FAQ
FAQ
Using Opera 3.62
How much memory do I need to use Opera 3.62?
Opera 3.62 uses 1.7MB of disk space and requires a minimum of 3MB to run in. 4-5MB is preferable if you're running with images on and want to do a lot of browsing. Considerably more is required by the JVM if you wish to view Java applets from within Opera.
Is Opera faster at displaying pages?
Generally, it does render pages more quickly, especially if images are enabled, however there are some conditions that can greatly affect performance. If a page contains images that have no widths or heights set then a delay will occur while the browser calculates the image size itself, and in turn recalculates the new size of the surrounding element. If the image is contained within nested elements (such as tables) the delay is far worse.
| Website | Opera 3.62 | Web 2.0 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics | No GFX | Graphics | No GFX | |
| BBC news | 0:56 | 2:41 | 0:41 | 1:23 |
| Register | 0:11 | 1:28 | 0:15 | 1:17 |
| Tesco | 0:36 | 1:19 | 0:47 | 1:18 |
| Symbian | 0:07 | 0:22 | 0:09 | 0:47 |
| Nokia | 0:12 | 1:09 | 0:24 | 1:12 |
| Based on a connection estimated at 2.2KBps. | ||||
A delay occurs for every image without valid settings and if the page uses large tables for layout, and inside those tables are lots of images (Such as a list of symbols or the Greek alphabet, etc.), it may take a long time for the page to appear. Symbian's browser actually seems to be more tolerable of missing width/height attributes but the cause of the problem is purely bad Web design. As long as the page has been well written you will find Opera an incredible improvement over Web 2.0 and in most cases tables are rendered just as fast as a desktop machine (Allowing for relevant CPU speed). Also, since images are displayed directly by Opera without being passed through EPOC DLL's in the ROM, they render extremely quickly. Very large images may not appear until they're downloaded, depending on user settings or if they're larger than the screen itself. Another factor that can give Web the impression of being faster is it's lack of Javascript. If a page contains a lot of scripting and includes add banners and buttons then these will all be ignored however Opera will still download and render them.
Mobile connections
Some users seem to experience very slow operation when using a mobile connection. Given that over a land line Opera does seem to download files slower than other Internet apps such as Web 2.0 or FTP it could possibly be related to the Windows API emulation that Opera 3.62 uses (This emulation is not used in Opera 5). More information on this can be found in the Porting Opera technical paper on the Symbian Developers Network.
Can I import my desktop bookmarks into Opera?
No. The bookmark manager is very rudimentary in Opera 3.62 and doesn't allow any editing or importing however if you are using Netscape your Bookmarks file is probably in HTML format, and this file can be copied to the EPOC device and opened as a web page by Opera. If you set this as the home page you can then use Ctrl+Q to load it whenever you want to view your bookmarks.
Can I use my Web 2.0 bookmarks with Opera?
Not directly. The bookmarks manager for Opera 3.62 is very poor and simply allows you to add or remove entries to a single list. There are no folders and you can't edit them from Opera. Web 2.0 does however have an option to export your bookmarks as HTML so by doing this and then setting Opera's home page to the file created by Web 2.0 you can load it and use it for your bookmarks. Again there is no option to edit this file so you will need to know a little HTML and import it into the Program or Word applications to make any changes.
Can I remove the old Web browser now I have Opera?
Yes you are free to remove the Web application to free up some space however if you have a machine with Web 2.0 in ROM this is not an issue as it takes up no extra disk space and cannot be removed anyway. You can however remove the following folders and their contents:
Users of Psion Messagesuite should note that although they are free to remove the Web 1.0/1.1 application they must not remove the other System components of Messagesuite as they're required by Opera. (File viewer components are not needed by Opera)
Can Opera display pages with their intended fonts?
Yes, you can install new system fonts that will become available to all apps, and will be used by Opera when specified in the Stylesheet or HTML.
Installing fonts
- Enable the System folder with Ctrl+K from the System screen
- Inside the System folder create a new folder called "Fonts" (C:\System\Fonts\)
- Place the GDR file inside the Fonts folder
- Now close all files and programs, and perform a soft reset.
- You should now find the new font added to the system-fonts list which can be used in all applications just like the three ROM fonts (Arial, Times and courier)
Removing fonts
- Close all open files and applications
- Go into the System folder and rename the Fonts folder to "FontsX"
- Now go into this folder and delete the GDR font file you no longer require
- Rename the folder "FontsX" back to "Fonts"
- Perform a soft reset. After your machine reboots the font will no longer appear in the system-fonts list.
You can create your own EPOC fonts out of standard TTF files using the Symbian ER5 SDK's however there are already a few fonts, and some useful tools to help make your own on Alexander Zavorine's website. Currently he has Comic Sans MS, Bungalow, Tolkien Runes, Arabic Jaridah, Symbol MT and ZapfDingbats fonts, all ready to install.
Update: You can now install and use standard scalable fonts such as TTF, CEF or PFB etc, with Font Machine from mBrain Software. More information and several screenshots are available here.
