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Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko —  — Software — browser, interface, opera

Moving, creating and even pressing Opera buttons

Opera has one of the most flexible interfaces I had ever seen. It’s not really obvious but it’s there. Buttons are important part because clicking them is as fast as mouse-driven interfaces can get.

Default buttons

You can see default buttons all over interface. Trick is you can easily move them around or add more of them for quick access to stuff you use most.

To enter interface customization mode right-click any toolbar > Customize…

opera_customize

opera_customize

Then go to Buttons tab and there you have all default buttons to play with. You can drag and drop any button to almost any place in interface. To remove button from interface right-click button > Remove from toolbar .

opera_buttons

opera_buttons

Actions

Default buttons seem solid but as rest of Opera interface they are only shortcuts to internal Opera actions .

Opera actions are designed to be human-readable. AllActionsListPlus page at OperaWiki is good reference on them.

Custom buttons

Custom button is combination of specific action(s) and text/image for button appearance . Images used are usually taken from current Opera theme. Custom buttons are added by clicking special Opera-specific URLs and saved in ini file in toolbar sub-folder of Opera profile folder.

Button URLs

Code for button URL looks like this

opera:/button/Go%20to%20page,%22www.rarst.net%22,,
%22Go%20to%20www.Rarst.net%22,Go%20to%20homepage

And this is result go to www.rarst.net button .

It’s rather troublesome to create such link manually. It can’t be launched from address bar either – it must be in page. Luckily there are some sites online with plenty of useful premade buttons . Same page lists few web-based button generators that allow fast and easy button creation.

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3 Comments

  • Tweak Opera for large amount of tabs | Rarst.net #

    [...] Edit to Enter full screen & View page bar, 6 | Leave full screen or simply use one of pre-made Opera buttons for full screen mode listed at Opera [...]

  • The DataRat #

    "Opera has one of the most flexible interfaces I had ever seen" Opera is all about INTERFACE ! In other words: Working the way ~you~ want to work. Opera used to be "The World's Fastest Browser". Ain't anymore. But it's still the most customizable. Chrome is fastest. But it's interface abysmal ! What I do: Have Chrome as my default Web browser. So, if I click on a link (outside of Opera), the page comes up ~really~ fast. This allowing me to just quickly check the page for contents. But I WORK in Opera. It's my working browser. That's where I spend 99% of my time on the Internet. It's set-up the way I want it. It ~can~ be set-up the way I want it ! ( Something not possible with Chrome. ) I got Safari on my main PC, and IE 8 on all three machines. Hardly ever use Safari. I use IE 8 for the rare Web site which refuses to work on Opera. ( Which is becoming increasingly rare. ) I'm on IE 8 a few minutes maybe once or twice a week. When switching to IE everything seems ~so~ SLOW ! While Opera isn't as fast as Firefox and (especially) Chrome, it's still about four times faster than IE 7-8 by my subjective impression and also benchmarks I've seen. Haven't tried Firefox or really given it a chance. Someday I'll do so. Right now I've got an innate bias against hardcore open source projects. The DataRat .

  • Rarst #

    @DataRat I am using Firefox for web development, Opera Dragonfly is still far from being serious contender to Firebug. Otherwise it offers absolutely nothing that might seduce long-time Opera user. IE8 is slow indeed. I don't browse but some software unfortunately still sticks to using IE engine (like Feeddemon, my only gripe with it).