Browse the web with Opera 11.62 for Windows

Opera might be one of the oldest browsers around but Opera 11 has plenty of new, and useful, features.

Opera 11 is easy to install and should be offered as an upgrade if you are using an old version. Click on Menu, Help and then Check for Updates if it hasn't been offered. Opera 11 has a new browser engine (the software that actually displays the webpages) that is faster and more stable. The address bar now shows more search suggestions and clicking on the star adds the webpage to the Speed Dial page well as bookmarks.

The built in email tool has also been improved with a new layout and the option to group messages together.

The main view is quite minimalist with none of the toolbars that can take up a lot of screen space. There is a sidebar for accessing bookmarks, email, the download list and other tools. All other options can be found in the Menu at the top-left corner.

The Speed Dial that appears in new tabs is a useful way of keeping up to date with frequently used websites. Opera let you choose exactly how many shortcuts you want in this window. The icons shrink automatically to fit. It is also possible to set a custom background for this page.

Opera introduced the concept of tabs for browsing several websites in the same browser window and Opera 11 has an interesting new tool for dealing with large numbers of tabs. Called Tab Stacking it lets you drag and drop one tab on top of another. They are then grouped together into a single tab that can be expanded to reveal the contents. It's a clever idea should make browsing easier.

Another big improvement is mouse gestures. These are browsing shortcuts made by holding down the right hand mouse button and moving the mouse in a particular way. It's handy but it was always a little tricky to remember all of the gesture options available. An onscreen guide now appears when you hold down the right hand mouse button. It updates automatically to show the next step for gestures that are made up of several movements. The only snag is that there is no way to back up through the options.

Opera Turbo is still present and helps browsing when working on a slow internet connection. Using the same technology behind Opera's mobile browsers, Opera Turbo passes all web traffic through Opera's servers where it is compressed for faster transfer. It can be set to an automatic mode that will enable it when Opera detects a slow connection. Opera 11 improves the look of pages when loaded with Opera Turbo.

For those concerned about supporting the latest standards, Opera will display web pages written in HTML5 and CSS3.

If you are creating web pages or sites, Opera has some very powerful developer tools called Dragonfly. Click on the Menu button, Page, Developer Tools and then Dragonfly. As welll as providing lots of information about web pages it lets you edit them in real time so you can see what needs to be changed.

An icon for Opera now appears in the Notification Area giving quick access to the program. This menu includes an option to open a new tab, which is a handy extra.

Opera 11.62 has fixed some problems with the Find tool and a problem with Facebook chat. Ctrl and F5 and Shift and F5 now force an unconditional reload of webpages. There have also been some security fixes.

Opera 11.51 fixed a problem where the Extension manager used too much CPU power and some other stability problems. Opera 11.50 added a lot of new features including the ability to save passwords in the Opera Link synchronisation tool and an improvement to the interface.