 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Opera - For the Bookshelf Major Keary |
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Opera is a browser that competes with the big two, Netscape and Internet Explorer. Compared to them its 4 Mb footprint is positively dainty. It can be deployed over a network and configured by a system administrator for multiple users, which makes it attractive for use on an Intranet. Furthermore, Opera is XML-savvy with full support for HTML 4.01, XML 1.0, XHTML 1.0, WML, CSS, ECMAScript, and Java.
The Opera 5.x Book, published by No Starch Press, is a real manual and comes with a CD that contains versions for Windows (including 3.1), Linux, BeOS, and EPOC (an operating system for palmtops).
Part 1 deals with installation and customising the browser. Part 2 describes Opera's email and news facilities. Part 3, Supercharging Your Browser, is about adding Java support, using external applications and plug-ins, multimedia, PDF files, downloading files, and other utilities. Part 4 discusses advanced browsing techniques, importing bookmarks from other browsers, and security issues. Part 5 is about network administration, managing multiple users, advanced customisation, and using Opera to build a web site. Part 6 deals with various tools that can be used to further control the browser. Part 7 covers installation issues and plug-ins for the various non-Windows 9x versions.
The fact that Opera is a much smaller application than its big brothers does not mean it is less powerful and new users will be surprised at just how efficient it is. If you want to use Opera this book is well worth having; if you are a system manager deploying it on a network, or for an Intranet, it is an essential resource. The information is detailed and well presented with plenty of screen shots to support the text.
| J. S. Lyster: The Opera 5.x Book ISBN 1-886411-47-6 Published by No Starch Press, 313 pp. + CD, RRP $65.00 incl. GST |
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Reprinted from the July 2002 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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