Оpera is a web browser that has been trying to win a larger market share for many years, but despite all the actions in this direction, its efforts have not yielded the expected results.
According to W3Schools data, as of February 2023, the absolute hegemon is Google Chrome with 79.7% share, followed by Microsoft Edge with 8.6% and Firefox with 4.8%. Opera is ranked fifth with a 2.2% market share.
As expected, Opera has worked hard to change this status quo, and the result gives every reason to believe that the effort will be rewarded this time. Please meet Opera One.
What is Opera One?
Also based on Chromium, Opera One, currently available as an early access developer version, is a browser completely redesigned to replace the flagship Opera Browser for Windows, macOS, and Linux later this year.
Aiming to transform the way you interact with your browser more intuitively, Opera One will pleasant users by providing a liquid navigation experience.
With today’s release, Opera One also becomes the first major Chromium-based browser with a multithreaded compositor that brings the UI to life like never before. The new design philosophy, which is being presented today for the first time, will allow Opera to over time, build a more powerful and feature-rich browser that is ready for a generative AI-based future.
The browser dynamically adapts to the user’s demands by bringing only the most essential features to the foreground.
Furthermore, the relevant modules inside Opera One will adjust automatically based on context, giving the user a seamless and effortless surfing experience. So, let’s take a look at the browser’s main features.
Opera One Highlights
Built on cutting-edge technology, Opera One, the latest evolution of the Opera browser, promises to deliver lightning-fast performance, a smooth UI experience, high levels of customization, and entirely innovative features. Here are the more important ones.
Tab Islands
One of the standout new features of Opera One is Tab Islands – an intuitive experience designed for users that interact with multiple tabs.
Have you ever had dozens of tabs open that you get lost in and must go through each to find what you’re looking for? That will no longer be an issue with Opera One.
Opera One’s Tab Islands is an excellent new feature that automatically groups tabs thematically, keeping them together in a more organized, context-based way without forcing you to change your browsing habits.
For example, if you search Google for “How to Install Arch,” all links opened from the results list will be grouped into a separate “island,” making it easy to switch to it.
Modular Design
UI modular design refers to an approach in user interface (UI) design where a UI is broken down into smaller, self-contained components or modules that can be combined and reused across different user interface parts.
This is most noticeable in Opera One in the revamped sidebar and tabs modules.
As a result, thanks to its modular interface, the elements in Opera One’s respective module adjust automatically to make room as features are added, or tabs are opened.
On top of that, in case the extensions become many, the browser will organize them in an expandable module in the address bar, simplifying the UI while allowing quick access.
AI Features
Opera One also integrates the recently highly popular AI services directly into itself. Currently, the widely used ChatGPT and ChatSonic services have been implemented in the browser, enabling AI prompts in the address bar and text highlight popup.
But things do not end here. Opera plans to go one step further:
Opera One is the first instance of our smart, modular design within Opera. It marks the beginning of a chain of innovation, including Opera’s own AI engine to be shipped in the coming months.
Multithreaded Compositor
Opera One is the first major browser to include a multithreaded compositor for a smooth and pleasant UI experience. But what does this mean? Let me explain.
In the renderer part of a Chromium-based browser, there is a main thread and a compositor thread. The first is coordinating and managing the complete rendering process, including interpreting HTML, CSS, JavaScript code, etc.
The compositor thread takes the elements produced by the main thread, such as animations and transitions, and displays them on the screen. In short, the compositor thread ensures the user’s experience.
The new multithreaded compositor’s implementation in the browser delivers a faster and smoother user interface, introducing a compositor thread in the UI and switching to using layer-based animations.
It all adds up to a seamless and comfortable user experience, which we can attest to. For example, while testing the new Opera One, the browser was lightning-fast and responsive to our actions, allowing us to surf the internet smoothly and with ease.
Bottom Line
Opera One is a next-generation feature-rich browser that focuses on improving the user experience, innovations and keeping up with new AI trends.
The most important question that interests users is how to test its capabilities. Opera One offers an early developer version for download and testing, so those wishing to try it out should keep that in mind. The final stable version will be released later this year.
The browser is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux; it is offered as an installation DEB file for Linux users. Therefore, users of Debian and other Debian-based distributions, such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc., can download it from Opera One’s website and install it locally on their systems.
