One of the most flaunted new features in Opera 11 is tab stacking. After being one of the pioneers of tabbed browsing, one of the most used features in any browser, Opera is stepping up its game with even more tabbing features. Tab stacking introduces users to a new way of organising their tabs by making it possible to drag and drop tabs on top of one another to create tab stacks. These can then be easily accessed via the click of a button and enables users to control a multitude of tabs much easier. If for example you have a bunch of YouTube tabs open in your browser, to reduce clutter you can simply create a stack of YouTube tabs from which to access the content.

 

Opera has also expanded its range of extensions for the new browser. Extensions are small programs that can be added to your browser to increase efficiency or user friendliness. Examples of popular Opera extensions include NoAds, an ad-blocking extension, LastPass, which helps you remember your passwords and FastestTube, a YouTube video downloader. Thousands of extensions are available for download at the Opera add-ons page.

 

Visual mouse gestures also enjoy continued support in Opera 11, making it possible to navigate between webpages with the flick of a wrist. Users can navigate backwards and forwards, open new pages, close tabs and much more by using simple intuitive gestures, bringing the touch based prowess of your smartphone to your web browser.

 

“We have always worked hard to introduce new and bold ideas in web browsing,” said Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder, Opera. “But, sometimes we want to take an idea and improve upon it. Opera 11 adds a layer of polish to features people have known and loved for more than a decade, while introducing extensions. If you have never tried Opera before, Opera 11 will change everything you know about browsing.”

 

A safer address bar is also on the books, displaying clear badges which state a site's level of security alongside one-click access to security information about the site in question. Amazingly, Opera 11 is also 30% smaller than Opera 10.60, meaning it downloads even faster than before.

 

The browser is available for free download for Windows, Mac and Linux users here.