Opera 12 - Instant Makeover

June 14, 2012 · by Aleksander Aas

Good things come to those who wait. We are happy to announce that Opera 12 is finally here! This brand-spanking-new version of Opera is packed with themes and a multitude of other cool features to play around with. Get it now, fresh and tasty from our download servers!

Instant Makeover

With Themes, making Opera your own has never been easier. We have over 350 themes already, handily collected in our Themes Catalog. Want to see some of our top picks? It was hard to choose, but we put a few favorites on our download page as well, so no more excuses to bump along in a plain vanilla browser. Get ready to tour the internet in style!

Way faster and more stable than ever

64-bit support means that Opera is able to use your processor in a better way. The benefit for you is faster page loading, improved startup time and a better overall Opera experience. Another benefit is something called Out-of-Process Plug-ins. This makes plug-ins (such as Flash) run separate from Opera, so if any plugin crashes, Opera remains stable.

Updated address field Opera 12

We have done a ton of updates to our address bar. The new drop-down suggestions should help you find exactly what you are looking for, the first time around. URL shortening in the address field is also a lot smarter. It will even show you page titles and a small page excerpt when searching!

Video on YouTube

Put yourself in the picture

Do you have a web cam on your computer? One of the coolest things Opera 12 can do is access your camera, letting websites snap a picture of you. The next time you need to set a profile picture of yourself, you don't have to bother uploading a picture from somewhere else - let Opera 12 do it instead! To see it in action, try updating your My Opera profile picture! Other exciting demos are available from our developer relations team on their new site Shiny Demos!

Full speed ahead

Hardware acceleration allows Opera 12 to render graphics using your graphics card (GPU). This makes animations and other graphics-intensive operations a lot faster. Note that this feature is disabled by default, so in order to use it you need to set EnableHardwareAcceleration to 1 in your Opera:Config. WebGL can be enabled by setting EnableWebGL to 1 as well.

More features

To see all the changes check out our latest change logs.

Support for the Do Not Track header
CSS3 Animations and Transitions
HTML5 Drag and Drop
Support for CORS — not the beer, but rather Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
Right-to-Left (RTL) Script Support Added
Improved language support (Persian, Urdu, Hebrew, and Arabic).
Window and Tabs API

Readers' comments 108

Left under the original article, as archived.

AbhinavThursday, June 14, 2012 6:38:41 AM
PfelelepThursday, June 14, 2012 6:49:07 AM
ahhhhhh good things come for those who can wait
Barraco Mármol JerónimoThursday, June 14, 2012 6:56:20 AM
OPERA 12 already! yeah!
KenspoaThursday, June 14, 2012 7:10:04 AM
I just can't find that where to EnableHardwareAcceleration
KarenThursday, June 14, 2012 7:17:38 AM
You guys rule!
Francesco De DomenicoThursday, June 14, 2012 7:27:14 AM
And consider to solve all the UI problems:
http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=1425952

* - 1px border for the content pane in Windows
* - Opera button on linux should have a border
* - Default theme on windows produce, when the windows is maximized, a 3px gap from the top of the screen for the close maximize and minimize buttons.
BlueFalconThursday, June 14, 2012 7:45:32 AM
Nice, I been waiting for this, Go Opera!!!
EddyThursday, June 14, 2012 7:59:09 AM
¡¡Qué buena noticia!! Al fin llegó Opera 12. Me encanta.
h0mayunThursday, June 14, 2012 8:05:15 AM
thanks
is there anyway to upgrade from x86 to 64 bit?
h0mayunThursday, June 14, 2012 8:06:38 AM
Originally posted by kenspoa:

I just can't find that where to EnableHardwareAcceleration

just open opera:config and search for hardware you'll find it
schemestromThursday, June 14, 2012 8:13:54 AM
Won't upgrade, touch support is worse than ever.
Dragging ("Scroll is Pan" enabled) somewhere one a page will nearly always open another one, as accidentally grabbing a link or image is very likely. And as far as I can see there isn't even a way to stop this. Unbelievable.
AndreiThursday, June 14, 2012 8:16:27 AM
I bet Odd & Even could beat the potato at twice the speed they did before, with Opera 12
h0mayunThursday, June 14, 2012 8:27:28 AM
first BUG
Persian and perhaps Arabian characters do not display properly
please fix it or tell me how to do that
the characters do not stick to each other and there is space between them
here is the example from google reader

