Opera 10 alpha claims Acid3 perfection

Thirteen-year-old Opera has been the perennial underdog in the browser wars, but Opera 10 alpha brings some unexpected firepower to the field. Unlike Google Chrome, Firefox 3, or any other browser on the market except for Safari 4 Developer Preview, Opera 10 will comply fully with the Acid3 test, according to the Norwegian publisher.

Opera 10 alpha introduces a text field spell-checker.

(Credit: Opera Software, Inc.)

Expected to be available now for public testing, Opera 10 is powered by an update to its proprietary rendering engine. Presto 2.2 is supposed to be 30 percent faster than Presto 2.1, the engine driving Opera 9.5. Presto 2.2, says the company, will be the basis for future versions of its mobile browsers as well as the desktop editions.

In addition to the engine improvements, the big news is that Opera 10 apparently scores 100 out of 100 on the Acid3 testing Web site. The Web Standards Project created the Acid tests to check a range of linking and rendering abilities in browsers to encourage a standard baseline for coding. Theoretically, sticking to the test rules should ensure that Web sites can be seen properly on any browser, while reducing development costs.

For comparison, Firefox 3.0.4 scores 71/100, while Firefox 3.1 beta 1 hits 89/100. Google Chrome 0.4 earns 79/100, while Internet Explorer 7 struggles at 14. These scores might be slightly different from the ones in the article linked to because of recent modifications in each browser.

Similar to the development build of Safari 4, Opera 10 alpha doesn't have many new features--yet. The alpha is expected to introduce on-the-fly spell checking for text fields, support for HTML formatting in Opera Mail, and an auto-update feature to force browser updates. It's not clear at the time of writing whether this update is something users can opt out of.

[MichaelSM55]

I tried Opera a couple of years ago. It was a fast environment, but with features annoying enough for me to drop it.<br />More recently I gave it another go ....<br />Still problems ..:<br />The first - which doesn't matter because I won't touch it - is that pen thingy which has a name I can't remember ... why is it still there?<br />Secondly; why does Opera keep asking for approval as in, 'Do you wanna do what you were doing last time?' Or something like that ...<br />Third - most annoying - is mouse scrolling up and down. Opera seems to catch web pages visited, and incorporates that history into the mouse scroller wheel. <br />Often it's hard to know where you are/were when one flips through websites all over the shop as the mouse wheel turns.<br />It's entirely probable that there's a settings tool to fix these silly issues .... but as a second time user I can't be bothered ...again.<br />It's like Macs with those irritating 'stacks' which fortunately are easily disengaged. Why clutter the default Desktop with such strange and idiosyncratic features so graphically out of sync with an orderly environment?<br />Same with Opera.<br />The version of Opera I use is the latest one available for Linux. Its graphical interface is - to me- lovely.<br />The rendering is superb, the highlighting excellent ..it's a nice place to be.<br />But then it all falls apart with silly and unnecessary fiddly issues, like I mentioned.above.<br />The over-scrolling mouse is a case in point. Why is it the default?<br />Mike.

[cousin333]

"The first - which doesn't matter because I won't touch it - is that pen thingy which has a name I can't remember ... why is it still there?" <br /> <br />I guess you're talking about the Wand button, which is meant to fill your login credentials on pages, where you've saved them. Right click on button, and choose Remove From Toolbar. I don't use that as well, Ctrl + Enter is just fine for me. I hope, this will be your biggest problem in your life... :) <br /> <br />"Secondly; why does Opera keep asking for approval as in, 'Do you wanna do what you were doing last time?' Or something like that ..." <br /> <br />Maybe during your deep examination of Opera browser, you noticed that tiny "Don't ask it again" checkbox under the message text. Use it as you please. <br /> <br />"Third - most annoying - is mouse scrolling up and down. Opera seems to catch web pages visited, and incorporates that history into the mouse scroller wheel." <br /> <br />I didn't really get, what you're talking about, but I think, you shouldn't press other buttons while scrolling with mouse. Pressing Shift AND scrolling means jumping back and forth in tab history.

[hankschmidt]

1. The 'pen thingy' is the wand, Opera's password manager, accesible on any page. If you don't know what it is, WHY DO YOU HAVE A PROBLE WITH IT ? <br />2. That is the session manager, users like myself like to start where we left off last time. If you don't like it then just select, don't show on startup on the bottom of the dialog box. <br />3. I have never faced an issue like this. Are you pressing the right mouse button while doing this because that flips through tabs. Normal scrolling works just fine with me and if you don't like smooth scrolling, then disable it.

[lokanadam]

why isn't google search engine open source ???

