Opera 49 will ship with a new setup option that Opera Software calls Easy Mode to customize important preferences of the browser.
Easy Mode is not an entirely new feature though, as it is an updated version of the “customize start page” feature of current release versions of the Opera browser.
The new feature is still in developed, and was launched today in the most recent Opera Developer version.
Opera Developer is the cutting edge version of the browser comparable to Firefox Nightly and Google Chrome Canary/Developer.
Opera Easy Setup mode
Easy Mode replaces the “customize start page” mode of the Opera browser. It offers more options in general, but some options have been moved elsewhere as well.
Customize start page lists only some options when you activate it: you can set a wallpaper, enable the dark theme, configure sidebar items, toggle speed dial and suggestions, and toggle the search box on the new tab page.
You can activate Easy Setup the same way that you activate customize start page. Open a new tab page in the Opera web browser and click on the settings icon in the upper right corner of the browser window.
Opera displays Easy Setup as a panel on the right. Some options remained the same: you can still switch between light and dark themes, and set a wallpaper.
But you find a lot of new options there that were not included before. You can enable the built-in adblocker, change the download location, toggle the bookmarks bar, clear browsing data, import passwords and bookmarks, and make Opera the default browser on the system.
Read also: Opera 43: faster, bookmarks export, and more
The sidebar configuration and option to toggle Speed Dial are not available anymore in the new interface. You may still configure those however. You find the option to hide Speed Dial in the Opera Settings under Browser > Start page, and options to show or hide sidebar entries by right-clicking on the sidebar.
The most “commonly accessed and modified settings” are included in Easy Setup according to Maciej Kocemba who published a post on the official Opera Desktop team blog about the new version of the browser.
It is unclear yet whether Opera Software plans to show the menu on first start automatically, or if users have to discover it on their own.
Closing Words
One of the first things that I do when I install a browser is to modify browser preferences. Easy Setup may provide others who do so too with options to quickly change some of the important preferences.
I’d still pay a visit to the full settings though, but they are linked on the Easy Setup page so it is easy to go there and make sure everything else is set up properly.
Now You: What’s your take on Easy Setup?