's build." is simply not true. Besides it's also in the changelog :) http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/950b2/

Although we can handle that as an unofficial function, but not as an unofficial announcement, if you know what I mean.

[agemagab]

I dont no but hope this new version of opera helps browsing speed than firefox or its older brother...

[EricJH]

It is programmed to work on a different thread so it won't interfere. Is that convincing enough to give Opera a try?

[adkiller2k7]

Opera is a very fast browser, At start-up and browsing the web, its faster than Firefox.

[dimre01]

This is already in ff beta 5!

[cousin333]

Are you seriuosly avoid reading comments, or just kidding? As we stated here many times, this is NOT in FF beta 5 at all. Besides, Opera has this kind of "awesomebar" thingy before FF did (since Sept. 2007).

[kalinko26]

Opera had introduced the improvements in the address bar well before Firefox "stole" the idea. See why below:

Excuse me all Firefox fans, but it's still Opera which introduces the innovation in browsers. Let's see when the two competing address bar (Opera) or location bar (Firefox) features were announced:

- Changelog for Opera 9.50 Alpha 1 for Windows, released on September 4, 2007:
"Redesigned Address bar drop-down displayed when entering text in the Address bar:
* Includes excerpts from previously visited pages
* Improved visual design
* Orders entries by popularity
* Local file auto-completion"

- Firefox 3 Beta 1 Release Notes, released om November 19, 2007:
"Location bar & auto-complete: type the title or tag of a page in the location bar to quickly find the site you were looking for in your history; favicons, bookmark, and tag indicators help you see where results are coming from."

Well, there were 76 days before Firefox announced the "new" competing location bar feature. Period.

[ahbutyes]

Some of the many features I like about Opera: a) multiple tabs in a space-saving tab bar; b) ability to relocate toolbars and choose icon or text; c) integrated email, news, and browsing; d) excellent bookmark searching and branch structures. It's neat, fast, and a pleasure to use.

[agthe]

It's good to use very helpful.