Opera 10: We’ve Only Just Begun

I'm delighted to be able to introduce Opera 10 today to Web developers and designers worldwide, and to take a moment to tell you the reason why I chose Opera not only as my employer, but why Opera 10 has become my own browser of choice.

Opera Software is a lucky company. We've grown up with the Web, we've been an integrated aspect of its evolution. And at the version 10 mark, we've gained strength – but more importantly, we're finding wisdom. We are confidently able to look at a longer-term vision of making our software truly the best experience on any device.

As a veteran of browser wars and Web standards arguments, it's very exciting for me to be working at Opera now. The company is at a stage where it is ready to take what has always been its innovative, strong technology, and commit to making it even better. Better for users like my Mom. Better for all devices, so I can integrate my personal information with ease. Better for designers and developers, so we can do our jobs with pride and work toward an open Web as it was meant to be: for everyone, everywhere, on any speed connection, on any device, using any browser or platform.

This means Opera 10 and the future of Opera's software initiatives are not only extremely important to the advancement of standards, developer tools and user experience, but to me personally, too. It's been difficult to feel as if our profession is stable and respected – it's a milestone in my own life to show that in fact, the work we do in this world makes a difference. For those of us building the Web, having a long-term commitment to excellence in a browser is also something worthy of professional acknowledgment.

Some of the developer-empowering highlights of Opera 10 include:

  • Passing the Acid3 test with a 100/100 score and perfect rendering
  • Adding additions and improvements from CSS 3 to our standards-support
  • Implementing aspects of HTML 5
  • Improving our developer tool, Opera Dragonfly, to assist developers in their workflow

I'm not the only one that's been having fun with Opera 10. Everyone on the Developer Relations team has gotten involved by working on showcases of new features and articles that will help you get the most out of Opera 10. Chris Mills' introduction to Opera 10, The Opera 10 Experience, offers an exhaustive list of browser features and the various snapshots we've put together.

Please, have as much fun with Opera 10 as we've been having! I recommend working with HSL colors and RGBA and HSLA transparency – that's been fun for me. The Selectors API has been implemented, so you code junkies will want to give that a run. Designers will be tickled to know they can use @font-face for embedded CSS 3 typography. Just one note of warning here: there's a little glitch in our implementation, so if you try to use professional font families with separate variants, you might run into trouble. That'll be fixed in a few weeks, and rolled out to you via our great new auto-update feature. And for those who can't wait, there is a future-proof workaround as well.

That's the other thing about Opera 10. This version is a major milestone for many reasons, but we'll have point upgrades coming out on a regular basis, meaning annoying problems like our font issue will get fixed automatically within a very short period of time.

Opera 10 marks a new time for our browser, with its sexy new UI, cherry-red restyled "O" logo, standards support including many advanced features not found elsewhere, and improved developer tools. Not only that, but to coin a silly Carpenter's song..."we've only just begun."

Download the browser, check out its features, and let us know what you think!