Opera 11 Released; Features Tab Stacking & Extensions

Fans of the Opera Web browser had reason to celebrate this past Friday, as version 11.0 launched as a stable release. There is quite a bit new to the latest version, although whether long-time Opera fans will appreciate all of it is yet to be seen. One thing that has made Opera unique is that it hadn’t adopted the extensions route that most other browsers have, but that changes with 11.0.

The move to extensions is an interesting one, because Opera has long believed that its browser was feature-rich enough, and that people didn’t require extensions. It seems to have changed its tone, though, and it’s a good thing. After all, half of the fun of a Web browser is to customize it. The company states that so far over 2,000,000 extensions have been downloaded, and though the selection is small, it’s sure to grow at a swift pace.

To keep tabs more organized, “tab stacking” has also been introduced, which is in a way, similar to how Windows 7 can group together tabs of the same application. Here, you drag and drop a tab onto another, and there, they become “grouped”. You can click the arrow next to the group to access the entire array, which is a rather nifty feature, and one that can take your tab organizing to the next level if you don’t mind that implementation.

In addition to what’s mentioned above, other new features include visual mouse gestures and a “safer” address bar (making it more noticeable to understand the security of a site). If you’re an Opera user, or just want to give the latest version a spin, you can head on over to the site and download it for either Apple, Linux or Windows.

“We have always worked hard to introduce new and bold ideas in web browsing,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera. “But, sometimes we want to take an idea and improve upon it. Opera 11 adds a layer of polish to features people have known and loved for more than a decade, while introducing extensions. If you have never tried Opera before, Opera 11 will change everything you know about browsing.”