Opera 12.10 Adds SPDY, Fullscreen API, HiDPI Display Support

Opera 12.10 is finally here. What was first slated to become Opera 12.50 got a version number change as some features were ready while others were pushed further into the future.

Opera 12.10 is made up of all the things that were planned for Opera 12.50, but were completed before some of the more complex features. There are no major features in the latest Opera, but there are plenty of interesting additions. 

SPDY/3 support

The update adds support for SPDY, for example. SPDY is slated to be the basis of the upcoming HTTP 2.0.

The protocol was designed by Google but has since been adopted by other companies. Chrome, Firefox and now Opera support SPDY in its latest iteration, the v3 draft specs.

All Google sites, Twitter and several others support and use the technology already and you should be seeing a snappier response when visiting them. There's also an Apache module which adds support for SPDY to any website that wants it.

Fullscreen API for video and apps

Opera 12.10 also supports the Fullscreen API, which should mean that HTML5 video and HTML5 web apps can now take advantage of the entire screen for a more immersive experience. This is particularly useful for video, obviously.

The latest update comes with some changes to extensions as well. Browser extensions can now add entries to the context menu, something that hopefully won't be abused, and Opera now restricts installs to official sources, i.e. "trusted" websites.

CSS3 Flexbox

The latest iteration of the CSS3 Flexbox is also supported by Opera, just as Chrome and Firefox are doing the same, meaning that the new layout option should be fully supported across major browsers soon.

Windows 8 and Mountain Lion

Opera 12.10 adds support for both Windows 8 and Mac OS X Mountain Lion, so it should work fine on the latest versions of the two major desktop operating systems. Speaking of Macs, Opera 12.10 also adds support for Retina displays, and HiDPI displays in general.

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