Posted on by researchwizard

Future Opera: Preferences on a webpage

Index of my posts towards future Opera

When Opera copied Firefox's about:config and introduced Opera:config for advanced settings with Opera 9 I thought it is nice done but I also asked myself why they didn't take the whole thing further adding all the crowded settings of the preferences dialog together with the advanced Opera:config options and give it a nice and comfortable design. Get rid of this small preferences dialog window which I consider to be space inefficient, information hiding, likely to be unintuitive, inflexible on different screens and overall mostly harmful. …


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Now I want to add some more details to my proposal. Opera has already the possible solution built in: display webpages: resizable, zoomable, possibly floating elements, linkable, searchable – simply accessible. With Web2, online applications and Google gears there are enough proof of concepts that this pages could look and feel like belonging and well fitting into a normal application. And Opera:config shows it is possible to switch options from a webpage.

Nearly every possible design should be pretty easy to be rebuilt with simple HTML+CSS. Adding some JS and Ajax capabilities could make it equally functional.

The advantages of current Opera:config are:

  • searchable
  • links from other webpages could lead directly to the according setting (copy link address of "»" behind every setting in opera:config)
  • a lot of settings are accessible pretty simple
  • really good usage of the available space (with different styles for different screen-widths and for different media, there are even styles for print) – it also works in a panel
  • Default could be applied to every setting (although this doesn't always show what you expect, e.g. the plugin-path is empty on Default)
  • customizable with /styles/config.css

There is quite good information about the settings available on Opera's support page Opera's Settings File Explained (with direct links to the single settings in Opera:config and available from the Help link on the Opera:config page).

Of course Opera:config in its current state isn't appropriate to be used as a general preferences replacement. It would need quite a lot of things, but most of it should already be possible technically:

  • friendly design
  • user centric categories and probably subcategories
  • have a compact navigation for easy overview
  • provide information and help for each setting (details on hover or on click)
  • probably some check / validation is needed for the applied values, although this should be handled by reducing the input options (could easily be done with Web Forms 2.0)
  • in general there has to be a design decision whether preferences could be displayed all on one page and/or there are several linked pages (where you can use normal history options like back) and/or whether you use (floating) pop up tabs for some tasks (which would look quite similar to the preferences window)
  • toggle show/hide advanced features (so you have shorter option lists for normal users and longer lists that might need scrolling for advanced users), maybe a second level for expert features is needed. There could be tabs on top of the config page or a drop down list containing basic, normal, advanced, expert etc. – it's even possible to add this option to every category but I'd think this would just add complexity without great benefit
  • maybe possibility to call normal dialog windows where needed (e.g. to drag buttons as it is a bit tricky from a webpage right now) – I think this could be one of the more complicated tasks
  • if problems with history navigation arise they could be avoided by using JS/AJAX technology which doesn't trigger history or which ensures that always the right values are shown.
  • of course it has to be localized (is it possible to use the numbers of the lng files on a webpage?)

There could be additional enhancements to make the best usable design on earth (mainly quick ideas which have to be validated):

  • offer different methods for navigation, e.g. a tag cloud as additional navigation method (size could indicate importance or the count of personal usage)
  • there could be an option (checkbox) to only show (all) changed settings – this would enable quick debugging of problems caused by changed settings
  • integrate appearance, mail settings etc
  • there could be check boxes (maybe in a config-settings area or page) to hide or show categories like email
  • explain the options and what and why which value does on hover or click and make the setting possible to toggle from inside this help text. Or have even more additional information for each setting and its values: Benefits, risks, recommended and default values, related settings etc.
  • add visualisations, especially to the basic and the more important settings (isn't there a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words?)
  • there could be a start page or top category or box with the most and/or last used settings (or/and for all changed settings)
  • offer different styles that can be switched – there could be a plain list style and another one with boxes for categories (in it an appropriate image/icon, the heading, a short explanation and the subcategories) and access the according (sub)options from there – the boxes could expand where they are or open a new page or expand while the rest of the page is hidden or there are probably more possibilities
  • you could even have a style changer for (alphabetic) list view, categories, boxes or whatever, simple or details etc and/or for different input methods and/or with different colours (could only partly be realized with simple different CSS-files) – some of the style decisions would probably be logical to be added automatically when switching between basic, normal, advanced and expert features)
  • skin settings could be applied to the page
  • the boxes or lists could even be dragable on the page and arranged by the user (like on Speed-dial or on Google ig or other Ajax pages)

With settings on webpages like Gmail or with the Webinterface of the router an average user is probably already used to webpages for this purpose. He would see just the basic settings starting on a well arranged page offering about 6 main categories with some easy to understand short hints what he'll find in the categories.

