Extensions just got a whole lot cooler

May 3, 2011 · by Arnstein Teigene

Boom! Just like that and Opera is again breaking new ground: you can now install extensions in your speed dial:)

Opera have just released Opera 11.50 Alpha which introduces extension support in speed dial. Please note that this is an unstable, early build which purpose is to collect feedback on the new functionality.

We already have a couple of examples for you to try out in the extension catalog. Note: you need to be using Opera 11.50 in order to see the speed dial extensions in the catalog.

How to create extensions for speed dial

We want developers to take this for a spin, that's the purpose of this release. If you're ready to get your hands dirty, head over to http://dev.opera.com for information on how to create speed dial extensions.

For convenience, here's the short version:

1. Create a config.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<widget xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" id="http://example.com/mySDExtension" defaultlocale="en" viewmodes="minimized">
  <name>My Extension</name>
  <description>This is an example Speed Dial extension.</description>
  <author>Joe Blogs</author>
  <icon src="images/icon_64.png"/>
  <feature name="opera:speeddial" required="true">
    <param name="url" value="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time"/>
  </feature>
</widget>

Notice the feature element including param inside it. You also have to include viewmodes="minimized" and an id.

2. Create an index.html file

This file will appear in your speed dial.

If you want to change which page to open when the user clicks on the speed dial you can do this using JavaScript (inside the index.html file):

if (opera.contexts.speeddial) {
  var sd = opera.contexts.speeddial; 
  sd.title = "My title";
  sd.url = "mypage.html"; 
}

In the above example the page mypage.html included inside the extension will be opened.

3. Zip up the files and rename the ZIP file to contain an .oex file suffix

You should end up with something like: myExtension.oex. Do not include the parent directory when archiving the files.

Now go put the kettle on. You deserve a cup of tea.

Readers' comments 12

Left under the original article, as archived.

SaskatchewanTuesday, May 3, 2011 8:57:10 AM
Originally posted by Spirobind:

Note: you need to be using Opera 11.50 in order to see the speed dial extensions in the catalog.
When are you going to fix it? I.e. when I was reading some articles (in Opera 10.63) about new extensions, all I got after clicking links was 404 error page. Error message should tell the user what is a real problem.
TamilTuesday, May 3, 2011 10:41:11 AM
Meno Di ZeroTuesday, May 3, 2011 11:46:49 AM
It seems that the "how to create speed dial extensions" link is to a non-public server, devrel.oslo.osa something.
Mağruf ÇolakoğluTuesday, May 3, 2011 2:00:05 PM
NimeshTuesday, May 3, 2011 3:23:21 PM
Arnstein TeigeneTuesday, May 3, 2011 3:43:07 PM
@Meno Di Zero: fixed:)

@Saskatchewan: we're looking into it.
d4rkn1ghtTuesday, May 3, 2011 7:22:40 PM
Anton DiazTuesday, May 3, 2011 7:33:31 PM
typo:

</feature>>
Miles DavisWednesday, May 4, 2011 7:26:36 PM
Rafael LuikWednesday, May 4, 2011 7:46:20 PM
What the API really needs to get is access to add context menu commands...
任毅Sunday, May 8, 2011 2:10:58 AM
。。。。。
Johnny GameTuesday, May 10, 2011 9:16:06 PM