Fatal's Journal

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• cross-platform profile sync (bookmarks, news feeds, contacts, blocked content, etc.)
  
• better news feeds (folders, folder views, trash can)
  
• give more focus to Opera mail (don't forget to add ability of removing attachments)
  
• undo closed window or undo tabs from closed window(s)
  
• improved Notes (rich text, pictures, date stamp, sorting, integration of Notes and some blogging systems??)

• native developer tools
  
• better source viewer/editor
  
• fix all known bugs in CSS 2.1
  
• support parts of CSS 3: border-radius, selectors, multiple backgrounds, RGBA, box-shadow
  
• XSLT document() function

• better icon (logo of Opera browser, not company)
  
• better update system
  
• open or half-open bug tracking system (ability to see at least your own submissions)
  
• better handling of needed but not presented plug-ins
  
• "I prefer ergonomics over being a populist platform." Eddie Lopez' wish #4
  Don't move tab bar to "correct" place by default please!

• fit to width, zoom, encoding in per-site prefs
  
• better sessions management
  
• saving files with original filename, not 8.3 DOS format
  
• based on Notes basic PIM
  
• Unified meta-data interface from non-tropo's wish #2
  
• Tabs grouping
  
• improved Bookmarks (option to store textual content of a page inside bookmark, and this should be searchable)
  
• contact managment with views instead of folders (so I can have contacts in multiple groups without having to copy them)

• Serhiy Prosyanyk (Mongoose - operafan.net)
  
• Ilya Shpan'kov (myopera.net)
  
• Ilya Birman
  
• Dennis Hawks
  
• João Eiras (xErath)

One thing that struck me looking through all my stats was the tiny number of people using Opera - in many cases, none at all. Opera is a very good browser - fast, lightweight and standards-compliant; so why aren’t more people using it? I know in my case I rely on the Addons for Firefox; and I know from experience that most Mac users prefer Safari. But what’s stopping everyone else from using it?
Is it because it was paid-for or ad-supported for so long that people have got used to alternatives? Is it because it isn’t marketed well? I’d be interested to hear readers views on their reasons if they don’t use Opera.

Opera
Opera is an independent browser with a rather small market share (around 0.5%). It managed to survive—and even thrive—through the Browser Wars, without a large and prosperous corporation behind it. This achievement is not to be despised.
When it comes to JavaScript, Opera has always been slightly behind the other browsers. During the Browser Wars, it didn’t implement DHTML (i.e., the Microsoft and Netscape proprietary DOMs), which in hindsight was an excellent decision.
Although it has largely caught up with the other browsers, it remains the most difficult browser to develop scripts for. It has share of bugs, and its market share is so tiny that the temptation to just forget about it when you encounter a bug is difficult to resist.

Day-to-day development
When I create a script, I constantly test every line I write in Explorer Windows and Mozilla. Explorer contains quite a few peculiarities that should be addressed immediately, while Mozilla is an excellent representative of W3C DOM-compliant browsers.
When I finish a script module, I start Safari and Opera (and occasionally Explorer Mac, iCab, and Konqueror) to check for problems. If I find any, I try to solve them, but the amount of time and trouble I take depends on the browser in question.
Essentially I’m willing to take a lot of time for Safari, but not for any of the other browsers. Opera bugs are either easy or impossible to solve, Explorer Mac is too old, and iCab and Konqueror have too little market share. Agree or disagree with my exact browser lineup, but I advise you to make decisions or risk total insanity.
Do not under any circumstance write a script for one browser first and add support for the other browser “later on”. This is the fastest way to hell. It’s far better to solve nasty incompatibilities at the start of your project than at the end.

1. Make a widget. This step may seem obvious, but the first and most important step is actually creating a working widget.

1. Use standards
   Check if you widgets actually have valid HTML and CSS. There are no more excuses about crappy hacks for Internet Explorer.
   
2. Use modern standards
   Check out standards that Opera already supports. Use modern standards like SVG, WebForms 2, HTML 5 (canvas), CSS 2.1 and 3 (selectors), XSLT, XPath, etc. It can make shorter development time and improve user experience.
   
3. Check accesibility
   Create widget as it will be standard web page. Care about disabled people - provide alt attributes to images, use labels for form fields, check if your colors are contrast enough, etc.

― Что представляет из себя украинский Интернет?...
― Если говорить в целом, то украинский Интернет более новостной, чем развлекательный, по сравнению с Рунетом. На Украине хуже развит широкополосный доступ, зато более доступен мобильный Интернет...

― What Ukrainian Internet is?
― Generally speaking, Ukrainian web-sites are mostly news, than entertainment comparing to Russian. But Ukrainians have more access to mobile Internet than broadband...

• Håkon, what your expectations about finalizing recomendation of CSS 3 Selectors? Can we hope to see most of them working in upcoming Opera 9?
  
• What your predictions about which next modules of CSS 3 will/should be finalized first? And when expect implementation of them in Opera?
  
• Which modules of CSS 3 do you think most complicated to specify and implement?
  
• Will/can CSS 3 compete with XSLFO when it available?
  
• How often you update your "home" version of Opera? Every release, beta, TP, weeky, internal build?