The main categories could be as follows (with the current settings name in round brackets):

  • Browser (Language, Startup, Home Page, Notifications, Programs-default browser, Browsing-confirm exit, Network-proxy, Voice)
  • View (WebPages, Fonts, Content, History-Check documents+images)
  • Tabs (Tabs, Browsing, PopUps)
  • Customize (Search, Shortcuts, Appearance, {Widgets etc} …)
  • Privacy&Security (Wand, Cookies, History-addresses, History-cache, Network-referrer logging)
  • Open&Download (Downloads, Programs, {Plugins})

For the more advanced users the Opera:config settings and some of the options in the current categories should be sorted into another Advanced or Expert category (like Network-max connections, maybe History-cache goes here instead of Privacy) showing up only if Advanced/Expert view mode is activated.

As today some of the preferences should be additionally on some Quick preferences (F12). Furthermore some options could even be directly in the UI where they could be expected (either linked to the settings page or a toggle itself). Well, that's another topic.

This is lots of work and it requires many decisions but most of it shouldn't be rocket science. The advantage would be that you could have a possibly stylish (even customizable / user supplied) and greatly usable and intuitive, furthermore highly space efficient and accessible, yet powerful and easy to use configuration. And it would work on any device. This would simply be Opera style (IMHO).

14 Replies to “Future Opera: Preferences on a webpage”

  1. My main comment would be the help system of the current settings. Someone was lazy enough not to put links from each opera:config setting to the proper section and item inside http://www.opera.com/support/usingopera/operaini/ for each preference, but rather the other way around, like you mention.Another pet peeve of mine is the Save button, which never quite conforts you, in true M$ Windows style: “Settings saved. Some changes may require a restart to take effect”. Is it too much to know if changing “Images Expiry” has an immediate effect ?I was always buffled by the very small up/down buttons on the right of numeric settings. Besides not being accessible, the vast majority of numeric settings are actually flags (e.g. “Check Expiry History”), OS settings (e.g. “Listen Port”), or binary options that evolved their function from checkboxes (e.g. “Always load favicon”)Flags, by the way, can be set to any value, a thing that the up/down spinner buttons encourage the user to do.Actual numeric settings that could use a spinner control (or rather a slider), e.g. “Contacts Splitter Position” don’t have any additional controls to easily modify.It is still arguable if they need such controls, of course.Now back to your proposal, which I spotlighted.The design can’t be that flexible. You can’t style one page into many (you could, via CSS+JS).I like the ideas of the tag cloud and of seeing (and applying) the diff settings (would make reinstalling easier, for sure). This would clear my suspicion that there is no setting for the Transfer’s panel View>Show in background.About grouping setting, I would go (and style) a bit further to show related settings on different sections, also. A bit like “users that selected `Enable SSL v3` also enabled `Use Paranoid Mailpassword`, `Trust rating`, `Trust Button` and disabled `Save Password Protected Pages`”. PS: Nice touch with the naming of the Mailpassword setting 😉

  2. Great reading.I have been thinking about something similar, but not half way as thoroughly as this. I’m at work now, so will write a longer post when I get back home, but just a few remarks. For me this sounds like a great idea. But since no other of the big browser names has anything like this on the menu as of today, it will be a big step for new users to get used to. No matter how well it is laid out. So I don’t think it can replace fully the options menu we have today. One of the biggest problems with switching browser for users are all the differences. And Opera have had quite a few of those differences in the passed, but have strived to make the browser look an feel more like the others lately. Adding one more step for a new user to learn, might not be the best idea when the market share is as low as it currently is, but might as well be that little extra that makes it stand out in the crowd. I can really see the benefit of having it all on one page. The search box you already have there saves me days every time I am looking for a setting. Something you could not add to the options menu very easily without making way too confusing. Though I am not sure if ONE page would really be the way to go, what about “tabs” for each category. Browser, mail, calendar (PLEASE) and so on? Except that I really like the idea, though it smells really experimental, and is probably bound to go through some revisions before it is easy and user friendly enough for an average user. – ØØ –

