FAQ
FAQ
Browser functionality
Can Opera display pages that use DHTML?
Opera has excellent support for ECMAscript (standardised Javascript), CSS, and HTML, the key languages combined by authors to create dynamic pages, so it is indeed possible for Opera to display dynamic content within a document. There are some limitations however;
Unlike some current desktop browsers, Opera 5 cannot usually alter the structure of a Web page once it has been drawn. This means that increasingly popular DHTML techniques such as inserting or replacing whole paragraphs and table rows when you hover over an element do not work in Opera. This functionality will be implemented in future versions, but for Opera 5 the most reliable way to control which elements are visible to the user is to manipulate the CSS visibility property.
Dynamically updating the contents of form elements is possible in Opera, as are image-swapping effects, and although you can't change the structure of elements once they are drawn you can change their background, text and border colours. Furthermore, positioned elements may be repositioned on the screen or even resized to achieve a cropping effect (Since Opera is unable to reflow the text, it becomes clipped when the box is reduced).
Opera 5 includes partial W3C DOM support, which should be used along with standard ECMAscript since Opera has no support for Netscape's proprietary extensions and only appends a couple of Microsoft Jscript™ properties whilst set to identify as MSIE 5. Javascript that uses proprietary extensions or object models is less likely to work with Opera, though changing to identify as IE helps in some cases.
Does Opera support multiple windows?
Yes, you can open as many new windows as memory will allow for, and popup windows/adverts triggered by Javascript will also appear in Opera 5. Unlike Opera for desktop Operating Systems, the Symbian version does not display open windows simultaneously. Instead, each window is viewed individually and cannot be rezised or floated. This may lead to some popups looking a little strange since all windows are displayed in full screen.
To allow navigation between windows, a new menu option will dynamically appear at the bottom of the Windows menu for each window currently open. Each option will display the title or URL of the document being displayed in that window.
Note that in the ER6 edition of Opera 6 for the Nokia 9210i Comminicator, a maximum of two windows may be open at any one time.
Can Opera download and display dynamic fonts in a webpage?
No, currently this is not a feature of Opera on any platform. To allow this would require a standardised mechanism and font format which could be read and displayed by all platforms for which Opera is available. If specified in a stylesheet, Opera can display the fonts installed on your machine however, which on ER5 devices can include common font files (Truetype, Adobe, Windows, etc) through the use of additional shareware. More recent versions of Symbian OS include support for common formats as standard.
Can I print out Web pages from Opera 5?
No. Although promised for some time, this is one of the features that remains to be implemented in the Symbian OS version of Opera.
Does Opera allow online banking and shopping?
Yes, Opera 5 supports secure connections (providing full 128-bit encryption) Personal certificates, improved Javascript support, Cookies, Java applets (If the Symbian JVM is installed) and multiple windows, which are sometimes required to log in.
With these features, and Opera's excellent support for markup/styling languages, there is no reason for any bank to refuse it's customer access to their account from a Symbian device running the Opera browser. However, there are unfortunately still some banks operating poorly designed websites which discriminate against Opera and inform the visitor that their browser is inadequate. This is simply not true. There have even been banks whose websites have established a 128-bit encrypted connection with an Opera browser and then informed the customer— over that secure connection— that the browser they are using does not support secure connections, and therefore needs to be upgraded to IE4! Thankfully, due to the ongoing efforts of the Opera community over the years, this is becoming much less of a problem and will hopefully all but disappear in the future, when large corporations like Nokia and Sony-Ericsson put pressure on companies who exclude their customers.
Does Opera allow me to use Email or instant messaging?
| Client | Developer |
|---|---|
| ICQ | Neuon |
| AOL | Ruksun |
| Yahoo | Ruksun |
| MSN | Ruksun |
| IRC | Russ Spooner |
No. Although these are some of the key features of the Opera browser on other platforms, the Symbian OS version is purely a Web browser. A well featured Email, fax and text messaging client is already included in Symbian OS so there is no genuine requirement for this to be duplicated by Opera. In removing these features the browser remains very compact, requiring less RAM and disk space on devices where memory is limited. This is especially useful on machines where Opera is installed separately by the user.
There are several instant messaging clients for Symbian OS, mostly available as Shareware. For ER5 devices, these include the titles shown in the table.
Can I access newsgroups with Opera?
There is no dedicated newsreader as there is with Opera on other platforms, however you can read and post to Usenet (and a few private servers including Opera's own newsgroups) from the Google website. Using a Web interface may not be quite as convenient as an offline newsreader, but one advantage of using Google Groups is full access to it's 20-year Usenet archive. Not only can you participate in current threads, but you can also look back through early references to Psion organisers or the Opera Web browser.
If you would still prefer a dedicated newsreader for your Symbian device, RMR Software's shareware application RMR News is available for ER3/5 machines.
Can I use Opera with a Web-cache or proxy server?
Yes, Opera supports proxy-server connections for all of the transfer protocols implemented:
- HTTP
- HTTPS
- FTP
- Gopher
- WAIS
Opera allows you to specify a different proxy server to be used for each protocol. Each one can be configured or disabled independently, and any URL you wish to access directly whilst a proxy is enabled can be added to an Exceptions list. Connections to Gopher and WAIS services can only be made via a proxy server.
Can Opera browse compressed pages using gZip encoding?
No, unfortunately Opera 5 for Symbian does not inherit this functionality from the desktop versions. It can only interpret and display pages sent as normal, uncompressed ASCII text. Similarly, Opera 5 only includes support for standard markup languages and protocols such as HTTP, HTML, WML, etc.
Can I browse AvantGo channels with Opera?
No. AvantGo is a proprietary content delivery system commonly used on PalmOS devices. It uses a non-standard file format and transfer protocol, and requires a proprietary viewer. While AvantGo may be useful on small screen devices, Opera only supports standard markup languages and data transfer protocols.
To simplify bloated Web pages and speed up browsing you can go into User CSS mode or go through an online Lynx emulator, however neither of these methods guarantee a tidy or coherent document will be rendered every time. (Unfortunately many HTML Web pages, possibly including this one, are bloated and designed poorly.)
Can Opera run OPL programs automatically from within Web pages?
Absolutely not. To do so would pose an unacceptable security risk as a malicious program would be free to access the file system or retrieve private information from the EPOC device. Opera for Symbian handles OPO files much the same way Windows browsers handle an executable (EXE): It will only allow the user to download and save the file to disk, from where they can choose to run it manually. Alternatively, you can offer OPL source code in an EPOC Program file. Opera will offer to open the file automatically from the Save dialogue providing the server sends out the correct MIME type.
If you wish to add dynamic content to a webpage you can either use Javascript or embed a Java applet in the page. Java requires a JVM to be installed on the Symbian machine however. If you wish to affect the user's machine outside of Opera then this can only be done by asking them to make these changes for you.
Does Opera allow me to browse a website offline?
| Client | Developer |
|---|---|
| Offline Web | Tom Tom |
| Web Grabber | Kabestin |
| Whack Force | Ruksun |
Downloading an entire section of a website for viewing offline is not possible in Opera for Symbian OS, though you can save individual pages and view them in Offline mode to prevent Opera connecting to the Internet. The option to save the current page along with any images contained within it is another feature which is yet to be implemented in the Symbian version of Opera.
To spider a website and save all content for offline browsing in Opera, there are various shareware applications that can be used including those shown in the table.
