14 DAY TRIAL // Opera Software has just announced that Opera 30 has been released, and it's the first browser to include sidebar extensions. This is a big and round version, so you can expect to see a lot more features.
The Opera Internet browser is known for its innovations, and it often happens to see new features adopted and later implemented in other applications as well. The same will probably happen with the current new major feature in Opera, the sidebar extensions. Sidebars are not something new to Internet browsers, but they are usually governed only by the application itself. Opera devs want to give this power to developers so that they can build extensions specifically for it.
It would have been difficult to justify the existence of a sidebar extension a few years ago, but the size of the monitors and the resolutions have increased tremendously so there is plenty of room now to have a full website displayed and a sidebar with extra information.
Opera 30 comes with more than just Sidebar extensions
Users can have Twitter running in the sidebar, or the stock price. Now that the sidebar is open, it's very likely that many developers will jump at the opportunity to use that valuable real estate.
"If you have an idea for adding new functionality to Opera, you can now easily implement it by creating a sidebar extension," says Zhenis Beisekov, product manager at Opera Software. "This solution brings unlimited possibilities for anyone who wants to contribute to product development - and a dose of fresh energy to the browser world."
Moreover, the developers have explained that Opera 30 also comes with a Tab cycler that should make the process of switching tabs much easier, a much better tab menu, a faster way of reopening closed tab (a new tab menu), and even an option that allows you to see opened tab on other computers that are using the same Opera account.
You can download the latest Opera 30 for Linux from Softpedia, and the Windows and Mac OS X versions can be downloaded from the same page. Enjoy!