  3. @NoteMe As I understand ReWiz’s (perfectly resonable) styling suggestion, the preferences would be able to be displayed exactly like IE/FX/Safari/O7-O9.Also, the Calendar has been infirmed. (Arjan mentions above, in the article, that the competition is Thunderbird etc.. can’t link directly there.. Goldman!)Waiting for your post 😉

  4. Those would be gently presented after [Advanced] buttons. (And I mean the complete Preferences dialog, with tabs)The tricky part would be incompatibilities (Security is handled differently) or downright missing features.

  5. Confused out of my boxer :p You mean like for example a web page looking like the “tools->Internet Options” dialog in IE. Then what about all the rest of the preferences that Opera has, that IE doesn’t have?- ØØ –

  6. Haha, expluding is what happen when you write 3 words, then check your real work, then write three more words. Excluding is what I ment… :pOn the other hand you did empty me for questions…for now :)- ØØ –

  7. Expluding ? :)A similar solution to the signed browser.js should work just fine for the latter problem. The Opera devs look at FX constantly, why not write a few lines anyway. FX OTOH has the same problem of not evolving their settings too much beyond IE or previous versions.

  8. I guess one problem would then be features where Opera only has similar but not equal functionality, or is even missing the functionality completly. Just expluding it would work I guess, but I feel I can already hear the complaints ringing 🙂 An other problem would lie in the Opera devs hands, since browsers like Firefox continuesly improves the options menu. total redesign, and adding features for every version. It would have to be many style sheets for Firefox and other, and it would have to be constantly updated then. Leaving the extra work on Opera devs?- ØØ –

  9. Hi Dan and Øyvind,thanks a lot for your spotlights and for your comments that provide some more ideas that could bring this concept further. I’d like to add some words to some ideas of your comments.Dan, I completely agree that opera:config could be improved on a differentiated save message whether restart is required or not (although this is probably a bit difficult as there can be more than one saved setting) and about the usability of the up/down buttons. But I don’t think that Opera:config should make it easy for casual users to change settings as long as they could be considered to be expert settings. I think for this neither help links are needed, nor clear labels and a tight value restriction – it would just make too many people to think they understood what they are doing and afterwards blame Opera for not working properly (IMHO both is much less probable if a user has to use those rather cryptic settings). Maybe this is only a pretty weak reason but thinking technically Opera:config actually is only an empowered but different access to opera.ini. And it is already pretty nice for experts and very nice to give someone a direct link to a special setting from a webpage, IRC or a computer magazine.But of course I agree it would be nice (too nice). And it is probably easy to do by using Web Forms 2 and some links or even additional information on the page itself. And all of this and more would be needed if you want average users to use this controls (so it’s good to have them on the list of requirements with your comment).And I also would like to see the currently not available Transfer’s panel View>Show in background in preferences (main section Open&Download). 🙂 Originally posted by NoteMe:But since no other of the big browser names has anything like this on the menu as of today, it will be a big step for new users to get used to. No matter how well it is laid out. So I don’t think it can replace fully the options menu we have today.Øyvind, as Dan already pointed out the preferences could look pretty close to any dialog from another browser (or Opera itself). Though I don’t think Opera’s default settings should look like any other dialog (to habe this customized CSS could be provided by the community). There are that many different settings dialogs out there and Opera actually has different and additional options. I don’t think it would confuse new users too much to see just another settings possibility. Mainly because I think – I hope – those preferences on a web page could and will be much superior to the other dialogs and also very intuitive. And as I already mentioned preferences on webpages are not that unusual any more (esp. in Webinterfaces and Webapplications) but of course not yet in browsers. Additionally preference settings are not visible at once and they are normally used not very often (by new average users). It would need some user research to confirm my assumptions and I think Opera has great developers to make this working properly. Actually your thoughts reminded me on looking into the categories and wording in IE and FF settings to make it easier usable for new users (at least according aliases should be provided and accessible via search). But I wouldn’t bind Opera’s preferences too much on other – even inferior – browser options (although I have to admit that I helped Blinkybill on some parts of his already pretty perfect IE7 skin for Opera).Originally posted by NoteMe:Though I am not sure if ONE page would really be the way to go, what about “tabs” for each category. I thought of one page as the possible backend that is visualized, styled and equipped with functionality showing only parts of the page at one time (except for a possible setting “show all”). If search functionality or something else would require one page I think all content could be on one page and the categories / options are displayed as if they are on several pages. Or vice versa. Tabs for categories would be just one possible way to make this work. I also thought about tabs and they are included in my mentioned “different methods for navigation” and the “style switcher” – there could be options for tabs, left column navigation, simple list, breadcrumb navigation, boxes and more – or a combination of several of them).Originally posted by NoteMe:Except that I really like the idea, though it smells really experimental, and is probably bound to go through some revisions before it is easy and user friendly enough for an average user.I don’t consider it to be too much experimental, but of course you are right, it has to go through several revisions – like every bigger change of a software. Anyway the development process is probably incremental and iterative and therefor will be revised all the time during development.Looking forward to new questions 🙂

