Getting the best from Opera

[vasa1]

Maybe this thread can be a sort of catch-all in which beginners can gain from more experienced Opera users. Currently, the information seems to be linked to the Opera version.

Sope has made a post here in the thread Opera 10 RC.

And Terarus wanted to know more about customisation in the same thread here.

I too have been getting off-topic here

So, to start off, I'm trying a cut and paste from the Firefox thread to here:

2. Yes, the Turbo really works but the great thing about FF is that I can change the background colour overriding page colours whereas I couldn't see how to do that in Opera.

In Firefox, it is in Tools > Options > Content > Colors. I find it useful (less strain on the eyes) to have a light grey background as opposed to pure white.

Some functionality is lost in some pages so I turn on this feature when I know my way about the site and have a lot of reading to do there.

And this is sa1's response:

Create a file user.css in styles folder in the Opera installation directory with the following text. I don't know much of css and tried on only one or two pages so tell me if this doesn't work as expected.

body {background-color:#cccccc;}

P.S This is really getting offtopic now.

I have absolutely no clue about .css and so wouldn't know how to even start going about it.

Overall, I find Opera a bit too techie for me except for the Turbo service which is wonderful (since it requires not brain-power from my end ).

[vasa1]

Continuing with my whinge about setting the background color, I wonder how Opera achieved this:
Under View > Style, we get a drop-down menu. Keeping the Author Mode active, if one ticks High Contrast W/B that is pretty much what I want except that I would like a black font on a light grey background. There is some loss of functionality but it would work with sites I'm familiar with ...

[sa1]

Originally Posted by vasa1

Continuing with my whinge about setting the background color, I wonder how Opera achieved this:
Under View > Style, we get a drop-down menu. Keeping the Author Mode active, if one ticks High Contrast W/B that is pretty much what I want except that I would like a black font on a light grey background. There is some loss of functionality but it would work with sites I'm familiar with ...

All this is achieved using css files stored in the user folder in the styles folder. Check those files out. You can learn enough css to be able to change the colours on the css file. Remember to backup original files first.

[vasa1]

Originally Posted by sa1

All this is achieved using css files stored in the user folder in the styles folder. Check those files out. You can learn enough css to be able to change the colours on the css file. Remember to backup original files first.

This what I've been doing! But no matter what I do I can't change this one "contrastwb.css" to make a visible difference

I even emptied cache thinking it was reloading. Closed and re-opened Opera. But still no joy

I tried words, I tried the hex codes....

[sa1]

All people trying out Opera remember not to assume anything and just ask. Its really surprising how much you can get done without memory-hungry, temptationToInstallMore-inducing extensions.
Edit: Sorry. Didn't read your new post while posting this.
Maybe that file is not allowed to change.
Copy that file elsewhere. Do your edits and point the location in
preferences>advanced>content>Style options to your custom file.

[Sope]

This may be a good place to start on your quest to personalize Opera

[sa1]

And here's some more places:
http://extendopera.org
Customizing Opera forum
Userjs forum
www.operatips.com
http://my.opera.com/Tamil/blog/
www.rarst.net/tag/opera
http://my.opera.com/chooseopera/blog/
http://unite.opera.com

[Sope]

I'll see you......and raise you three!

http://www.aimwell.org/Help/Buttons/buttons.html
http://operawiki.info/Opera
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/54...-links-thread/

[sa1]

Originally Posted by Sope

I'll see you......and raise you three!

http://www.aimwell.org/Help/Buttons/buttons.html
http://operawiki.info/Opera
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/54...-links-thread/

Haha didn't know that neowin had an community of Opera customisers. Thanks.

I would not advise a newbie to follow all those links though except the first link that Sope gave earlier and operatips.com . Its better to use the browser for a week or so first discovering features on your own before visiting those links.
Also people migrating from other browsers having extensions just ask which features you want in Opera and you will learn quite a lot. That would be a good enough way of migrating but regardless you'll have to try it for at least a week to discover features. Some features don't sound great but are very helpful but others like Ubiquity sound great but are less useful. (to me at least.)

[sa1]

People with Aero: try this skin:
http://my.opera.com/community/custom.../info/?id=9281
Full transparency!