http://i.imgur.com/OGuCB.jpg
h0mayunThursday, June 14, 2012 9:07:21 AM
Downgraded to 11.64 until you fix persian language:bomb:
Nicolas MendozaThursday, June 14, 2012 9:17:15 AM
The link to "Enable WebGL" is missing a space!
Filip TanchevThursday, June 14, 2012 10:12:08 AM
Just tested YouTube and with WebGL and hardware acceleration. Results are is horrible. I can see why they are not active by default, but come one guys, I know you can do better. This is the first time form when I started using Opera (around 10 years ago) and a release of a new version is not changing the way I browse the web

The 64 support might do some changes but nothing that I can sense so far.

Please don't fall into the trap where Chrome is - a ton of new versions and nothing new.

Going to do some test now. Pls pls pls pls pls pls pls don't disappoint me
vas ilioThursday, June 14, 2012 10:13:46 AM
God! i love it!. I have to admit that it is even more faster than the previous opera 11.64
Keep up. OPERAAAAAA
D1sasterp1eceThursday, June 14, 2012 10:20:06 AM
The Themes page often gives a 502: Bad gateway, I guess it's because of a heavy load right now...
Other than that, I don't like how themes look like: on XP, some new, Vista/7-ish caption buttons are forced onto the skin - I'd rather keep my theme's buttons.
Dionysis ZindrosThursday, June 14, 2012 10:22:14 AM
Please enable WebGL by default, like Firefox and Chrome are doing. It is unacceptable to require users to enable it manually. That's the whole point of making it a native browser technology from a developer's point of view. Otherwise we can just ask our users to install Unity.

Thanks!
MoriThursday, June 14, 2012 10:22:46 AM
Thank you for making a 64-bit browser for Windows (7). I´ve been waiting for this. And Opera 12 feels truly fast too.
Alexodius PrimeThursday, June 14, 2012 11:27:30 AM
Awesome! Let's celebrate!
NitroadanThursday, June 14, 2012 12:36:53 PM
Buenísimo, Gracias a todo el equipo por este Opera 12 recien salido del horno.....
Felicitaciones....

Adan from Argentina

Pd: A seguir recomendando Opera #Opera12 - I like Opera.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Pd2: UK Government , respete las resoluciones de la ONU! #MalvinasArgentina

Great, thanks to whole team for this Opera 12 freshly baked .....
Congratulations ....

Adam from Argentina

Pd: To continue recommend Opera #Opera12 - I like Opera.
___________________________________________________________________
Pd2: UK Government, respect the UN resolutions! #MalvinasArgentina
StormThursday, June 14, 2012 1:15:48 PM
Awesome!!! Thank you very much for 64 bit release
Charles SchlossThursday, June 14, 2012 1:35:06 PM
A little Opera 12 Goes A Long Way
Fathima Rifqa GhaffarThursday, June 14, 2012 4:15:49 PM
Jeff ™Thursday, June 14, 2012 4:38:32 PM
JoelThursday, June 14, 2012 4:58:18 PM
Finally Opera 12 , it has a pretty cool updates
leviathan0999Thursday, June 14, 2012 5:10:23 PM
Upgraded to Opera 12, and lost an all-important feature, favicos in the tabs, which helped me keep straight what was where.

Any chance of a fix?
random414Thursday, June 14, 2012 5:37:50 PM
Great!

Congrats for the release!