  10. I’m writing this from OM so excuse any inadvertences as I can’t see the whole page at once.Re Only one setting savedI think it’s trivial to show the ‘will need restart’ dialog if at least one of the settings saved requires it.Re Making it too easy for usersAre you telling me you memorized all the settings and their values ? Even with things I consider myself expert it’s so annoying to dig through memory to remember all the parameters and pitfalls.Beginners alter the Win registry all the time. Magazines show you how to hack IE and Fx all the time, too. It’s simple now to just backup all your changed settings. Opera could even provide gentle recovery a la crash if e.g. you messed your proxy. For this,A simple ‘last settings that worked’ button should suffice.More comments on Monday.

  11. Hello Dan!I hope you had a nice weekend. No I don’t know all the meanings of the settings (just my pets like History Navigation Mode=3), but it is not a big deal to start from the help page. You are also right that Opera is pretty fault-tolerant, although some potential users are not, even with small self-inflicted glitches. Your proposals would be definitely nice to have. I just wanted to add another perspective and I think that the lots of needed work may be too much effort for some experts (especially for the first shot). Well, actually I expect Opera devs to improve also this part of the browser that it will simply be excellent. Maybe the community could do something about this and add some complexity config.css (maybe JS is also working from there?) to make life easier. I’m looking forward to your commentsChristian

  12. I looked at my proposals yesterday and didn’t come up with anything new. I do have a feeling you don’t support help in hacking Opera’s settings, so let me restate my position:opera:config designs via Opera update: CSS+JS made by Opera ASA and users; both get validated and signedtag cloud of frequently changed settings, (community) favourite tweaks, etc.diff settings: seeing just the tweaks from the default, saving and restoring themeach setting to have a long description of usage and interactions with other settings, leading toenhancing group settings from sections to related actions: a security setting like `Use Paranoid Mailpassword` would be linked to the other settings in Security, and also e.g. to `Save Password Protected Pages`settings protection: auto-backup of last settings that worked (e.g. Opera had network connectivity, mail didn’t return errors, etc)enhancing settings from groups into profiles: I would like a “laptop on airport wifi” profile (show cached images only, disable plugins, fit to width, zoom 150% etc), “at home on T1” profile (show images, enable java, myServer as proxy, etc)

  13. I have changed colours in c:program filesOperastylesconfig.css, but I haven’t tried UserJS yet but I kind of doubt this will work even if it is possible to use it and site specific prefs for localhost.Blinkybills skin is far (far far) more customized, actually he did customizations I never saw as complex before as he is combining lots of changes of the functionality (menu.ini, toolbar.ini) and the same time did a comple optical redesign. Sometimes he puts an updated screenshot on the How does your Opera look – thread, the last one is probably http://my.opera.com/community/forums/findpost.pl?id=1936692

  14. Just a note here. Been reading through the whole thing once more. Earlier, wasn’t it possible to edit the CSS and run UserJs for pages like and so on (ie: opera:config). I read somewhere that it was a bug, and that they patched it. At least now I can’t see that it is possible to change site preferences at all for those “pages”. Anyone remember?PS: and is this the IE7 skin you helped out in RWiz? http://my.opera.com/community/customize/skins/info/?id=5325- ØØ –

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