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Network latency improvements, Microdata and QRESYNC
Hello!
My name is Ramūnas, and I'm a summer intern here at Opera HQ in Oslo. I'm in Desktop QA, doing bug testing for Windows/Mac and occasionally some Linux.
In this snapshot we have numerous Core updates and fixes, plus some very interesting mail work. I'd advise you to look through the changelog, though highlights include HTML5 Microdata work and network latency improvements on the Core side, and new QRESYNC support for Opera's mail client, M2.
For those not familiar, QRESYNC is an IMAP extension that enables you to synchronize message metadata using much less overhead. It allows clients to request all changes since the last time they were connected, instead of having to check each message for changes. Not all IMAP servers support it, but Opera's Fastmail and My Opera Mail of course lead the way. This change should be particularly welcome for users on capped or slow connections.
This build also contains improvements to the database backends used in Opera's mail client, M2. They will now create less fragmented files, allowing for faster writing and retrieving of data (though this does not apply to upgraded mail profiles).
Note: Due to changes in the mail storage format you cannot downgrade after your mail profile has been updated by this build. Therefore, we strongly recommend you backup your profile.
One small extra point with regards to the Core network latency fixes, just to avoid confusion. You will not see any real difference testing against popular benchmarks (which focus on rendering and JavaScript performance); this kind of work is more likely to have an impact on regular "day to day" browsing. However, it can result in pages loading in half the time!
You are most likely to see a difference if you have a poor network connection and others may notice improved performance when connecting to a webserver hosted on another continent.
As always, let us know what you think and any new issues you encounter.
WARNING: This is a development snapshot: It contains the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes, and data loss situations. In fact, it may not work at all.
Download
My name is Ramūnas, and I'm a summer intern here at Opera HQ in Oslo. I'm in Desktop QA, doing bug testing for Windows/Mac and occasionally some Linux.
In this snapshot we have numerous Core updates and fixes, plus some very interesting mail work. I'd advise you to look through the changelog, though highlights include HTML5 Microdata work and network latency improvements on the Core side, and new QRESYNC support for Opera's mail client, M2.
For those not familiar, QRESYNC is an IMAP extension that enables you to synchronize message metadata using much less overhead. It allows clients to request all changes since the last time they were connected, instead of having to check each message for changes. Not all IMAP servers support it, but Opera's Fastmail and My Opera Mail of course lead the way. This change should be particularly welcome for users on capped or slow connections.
This build also contains improvements to the database backends used in Opera's mail client, M2. They will now create less fragmented files, allowing for faster writing and retrieving of data (though this does not apply to upgraded mail profiles).
Note: Due to changes in the mail storage format you cannot downgrade after your mail profile has been updated by this build. Therefore, we strongly recommend you backup your profile.
One small extra point with regards to the Core network latency fixes, just to avoid confusion. You will not see any real difference testing against popular benchmarks (which focus on rendering and JavaScript performance); this kind of work is more likely to have an impact on regular "day to day" browsing. However, it can result in pages loading in half the time!
As always, let us know what you think and any new issues you encounter.
WARNING: This is a development snapshot: It contains the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes, and data loss situations. In fact, it may not work at all.
Download
Changelog
Core
- Network performance improvements - for high latency connections
- CORE-37823 (Very slow redraw of elements added by a bookmarklet)
- CORE-39445 (text-overflow: ellipsis doesn't fontswitch if font lacks full stop glyph)
- CORE-35923 (NPAPI Missing support for ClearSiteData): This allows Flash (and other plug-in) data to be cleared
- CORE-39378 (Change event does not fire when clicking label associated with checkbox)
- CORE-39462 (href of a link element is empty when the href is the document URL)
- CORE-37519 (string.replace with number reference returns a wrong string)
- CORE-28884 (Inset box-shadow for <input>)
- CORE-36758 (background-origin ignored in extra-ordinary conditions)
- CORE-33027 (Inconsistent handling of EOF, in CSS <color>, between the CSS parser and the <canvas> color parser)
- CORE-39163 (Update HTMLInputElement.stepUp()/stepDown())
- CORE-7579 (maxlength attribute of input element ignored if set to zero)
- CORE-35076 (HTML5 Forms: type=url, email incorrectly wider than type=text)
- CORE-39532 (Optimize the (source-)over filter)
- CORE-36783 (Spaces disappear when text in rich text editor is made bold (TinyMCE, Evernote.com))
- CORE-32992 (Opera not rending Lightbox properly - reading computed overflow on display:none div returns unexpected 'visible')
- CORE-38509 (It's possible to scroll overflow container with overflow: hidden using spatnav)
- CORE-24647 (Fixed-positioned boxes incorrectly creates a new stacking context)
- CORE-32455 (Plus sign allows text wrap on bild.de)
- CORE-25622 (HTML5 microdata): Not complete on Mac and Linux/FreeBSD
- CORE-40018 (Crash when accessing expert.no)
- CORE-40159 (http://jsfiddle.net ceased to function)
- Further crash fixes
Desktop
- DSK-343044 (Video preload can freeze Opera)
- Added support for QRESYNC - efficient IMAP sync
- DSK-333904 (Grouped journaling + fragmentation fixes)
- DSK-338715 (Occasional Crash on marking e-mail messages as 'Not Spam')
- DSK-340672 (Mail in IMAP sent folder not marked as sent)
- DSK-324277 (Different mail tabs turn the same when Opera restarted)
Windows
- DSK-342555 (Opera crashes when you right click Opera on the Taskbar)
Linux/FreeBSD
- Initial work towards GTK3 skinning support - no visible changes yet but look out for regressions in GTK2 support
Readers' comments
Comments left by My Opera members under the original post: the first 50, as archived.