PS: Why no new posts on GOOGLE+? https://plus.google.com/u/0/106303841988408974064/posts
Mrs.DiThursday, June 14, 2012 5:46:05 PM
My initial usage of Opera 11 began last year of 2011;and, really found its origins well.'refreshing' and worth 'let t'us give it a whirl! So, the fiscal year of 2012 finds us with the Opera 12 Upgrade! Overall, results have been 'beautiful,expansion @ long last'! My thank you for 'pioneering-on' with Opera 12! All my hiking gear,apparatus are lined-up;and, we are ascending with all our fellow Opera users! Congrats! Always,Di:knight:
Michal HavelkaThursday, June 14, 2012 6:00:18 PM
Great I like it!
josman93Thursday, June 14, 2012 6:41:23 PM
Me gusta esta nueva version lo estaba esperando desde hace meses, lo instale hace unos instantes y la verdad esta bueno, gracias opera sigan innovando ahora les escribo desde mi opera mini 7
rupesh chandrakant sarita surveThursday, June 14, 2012 9:54:26 PM
waiting for it , desperately ! ! !
finally it comes now ! !
cant stop my self from installing it !
rupesh chandrakant sarita surveThursday, June 14, 2012 10:27:07 PM
how can I get all my extensions , on opera 11.64 to opera12.
or am i require to install all apps again ! ! !
can any expert answer me ! !
merlin!Thursday, June 14, 2012 10:54:30 PM
Great, only why does it take so long for Opera to update the Mac App Store version?
J.R. RaithThursday, June 14, 2012 11:00:33 PM
I started using Opera with ver. 5. I stopped around version 10 or 11 (I can't recall which) when Opera lost the ability to close the last tab with a mouse gesture. I'm sad to see that Opera 12 still has this frustrating behavior, and I'll continue to not use Opera.

I really don't understand why closing the last tab with a gesture *must* send a user to the Speed Dial page. It didn't used to do this. It's inconsistent with the rest of the behavior of the close gesture and, if you ask me, defeats the purpose of the gesture in the first place. "Sure, you can close any window you want, just so long as you don't close Opera! We can't have that!"

Frustrating and inconsistent. I'll stick to Chrome coupled with StrokeIt...

Congratulations on the new release Opera. I'll still cheer for you even if I won't still use you...
rupesh chandrakant sarita surveFriday, June 15, 2012 12:35:49 AM
there is no point in mr j r raith 's , issue , ,
because , speed dial is your basic window feature, , some other browser (no need to mension) dont even give speed dial page facility ! !
opera is the best of all ! ! ! !
Phillip Robert O'ConnerFriday, June 15, 2012 1:34:51 AM
Finally,I Got Opera 12 And This A One Heck OF A UPdate.It Like Marry 2 Fox With Style.
Dotan CohenFriday, June 15, 2012 6:37:29 AM
Please Opera, implement Tree Style Tabs:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/

That feature is the only thing keeping me on the terrible-but-improving Firefox.
TanelFriday, June 15, 2012 7:08:23 AM
Love the new opera:cpu feature. Has helped me to track down and kill of a few incredibly resource-heavy extensions already.
Sami SerolaFriday, June 15, 2012 7:35:30 AM
PerjanFriday, June 15, 2012 8:11:47 AM
Upgrade for Windows doesn't work very smoothly. I couldn't select 64 bit using the auto update, and when I tried to install it manually it said it would upgrade but it just installed a new copy and didn't import any of the old data or settings.

Also I don't know which one to uninstall, because both versions have exactly the same data in the Windows uninstall list.
Mark StewardFriday, June 15, 2012 9:29:32 AM
NICE AND BEATYFUL BROWSER OPERA COOL AND LOL
cheechesFriday, June 15, 2012 10:44:03 AM
Opera has massive problems of various type. no seriously this is deeply annoying for me.

1. It messes around with the standard email client software settings of windows
2. the new themes are slow as hell if you move the browser around your desktop
3. The update version of windows only installs the 32 bit version
4. at every reinstall / uninstallation it messes again with the standard email client
5. no fuxking support email at all.. a forum in which nobody answers

i have been using opera for so long now, but this is just a total mess and i cant tell why so many people think opera 12 is a good release. it isnt. there are so many issues and problems which are not fixed, even tho the transparency bug is there for over a year? a freaking year ffs... i have had much patients but sorry, i move on to another browser and community like many others did as well.

yea opera is fast, every browser is fast on a modern machine, there are only a few exceptions.

6. 9gag? 9fag in your "make it yours" video? are you serious?!
RunninglVlanFriday, June 15, 2012 11:42:08 AM
I hope my post will be read by developer team behind Opera.
I have a problem that I had in previous version of Opera
- the font size when composing gmail message is too small. In the current version it isn't fixed, so I used some workaround to fix it myself.
There is also one more problem with iTunes links
- they are not working at all in the current version of Opera. I tried to find a way to fix it, but failed. When I try to open a link, Opera tells me that there is No registered application for this extension.
And I found a new bug with Bookmarks Bar that I use a lot
- Right Mouse Button isn't working on Bookmarks that are located in Folders. Before now I used Bookmarks Bar so often, I saved there some temporary bookmarks to check later, it was so convenient. And now I can't edit nor delete these bookmarks right from the Bookmarks Bar. It's so frustrating.
Yeah, and one more thing. Speak function doesn't work for me anymore. Previously after the fresh install I'd have to install some files (required for Opera reading texts for me) after choosing this function. Now when I press Speak function nothing happens.

