Opera Composer

Using the Name element

The name you give your browser is used as the folder name where your custom version of Opera will be installed. This means a user who already has Opera installed will not be frustrated to discover your customized model has overwritten the existing installation. The browser name will appear in the title bar when users use MDI mode (it will not when users use page-tab or SDI modes). See the section below on Window modes for more information about MDI versus SDI.

You can create your own custom version of this using a graphics manipulation program such as Corel PhotoPaint or GIMP. Opera's splash screen is 400 x 300 pixels. You can make yours larger or smaller if you wish, but a larger one can take up additional hard drive space. Also, remember that some users have 640 x 480 monitors, so don't go any larger than that (besides, users with small monitors may not appreciate having their entire screen overwhelmed by your splash screen each time they launch).

The startup dialog is the box that gives you a choice in how Opera begins. You can of course customize its foreground and background.

How Opera uses the Startup Images
Note that there is no single image that looks like the startup dialog box. Instead, we have two graphics, "Startup1" and "Startup2", that have bits and pieces of each. (These files can be found in Opera's "images" folder, under the names "Startup1.png" and "Startup2.png".) The screen images in Startup1 are dark blue, while the images in Startup2 are bright and clear; also, in Startup1 the drawer in the lower half of the graphic is open, while in Startup2 it is closed. Opera combines parts of these images to create the startup dialog.

What this means is: unlike the splash screen, which you can make larger or smaller as you see it, you must match your startup1 and startup2 images to the size of Opera's graphics.

Composer gives you a choice of languages your custom version can support. If you select more than one language, your user will see a list of available languages and be given an opportunity to select one. Bear in mind, selecting a large number of languages will cause your custom version of the browser to swell considerably, since each language has its own executable file (the "opera.exe" file that is Opera's brain, as it were). Including three languages will swell the installer to almost 10 megabytes, even before you add Java support.

But when you install your custom browser, only the executable required for the language you choose will be installed, so Opera will never tie up additional resources with components you don't need.

Opera is more than a browser; it includes additional components for e-mail, instant messaging, and newsreading. You can selectively enable and disable these components here. For example, if you're developing a browser for use within your company, you may have a use for e-mail, but not instant messaging or newsreading.

When you remove the newsreader, mail client, and instant messaging utility, these options vanish from the main menu and the Hotlist.

MDI
This is Opera's classic mode. New documents appear within Opera's workspace in much the same way that documents in a word processor appear in child windows within a workspace. This mode has the advantage that new documents don't clutter up the user's taskbar, and everything related to the Web (Web documents, e-mail folders and messages) are contained within Opera.

SDI -- with page bar
This is Opera's new page-tab mode. New documents and e-mail folders appear in separate windows, each with its own button on the taskbar. However, Web documents can be grouped into pages within an individual window, and your user can switch between them using the pagebar. This has the advantage that it minimizes taskbar clutter and permits the user to close groups of related documents by closing a single window, without shutting down the whole browser.

SDI -- without page bar
This is Opera's pure SDI or single-document interface mode. In this case, Opera places each new document in its own window, each of which has a button on the Windows taskbar. This has the advantage that Opera functions similar to other browsers; if your users are switching over from Netscape or Internet Explorer, they may find themselves most comfortable in this mode.

The contacts list contains names and addresses of users, including e-mail addresses. You can configure your own contacts list using Opera. Save your contacts list, then upload it to Composer. If you're developing an in-house version of Opera, you could include the names and e-mail addresses of employees within your company, and even important clients.

You can create your own customized bookmarks list. To do so, save the current bookmarks list under a new name, then selectively edit it as you see fit. For an in-house version of Opera, you could include Web sites relating to your company, plus client Web sites.

Opera 6 permits you to add custom panels to the hotlist column. You can find some sample panels at http://my.opera.com/. If you create your own, bear these points in mind:

• The hotlist panel content must be located somewhere on the Internet (perhaps at your company's Web site). You cannot upload an HTML document to serve as a hotlist panel at this time.
• Take into account the limitations of the Hotlist panel window. The window is essentially a very small browser window. You can display anything here that can be displayed in a document window -- but the operative word here is "small". Make your panel content fit within the confines of the Hotlist space.
• Don't include large graphics, and avoid including a large number of links (those are better off in the bookmarks list anyway). You could use a Hotlist panel for regularly updated information, for example -- a simple company news service, for example.
• Standard HTML links will cause new documents to appear in the Hotlist pane. If you want new documents to open in new windows, make your links like this: <a href="link.html" target="_blank">Click here></a> Or, even better, place <BASE TARGET="_blank"> at the beginning of your document; this will cause all links to open new windows.

When you set up your extra buttons, you must include the following information:

• File
  This is the name of the image file you wish to use. It may be something like "special.png" or "mybutton1.gif". In the example at left, the folder icon above "Opera" was created from the image file.

• Title
  The name of the button as it will appear within the button itself. In the image at left, the word "Opera" beneath the icon is the title.

• Link
  This is the address of the site you wish to open when the user selects your button. It must be of the form "http://www.opera.com" or (if it refers to a location on your hard drive or network) "file://f:/public/updates.htm".

• Tooltip
  This is the text that appears when you hover your mouse pointer over the button. In the example at right, the yellow block marked "Opera Software" is the tooltip.

If you configure Opera for dial-up networking, the user will be prompted for a user name and password the first time he or she attempts to connect.