SillyDog701

[Andrew T.]

The final release of Opera 8.0 for Windows and Linux has been released!
An Opera 8.0 beta release for Mac OS X is also available.

Release notes as well as a log of changes since Opera 7.54u2 are available here.

Edit: un-sticky by Antony, reason: version 8.5 released. 20 Sept 2005

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win95; en-US; rv:1.7.7) Gecko/20050414 Firefox/1.0.3

[Andrew T.]

This is what Opera 8.0 looks like. The user interface is slightly different from that of previous versions. The OS-native multi-document interface has been replaced by a Mozilla-like tab bar.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 95; en) Opera 8.0

[Andrew T.]

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 95; en) Opera 8.0

Oops, I forgot to configure Opera to refrain from spoofing itself! To configure Opera to truthfully identify itself in its useragent string as Opera, go to [tt]Tools[/tt], select [tt]Quick Preferences[/tt], and then [tt]Identify as Opera[/tt].

UserAgent: Opera/8.0 (Windows 95; U; en)

[beanboy89]

The user interface is slightly different from that of previous versions. The OS-native multi-document interface has been replaced by a Mozilla-like tab bar.

If I recall correctly, Opera 7.5 was the first version which used the current look of Opera. The tabs are dependant on the skin you are using. If you switch the "Windows Native" skin, available via [tt]Tools[/tt] > [tt]Appearance[/tt] > [tt]Skin[/tt] > [tt]Windows Native[/tt], you can have an OS native look and the multi-document interface of older Opera versions.

Here's a screenshot of Opera 8.0 using the "Windows Natvie" skin and a few minor user-interface customizations.

UserAgent: Opera/8.0 (Windows 98; U; en)

[Andrew T.]

Actually Opera 8.0, unlike 7.5x and earlier versions, does not appear to use an OS-native multi-document interface (MDI) even if you do use the "Windows Native" skin.


Compare these screenshots of Opera 7.54 and 8.0 (both with the "Windows Native" theme). Opera 7.54 has a [tt]Window[/tt] menu as well as window controls on the menu bar corresponding with a maximized MDI page, while Opera 8.0 does not.


Likewise, Opera 7.54's OS-native (in this case Windows-native) MDI allowed you to cascade or tile individual windows, as seen here. To the best of my knowledge this capability is not present in Opera 8.0.

That said, although the MDI of Opera 7.54 and earlier was a bit more versatile, I rarely saw the need for such capabilities in a web browser (rather preferring the simpler tabbed interfaces of Mozilla and its derivatives) and Opera 8.0 may be easier to use.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win95; en-US; rv:1.7.7) Gecko/20050414 Firefox/1.0.3

[beanboy89]

Actually Opera 8.0, unlike 7.5x and earlier versions, does not appear to use an OS-native multi-document interface (MDI) even if you do use the "Windows Native" skin.

[img]
Compare these screenshots of Opera 7.54 and 8.0 (both with the "Windows Native" theme). Opera 7.54 has a [tt]Window[/tt] menu as well as window controls on the menu bar corresponding with a maximized MDI page, while Opera 8.0 does not.

Opera 8.0 still indeed uses the MDI interface; it's now located in a different place. It is available by right-clicking on your "tab" and selecting [tt]Restore[/tt].

[img]
Likewise, Opera 7.54's OS-native (in this case Windows-native) MDI allowed you to cascade or tile individual windows, as seen here. To the best of my knowledge this capability is not present in Opera 8.0.

The "Cascade" function is also available in Opera 8.0. Right click on your "tab" and select [tt]Arrange[/tt] > [tt]Cascade[/tt].

UserAgent: Opera/8.0 (Windows 98; U; en)

[Andrew T.]

Opera 8.0 still indeed uses the MDI interface; it's now located in a different place. It is available by right-clicking on your "tab" and selecting [tt]Restore[/tt].
[...]
The "Cascade" function is also available in Opera 8.0. Right click on your "tab" and select [tt]Arrange[/tt] > [tt]Cascade[/tt].

Indeed...all windowing controls appear to be intact and accounted for after all, although everything's been moved around. Then again, I only used Opera 8.0 for a few minutes.

I still would like to know why Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons aren't visible on the menu bar when an individual page is maximized, however.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win95; en-US; rv:1.7.7) Gecko/20050414 Firefox/1.0.3

[Antony]

The final release of Opera 8.0 for Windows and Linux has been released!
An Opera 8.0 beta release for Mac OS X is also available.

only beta for Mac?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/312.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/312

[Mandrake]

Thanks! Downloading now .

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.7) Gecko/20050414 Firefox/1.0.3

[Jeffredo]

It's interesting to see that Andrew and beanboy89 are using Win 95/98 with Opera. Before I upgraded an old PC Opera was the only browser that ran well on a PII 350 with 192MB of RAM and Win 98se. Gecko's would run, but slowly.

Opera 8.0 is great so far. Very stable. Great new features. I still totally reworked the toolbars to a more "traditional" browser layout. That said, I'll probably gravitate back to Firefox once the new wears off!

UserAgent: Opera/8.0 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en)

[Andrew T.]

only beta for Mac?

I believe we'd all rather see a beta released for the Mac rather than Opera prematurely rush out a product that may not be up-to-spec on the platform.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win95; en-US; rv:1.7.7) Gecko/20050414 Firefox/1.0.3

[Antony]

According to this BetaNews report, Opera 8 has surpassed 600,000 downloads within the first 48 hours.

Obviously enjoying the excitement surrounding Opera 8, company CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner said if downloads reached 1 million in the next 48 hours, he would swim from Opera's home in Norway to the United States. Opera's communications department took the opportunity to have some public fun with the promise.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/312.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/312

[Edward]

Yes they did...

And here's the press release announcing the "big swim" by Jon.

One million downloads by 09:00 CET tomorrow morning...

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.7) Gecko/20050414

[Edward]

Looking at these images, some have a Mail menu showing, while others do not...

I have a Mail menu on my installation of Opera 8.0.

UserAgent: Opera/8.0 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en)

[Edward]

Yes they did...

And here's the press release announcing the "big swim" by Jon.

One million downloads by 09:00 CET tomorrow morning...

1,050,000 downloads by 0900 CET last Saturday morning!!!

http://www.opera.com/swim/

UserAgent: Opera/8.0 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en)