QuickStart Guide

Terminology

If you are new to the Internet, you might well want to read some of the basic terminology. The terminology page has explanations of a number of words and phrases you will come across while spending time working with the 'Net, be it as part of your job, in your recreational time, for a school project, or simply because you are curious - there's something for everyone here.

Alphabetical index

An alphabetical index over all the topics in this Help can be found in the alphabetical index, which is the main meat of using and navigating this Help. The index is intuitively built up, and covers all of the Help, including this page!

Keyboard shortcuts

That the Opera browser should be available for everyone that uses it is one of the most important features we emphasize here at Opera Software, and hence, we have made sure that everything that can be done in the browser by means of using the mouse is also readily available through the keyboard, which in most cases makes it even quicker to use Opera's features! What do you think of the ability to toggle graphics with one keystroke, or being able to zoom an entire Web page with the numeric keypad? See the list of keyboard shortcuts for more!

The Opera Menu Structure

The menu structure in Opera is the most important tool for making the browser act and behave the way you want it. Within the menu structure, you will find settings for configuring the Opera browser for your system; including tuning of document windows, the toolbars, history and cache, security and privacy on the Internet and bookmarks, as well as a multitude of other features - some common in Web browsers, some unique to Opera.

Menus in Opera

The menus in Opera document references all of Opera's menus and their functions. It should be used to look up features you are uncertain of, as well as for setting your Global and Window home pages, saving the Opera workspace documents for later retrieval, and opening special windows such as the cache window, the global history and the transfer window.

The Preference Menus

The preference menus are where you should go to get the most out of your Opera. The dialog itself is accessed through the "File" menu, or by pressing ALT + P, and navigating therein is easy enough, as long as you try not to get lost in the myriad of settings, options and configurations that make Opera stand out from the crowd of other browsers. Almost everything in Opera can be changed or altered by you, the user!

Dialogs in Opera

Aside from the commonly visible menus around the Opera workspace, much of the user-to-browser communication is presented to you in the shape of dialog boxes if necessary. The dialogs document has explanations and useful information on these dialog boxes, so that you should never be in doubt as to exactly what it is that Opera does when it connects to the Internet.

The Hotlists Pane

The Hotlists pane on the left-hand side of the Opera workspace is the second most important tools of Opera 5.0 are located. The Hotlists pane is opened either by pressing the corresponding button on the Button Bar, by setting "View/Hotlists" to either "Docked" or "Floating", or by pressing F4.

Bookmarks in Opera

Bookmarks are a way of maintaining a list of interesting Web sites and Web pages you like. Opera's bookmarking feature is highly customizable and very intuitive, making it one of the best bookmarking tools available. For more information about the bookmarking feature in Opera, please go to the bookmark page.

Troubleshooting Opera

Opera is an application, just like other applications, and is therefore not immune to problems normally associated with other applications, although we do try our best to make sure the Opera browser is as bug-free as possible. A number of the support requests handled by the Technical Support Department are actually not bugs at all, but simply a matter of settings, which is why the troubleshooting page is a good place to start if you are experiencing problems with your copy of Opera.

Security and Privacy

Security on the Internet is an issue that everyone should be concerned about, newcomer and longtimer all the same. The Opera browser has been claimed the most secure browser there is, and not without reason. Opera's security is plentiful:

Security in Opera

The security features of the Opera Internet browser are detailed in the security document. You will find information on encryption over the wire, about what the difference is between a private key and a public key, and instructions for installing certificates for both yourself and servers, as well as general terminology about security.

Cookies

Cookies are a great tool for both Web sites and individuals for storing information about yourself that you have provided, but they can be a grave invasion of privacy in the sense that they may contain information about your actions on the Internet. Opera gives you several ways to solve this issue, information about which can be found in the privacy section of the preference menus.