Go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Browsing -> Smooth scrolling = Checked

2. “Text search is done in a pop-up box. My eye started twitching when I realized this, because it brought back painful memories of Internet Explorer.”

In Opera 10.5, the Find dialog is removed and replaced with a toolbar version more like Firefox or Chrome. This annoyance will be gone as soon as 10.5 is released.

3. “Similarly annoying is the do-you-want-to-save-this-password feature, which also involves a pop-up box rather than a less intrusive panel à la Firefox or Chrome.”

Save as the Find dialog, this has been replaced and will no longer annoy you with a pop-up dialog. The new implementation is like Firefox.

4. “Opera’s interface is heavy on toolbars, which steal space away from Web content. On my netbook’s tiny screen, that’s problematic.”

On a clean install, I see more toolbars in Firefox than I do in Opera. However, if you’re looking for screen space…Opera 10.5 is moving towards pulling the tabs up into the title bar area like Chrome introduced. Currently, this has been implemented for Win XP/Vista/7. I’m assuming and hoping that it will also be implemented for Linux, but only time will tell. If so, then you can test drive Opera again with a much improved interface and a ton of new features and support!

Keep an eye out for it in the near future.

After following Eli’s instructions (Post No. 12) to put the find box on one of your Opera toolbars, here’s how to make it inline:

(1) Copy and paste the following into the address bar and press Enter:
Opera:config#use integrated search

(2) Check the checkbox under “Use Integrated Search”

(3) Click Save and click OK when the Javascript box pops up.

In doing this you’re using Opera’s hidden preferences editor. To find other hidden preferences, type opera:config into the Opera address bar and press enter. (Unusual browser.)

And, yes, this reminds me of what I don’t like about Opera. Some of its preferences are so well hidden I’d never find them on my own.

Here’s another feature I like: Control-T (for tab), followed by control-1 (control-2, etc., up to control-9) will open speed dials (1 to 9). (I use it before breakfast to rapidly open Yahoo Mail, certain news sites, Google Docs, the local weather page, etc., in separate tabs without ever releasing the control key.)

1. Right-click on the panel & select Customize > Appearance.

2. Go to the “Buttons” tab, & then select the “Search” category on the left.

3. Drag the “Find in Page” search box onto your panel, hit OK, and that should do it.

–”Fit to window width.” If your eyesight is imperfect (or you just like to slouch back in your chair), you can make the text as big as you want and it won’t scroll off the right edge of the page.

–Text editor. You don’t have to leave the browser for a word processor every time you want to copy some text from a web page, or jot down a to-do list or whatever.

–Ability to open new tabs “in background”. The page you’re reading remains the active page. By right-clicking a link and clicking “Open in background tab,” you can continue viewing the page you’re already reading; the selected link opens in an inactive tab.

–A simple, clean, efficient news reader

Chris: To remove toolbars, right-click a toolbar, choose Appearance, select the Toolbars tab and uncheck any toolbars you don’t want. (Or from the main menu choose Tools/Appearance and select the Toolbars tab.)

–Regarding inline search, Umi wrote: “Try adding “Find on this page” field to e.g. the bottom panel.” Anyone know how to do this?

I’ve found Opera to be the most efficient browser BY FAR. There are some features that Opera has that other browsers don’t do without and extension (if at all), or don’t do as well.

-Mouse gestures — I can’t say enough about the simple process of going Back or Forward a page while keeping my hand on the mouse. NOTHING IS QUICKER, NOTHING. I even find myself trying to use a mouse gesture in nautilus I’m so used to it.

-Password manager — I actually love the way that Opera handles the remembering of passwords. I also love the Wand feature. For certain sites, I don’t type usernames and passwords anymore, I just click, or hit [CTRL]+ENTER.

-Use of space. — With just a tiny bit of tuning, as was previously mentioned, Opera’s interface can become very scant, giving you more real estate for web content, while at the same time delivering as much, or more functionality than other browsers.

Then there’s speed dial, and the ability of the browser to handle many things by default, like rss, torrents, email, etc. That makes things so much simpler, needing only one app for so many things.

I have tried Chrome, and while it’s still in beta, I don’t really see it beating out Opera on my machine. If Opera incorporated the way that Chrome handles tabs, then it would be the closest thing to perfect that a browser can be. I really can’t say enough good about Opera so I’ll stop there.

I like the bookmark, notes and password sync which is a real boon when I am working on three different machines and OSes at work and two different at home.

Being able to save a set of tabs as different sessions is also handy.

There are a couple of sites it has problems rendering but otherwise I can’t fault it.