Opera with extensions: Now can it replace Firefox?

Extensions to what extent

If you're wondering how an extension written purely using Web page languages like CSS can significantly change the browser, the answer is. . . they can't, at least not yet. Like a Google Chrome extension, an Opera 11 extension (at least at this stage) is essentially the next granular step in evolution from UserJS. In fact, the first few extensions released by Opera Software last week include several that don't actually change the browser itself all that much, but instead add functionality to certain pages. One very simple extension called the Opera Configurator does add an options button (with a familiar looking wrench icon) to the main toolbar just to the right of the Search box. Clicking here brings up the contents of the opera:config page, which also answers to that name from the Address box; it's already a very well-designed and useful all-in-one preferences page, but this extension places it where it belongs to begin with.

But the FastestTube extension (already well-known to Firefox users) doesn't make changes to the browser; rather, it adds a "Download" button (and a not-so-obvious one at that) to YouTube pages, letting you dump copies of Flash videos to disk for running independently or transferring to mobile devices.

Chrome extensions typically add a single button to its toolbar as a matter of course; with Opera 11, extensions don't require a button, but can add one programmatically. By including a reference to a background.js file in what's essentially a slightly modified UserJS add-on for Opera, an opera object is created. To this object, user-created JavaScript code can attach methods that create buttons and their associated pop-up menus to a safe Opera 11 toolbar. Another type of gadget which may accompany a button is a badge, whose principal job is to serve as a kind of label for the button - for example, for an e-mail-reading extension, to display the current number of unread messages.

"An extension is allowed to place one button on the Opera toolbar, to the right of the search field," reads early documentation by Opera developer David Storey. "This button can include an 18x18 pixel icon, a tooltip (displayed on hover), a status badge, and a popup overlay."

JavaScript events in the extension code can be geared to respond to user events pertaining to the button. For now, as early documentation shows, the browser can be triggered to respond to these events by bringing up a new tab (the container for a Web page) or a new window (the container for tabs).

So in sticking with the W3C's established standards for widgets, Opera 11 doesn't yet venture into the level of browser transformation that Firefox employs with XUL. This is Mozilla's XML-based implementation of a language for setting up front-ends for Firefox extensions, almost a counterpart for Microsoft's XAML. Indeed, the front end for Firefox itself is described using XUL; so Firefox extensions are enabled limited, yet direct, access to the interface elements that Mozilla originally called chrome. So Firefox extensions can change Firefox itself; for example, its All-in-One Toolbar (inspired by Opera) is made feasible by XUL, as well as Colorful Tabs, which enables multiple rows of open tabs to be color coded, either randomly or by their base URL.

It's evident, even at this early stage, that Opera 11 will not enable its extensions developers to remodel the browser that deeply. "We take this as a first step into extensions, and we're sort of opening the door a little bit, but we're just making sure that we've got the right gatekeeping in place so we don't compromise security and speed," said Teigene. "When we have an extension installed in Opera, a lot of our design choices have been to try to minimize the footprint without compromising the functionality of it."

One immediate benefit of Opera's more conservative choice may be in the security department. The context of an Opera extension doesn't really change from that of a UserJS script, which means that while there are several popular UserJS scripts that proliferate among a small community of users, the likelihood or the incentive to create malicious Opera extensions will likely be minimal.

But what about the incentive to create beneficial extensions? Almost any software around which the creation of other software centers, is a platform. Viewed from that perspective, Opera has actually been a platform for several years already. But as it moves from dipping its toes, and then its ankles, and now finally its knees into the waters of the platform development community, will Opera ever immerse itself deeply enough to enable someone out there to create the "killer app" that sells Opera as a platform?

As Opera Software's Arnstein Teigene sees it, the platform's evolution should inevitably sell Opera as the killer app: "In terms of creating the 'killer app,' Opera is known for being the most customizable browser in the world, and I think with extensions we've definitely cemented that reputation. We do have a history of making a lot of native add-ons inside our browser, because we believe that native is faster and more user-friendly. But we also believe in allowing the community to be part of this platform as well."

This article originally appeared in Net1News.

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