A new beta version of Opera is now up for grabs on Windows and Mac

Jul 30, 2014 13:14 GMT  ·  By

Opera today pushed the Next channel to version 24, thus making a new beta build of its browser available to Windows and Mac OS X users.

The Linux version of the browser is not yet ready to leave the developer channel, Opera says, so work continues on this flavor until more features are implemented.

“Our Opera for Linux build is undergoing a stabilization period, just as with each new feature/improvement/bigger change. When it’s ready to advance to stable status, it will be available alongside the Windows and Mac builds. Development of Opera for Linux continues on the Developer stream,” the development team notes.

As far as the new Next build is concerned, Opera 24 comes with tab previews, but not in the classic way that we know it.

Now every time you move the mouse over an inactive tab, the browser displays a large preview of the loaded website. In case the page is automatically refreshed in the background, Opera automatically analyzes the content and displays the most recent snapshot available.

“Now, you can get a sneak peek of the content in tabs that aren’t currently active. Just hover one of the tabs to reveal a nice preview on your screen. If the website is refreshing itself in the background or has some sort of dynamically changing content, the preview will display the most recent snapshot of it,” Opera says.

Opera worked to make content look better in the browser, so the default DPI settings in Windows are now used to display graphics without scaling.

“Given the increasing number of Windows devices with very dense displays, we’ve provided you with a sharp-looking UI for this platform, looking as good and crisp as Opera on Mac OS X, which has supported Retina displays from the beginning. Opera now reacts to the DPI settings in your Windows OS, to serve you gorgeous graphics instead of just scaling them up,” the developing team explains.

Another thing that has changed in this version is the color of the private mode window, which is now darker chrome in order to better make a difference between this and the normal browsing screen.

Keep in mind, however, that although this version comes with so many improvements, it’s still part of the Next channel, so a number of bugs and issues might still be discovered.

In the end, this version is at least worth a try, so click the download links below to get the build working on your computer.

Download Opera Next for Windows Download Opera Next for Mac OS X

Photo Gallery (5 Images)

Opera 24 Next running on Windows 8.1
Opera 24 Next running on Windows 8.1Opera 24 Next running on Windows 8.1
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