[ausernamenoonehaschosen]

Opera is the most versatile browser out there in my opinion, and from what I've read the most secure. You can modify it to do nearly anything, or browse in anyway, such as page specific preferences, custom buttons, and built in bittorrent (better than the add on for firefox in my opinion). It also caches everything, unlike Firefox I've found, which comes in handy. The one reason I find myself torn between it and Firefox is rendering issues with many websites. For example, Opera still doesn't work 100% well with Google's online apps. This and it seemingly crashes 10 times more often than Firefox.

[hankschmidt]

Opera has never crashed for me in the 2 years that I have been using it. Perhaps you should try re-installing

[ausernamenoonehaschosen]

I've been using it since version 7; it has been reinstalled many many times and has always crashed more than any other browser (except IE, maybe even with that).

[lkrupp]

It doesn't matter. Standards don't matter. Web sites are coded to work with IE, period. End of story. Other browsers be damned. That's reality.

[hankschmidt]

Ummmmm....... Incidentally, did you know that IE8 is standards compliant?

[manav_raj]

opera is the best of all browsers!.....ROCK ON OPERA!

[takakia]

Opera is a great browser, but pls Opera devs make some UI improvemnts. The black tab bar is too big to take up the screen area in modern widescreens. Get a clue from Chrome. Put that tabs on the window title bar. Its not necessarily copying, after all people need good usability. Opera has a good engine underneath, why not make it more usable.

[hankschmidt]

They are working on the UI. They have recently hired John Hicks who designed the Firefox logo

[axebox3983]

opera is opera!<br />there can be no other browser like opera. i am waiting for the 10 to come out!

[quarkslot]

Interesting comments from MichaelSM55, I found the Wand annoying too - so I turned it off..... <br /> <br />It's a bit like getting into a car for the first time, you adjust the seat, adjust the mirrors etc. until everything is just right and then you get on and drive. <br /> <br />I don't understand the comments about making it 'more usable' - out of the box Opera delivers the best surfing experience through features such as mouse gestures, Opera Link, Speed Dial, Quick Find and so on. This is why browsing is such a breeze with Opera and fast too, oh, and it's page rendering wasn't slow either but it seems they've gone and improved on that too. <br /> <br />If you are an ever-so-slightly adventurous user and prepared to scratch just below the surface you'll find out why Opera has such a loyal following.

[MichaelSM55]

My apologies. I'd had a few reds and became noisy.<br />I'll scratch below the surface and configure Opera my way.<br />Probably the issue is Opera's default scenario, which is part of what I mentioned. <br />I still think that too much cleverness is inherent in Opera for a new user.<br />But that's just me.<br />Mike.

[Lhur2k]

The truth of the matter is that for many web designers the only browsers that matter are Firefox and IE. Firefox, because of it's popularity amongst many web designers (well most other designers I come across), as the prefered browser to build in. Particularly due to the familiarity of its developer toolbar. <br />IE because so many clients (particularly in the corporate world), refuse to use anything other than Microsoft - with some even unable to look past IE6.<br />I still dream of the day when all browsers are standards compliant... and there becomes a stigma attached to any browser that doesn't conform.

[thelomen]

WRONG, Opera never claimed to pass the Acid3 test with this build, instead they very specifically said that Opera 10 Alpha 1 only achieves "100/100 and pixel-perfect on the Acid3 test" which is 2 out of 3 criteria for passing the test (the 3rd being smooth rendering of the test which you can see for instance with Chromium which however fails other parts of the test).

[TheSmittysG]

Whether or not the animation is smooth is not a good bias at all for a requirement. Pixel Perfect is solely based on the browser, and the not clients computer, as well as getting 100/100. Smooth animation as a test is flawed for 4 reasons. <br /> <br />1. Smooth animation could be hindered by the computer's limitations, and not the browser's. <br /> <br />2. Smooth animation in JavaScript? I don't think there is such a thing! <br /> <br />3. webstandards.org makes an important note about the performance part of the Acid3. http://www.webstandards.org/action/acid3 <br /> <br />4. Define "Smooth". There is no constant from Acid3 of how one should decide "Smooth Animation". <br /> <br />But as far as smooth animation goes, you could have a behemoth of a computer and the animation would probably still look choppy. Hardware acceleration (DirectX, OpenGL) are vastly responsible for making display graphics smooth, which is what Adobe Flash Player 10 uses (with Bitmap's and Video Playback, not DirectX3D) . Web browsers do not use video hardware acceleration. <br /> <br />Also consider that Opera 10 alpha is the only browser that meets any of the requirements, except for Safari 4 Developers release. Basically, JavaScript and the web browsers using it are not meant to make "Smooth Animation". Therefore, makes the smooth animation requirement useless in the first place.

[TheSmittysG]

Ok. I stand corrected! <br /> <br />The Acid3 test apparently has an invisible link on the "A" of the Acid3 text. When you click it, it will tell you if the smoothing part passed or failed. So there is a constant of how smooth the animation should be, and for my computer running Opera alpha 10, it failed.