P.S.: Just checked - RMB isn't working in Bookmarks Button in Start Bar too. So it really is a bug if this is about Bookmarks, not only Bookmarks Bar =) Hope it will be fixed soon.
cheechesFriday, June 15, 2012 11:54:53 AM
Originally posted by frankdd89:

And consider to solve all the UI problems:
http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=1425952

* - http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4300/winaeroborder.png]1px border for the content pane in Windows
* - http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9050/borderlinux.png]Opera button on linux should have a border
* - http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/8558/borderdf.png]Default theme on windows produce, when the windows is maximized, a 3px gap from the top of the screen for the close maximize and minimize buttons.

Originally posted by h0mayun:

first BUG
Persian and perhaps Arabian characters do not display properly
please fix it or tell me how to do that
the characters do not stick to each other and there is space between them
here is the example from google reader

http://i.imgur.com/OGuCB.jpg

Originally posted by cheeches:

Opera has massive problems of various type. no seriously this is deeply annoying for me.

1. It messes around with the standard email client software settings of windows
2. the new themes are slow as hell if you move the browser around your desktop
3. The update version of windows only installs the 32 bit version
4. at every reinstall / uninstallation it messes again with the standard email client
5. no fuxking support email at all.. a forum in which nobody answers

i have been using opera for so long now, but this is just a total mess and i cant tell why so many people think opera 12 is a good release. it isnt. there are so many issues and problems which are not fixed, even tho the transparency bug is there for over a year? a freaking year ffs... i have had much patients but sorry, i move on to another browser and community like many others did as well.

yea opera is fast, every browser is fast on a modern machine, there are only a few exceptions.

6. 9gag? 9fag in your "make it yours" video? are you serious?!

Originally posted by RedCapShortCut:
I hope my post will be read by developer team behind Opera. I have a problem that I had in previous version of Opera
- the font size when composing gmail message is too small. In the current version it isn't fixed, so I used some workaround to fix it myself.
There is also one more problem with iTunes links
- they are not working at all in the current version of Opera. I tried to find a way to fix it, but failed. When I try to open a link, Opera tells me that there is No registered application for this extension.
And I found a new bug with Bookmarks Bar that I use a lot
- Right Mouse Button isn't working on Bookmarks that are located in Folders. Before now I used Bookmarks Bar so often, I saved there some temporary bookmarks to check later, it was so convenient. And now I can't edit nor delete these bookmarks right from the Bookmarks Bar. It's so frustrating.
The ones saying Opera is great an the best are not really into Browser right? This problems have been found a second after the final release of Opera 12 and you cant even send an email to the dev team, because, surprise surprise, they dont have anything but an empty forum for you to message someome

I uninstalled Opera 12 right a second after a fresh clean install and downloaded the first firefox after 5 years. the bugs get worse from release to release
SmrtokvitekFriday, June 15, 2012 12:11:43 PM
Well I don't like it at all. Sorry but who cares about fancy themes? The worst thing is that you changed the way page icons are shown on tabs. Now I have like about 75 pages opened but I can't see any icon so I'm not able to find the page I want and I have to click on tabs and find the right one. I've been using Opera since v8.54 and almost every new "whole number" version is disappointment for me.
RunninglVlanFriday, June 15, 2012 2:47:50 PM
Originally posted by RedCapShortCut:

Yeah, and one more thing. Speak function doesn't work for me anymore. Previously after the fresh install I'd have to install some files (required for Opera reading texts for me) after choosing this function. Now when I press Speak function nothing happens.

I heard that Speak function will be removed soon (http://www.opera.com/support/usingopera/operaini/), but it doesn't explain why this function still is located in RMB menu. =)
Veronica A ZapataFriday, June 15, 2012 2:53:57 PM
love it
Veronica A ZapataFriday, June 15, 2012 2:58:24 PM
i will always love opera the change is great