About this article
| Published in | Desktop Team blog |
|---|---|
| Date | July 27, 2011 |
| Author | Ramūnas |
| Tags | wahoo, qresync, microdata, html5, latency, performance |
| Original | Internet Archive |
Obese MauriceObeseMaurice27. July 2011, 14:16
Edit: When I'm trying to download this snapshot, Opera crashes instantly when I click the "save" button.
Win7 x64.
Spadar ShutSpShut27. July 2011, 14:18
CORE-40159 (http://jsfiddle.net ceased to function)
Olegxlol27. July 2011, 14:21
Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:
and WinXP
czeci27. July 2011, 14:22
Obese MauriceObeseMaurice27. July 2011, 14:24
Originally posted by czeci:
Confirmed. All snapshots, not only this one.
eini27. July 2011, 14:25
Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:
Confirmed on XP-SP3. Had to use the stable to download.
Edit: Same with the new snapshot.
Obese MauriceObeseMaurice27. July 2011, 14:30
Originally posted by eini:
+1
MountainAsh27. July 2011, 14:31
By the way, this new build still has the same problem on crashing while trying to download.
Oh, and Go Lithuania!
Teal_One27. July 2011, 14:32
Originally posted by eini:
+1
RamūnasRamunas27. July 2011, 14:34
Swapnil99pro27. July 2011, 14:36
Ruarí Ødegaardruario27. July 2011, 14:43
BS-Harou27. July 2011, 14:49
vilpapa27. July 2011, 14:51
When done that-be in your mail client and rss visited links are highlighted, as it was before?
appleboy1527. July 2011, 14:53
http://py.qq.com/
...
Updated too slow.
hurug27. July 2011, 14:55
Владимир Назаровirdose727. July 2011, 14:55
exzentrik27. July 2011, 14:55
hylik27. July 2011, 14:56
Originally posted by MountainAsh:
still some crash as I click on Save in "Save As" dialog box!
winxpsp3
earth0127. July 2011, 15:00
Originally posted by Ramunas:
Value at opera:config#Network|HTTPLoadingDelayedTimeout is set at 30 seconds.For slow connections (EDGE for example), 300 seconds would be appreciated as default.
timmi27. July 2011, 15:03
That means for Opera 12 there is a new mail profile needed for getting this improvement? Also exporting mails and importing it again?
Alexeyalex-shpak27. July 2011, 15:18
Originally posted by Ramunas:
Does it mean Opera Turbo will be even faster? Cool, Moving out to the land of a 2.5G Internet for testing!Jamie Eppersonne08127. July 2011, 15:24
minho27. July 2011, 15:32
Use the newly created shortcut to open the news reader
Change to any other tab
Put the mouse pointer over the tab of the news reader, no thumbnail appears
Click on news reader tab
Result: Opera crashes
Confirm?
win 7 pro sp1 x64
Martin RauscherHades3227. July 2011, 15:33
What option toggles the clearing of Flash cookies now?Edit: Never mind, there is a nice new "delete plugin data"
pchidamb27. July 2011, 15:37
http://code.google.com/p/gerrit/issues/detail?id=878
Daniel HendrycksDanielHendrycks27. July 2011, 15:38
Pallab DeIndyan27. July 2011, 15:38
My name is Ramūnas, and I speak greek".
FTFY
minho27. July 2011, 15:46
shuperkiwi27. July 2011, 15:49
Christophchristoph14227. July 2011, 15:51
(311 +7 with websockets enabled)
together with the HTML5-Parser out of the labs build Opera 12 will ROCK!!!
Love it
Asires27. July 2011, 16:06
highstream27. July 2011, 16:07
Rafael Novaski rnovaski27. July 2011, 16:24
EricJH27. July 2011, 16:28
Could you elaborate on the network improvements? On where technically are the changes.
earth0127. July 2011, 16:32
Obese MauriceObeseMaurice27. July 2011, 16:50
Matheusnom4d3br27. July 2011, 16:51
Deathamns27. July 2011, 17:00
Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:
Mask as Firefox...UnknownFactor27. July 2011, 17:02
MorpheusMorpheusNS27. July 2011, 17:06
Windows 7 x64
Joonas Lehtolahtigodjonez27. July 2011, 17:26
tisazalay27. July 2011, 17:35
12.00 1033 pre-alpha W7 64bit SP1
ClashCityRockerclashcityrocker27. July 2011, 17:40
Reverting to previous build, and a new profile setup the exact same way, and everything works correctly again.
Known issue?
Reported as: DSK-343451
gyeben27. July 2011, 17:42
tisazalay27. July 2011, 17:42
Originally posted by ne081:
My guess is NO, because bugs fixed in the labs version are still present in this version, ie. the double Ctrl-T leaves you without a search box until you hover a navigation button, most of the cosmetic bugs (The funny dancing "+" sign and a few others are still in this snapshot).
The labs build still "feels" more solid for me and the memory consumption as you stated is much better in the labs build (try stand alone the labs build with the same pages open and you'll see what I mean).
Joelspadija27. July 2011, 17:49
VarunVarunM27. July 2011, 17:54
Originally posted by ObeseMaurice:
This happens at numerous locations for various downloads BUT its not consistent, it happens occasionally and sometimes everything seems fine.
Can't seem to reproduce it on que.
If this is true, for me Opera 12 is worth it just for this alone.
I have some 10000+ fragmented files in my Opera installation folder,
all of mail/feeds that i have.
Jordan TrillesCristallix27. July 2011, 18:34
Charlie ClarkMuzzlehatch27. July 2011, 19:00