FAQ
FAQ
Features & support
Which standards does Opera 5 for Symbian support?
Languages
Opera supports HTML 4, XHTML Basic & 1.1, XML 1.0, CSS 1 & 2, ECMAscript 3 (Standardised Javascript 1.4), and it has a partial implementation of the W3C DOM.
This partial support is largely due to Opera's static rendering engine which is unable to remove or insert content into a page once it has been drawn, so properties such as innerHTML are ineffective. This functionality will appear in future versions of Opera, however with Opera 5 it's still possible to create DHTML content by scrolling positioned elements on the screen or hiding them and manipulating the CSS visibility property.
Protocols
As standard, Opera supports HTTP 1.1, FTP, Gopher, WAIS, and secure connections using SSL versions 2 & 3. Also supported are TLS 1.0, giving full 128bit encryption and Personal/Authority certificates for user verification.
Does Opera support Javascript?
Yes, Opera has an excellent implementation of ECMA-232 (3rd edition), the standardised form of Javascript. ECMAscript 3 is loosely aligned with Javascript 1.4 so most scripts should be compatible with Opera. Problems can arise however, when scripting uses a proprietary Document Object Model rather than the standard W3C DOM, or if the Javascript tries to do something which the Opera 5 browser engine does not support (such as inserting a new row into a table once the page has finished loading).
Does Opera 5 support cascading style sheets (CSS)?
Yes, Opera has a complete implementation of CSS level 1 and has near-complete support for CSS level 2, allowing stylesheets to be used for much more than selecting basic colours and fonts. By attaching a separate stylesheet to a page viewed on a wireless device, a completely different document layout can be achieved. This allows authors to create documents which make good use of a desktop display while also appearing tailored to fit smaller screens— without the need for multiple templates.
For pages using layouts which don't adapt to smaller screens, User CSS mode can be used to apply your own stylesheet or filter the author's.
Does Opera support Java applets?
Opera for Symbian can display embedded Java applets using the Symbian JVM supplied with your device (On ER5+). Unlike Opera for desktop platforms, it is not supplied with the standard-edition JVM from Sun Microsystems.
Depending on which version of the Symbian operating system your device runs, Java may be pre-installed in the ROM, or you may be required to install it separately from a CD-ROM. Note that the ER5 JVM supports Java 1.1.4, so many applets requiring more recent implementations may not run successfully. Unfortunately there is no Java upgrade for ER5 users.
Does Opera 5 support DHTML?
DHTML is not in itself any language or standard, but is simply a marketing buzzword which refers to the combined use of scripting, styling, and markup languages (by Web authors) to create pages with dynamic appearence or content. For more information on DHTML support, see the Functionality section of the Opera 5 FAQ.
Does Opera 5 support XML?
Yes, Opera 5 for Symbian supports XML 1.0 and can display XML pages just as easily as normal HTML. In the absence a stylesheet, well formed XML content will be rendered as a single block of text since the W3C XML specification requires un-styled elements to be displayed as inline elements.
Does Opera 5 support XSL?
No, Opera 5 has no support for Extensible Style Language, nor is it something Opera intent to implement for the foreseeable future.
Does Opera 5 support WAP?
Opera 5 for Symbian is unable to render WML pages because it does not recognise any WML MIME types, which are sent by the server to tell the browser a WAP page is being sent. As a result Opera interprets WAP pages as plain text and displays raw markup on screen.
When loaded locally, WAP pages are interpreted as XML however since there is no WML stylesheet distributed with the current Symbian release Opera is unable to format the page and renders all text in one large block (XML doesn't have a default formatting like HTML does). Without any line breaks or margins between elements it can be very confusing to read. Documents can be slightly improved by going into User CSS mode and applying your own CSS file containing the following:
* {
display:block;
margin:0.5em 0.25em;
}
This CSS is of very limited use however since it only works on files loaded from disk and doesn't help with files viewed online. It doesn't add support for images, hyperlinks or forms either.
Does Opera 5 support plugins?
Yes, you can install Plugins for Opera 5 to play or display embedded content, however there is currently only one plugin available for ER5 (Java) and none for releases below that. For ER6 and above there is a growing range of plugins which already includes Real Player and Flash Player.
What image formats does Opera support?
On ER5, Opera only supports JPG and GIF images, though this does include support for animations, interlaced, progressive and transparent formats. Unlike desktop versions of Opera there is no support for PNG or BMP however on ER7 devices Opera can display GIF, JPG, PNG, MBM, TIFF, (w)BMP, WMF, and OTA formats.
