Opera hits back at IE9 with 11.10 Barracuda browser beta

Opera has attempted to take some of the shine off of the release of Microsoft's IE9 browser with the launch in beta of its own update, codenamed Barracuda.

Opera 11.10 is available now for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. The release includes improvements to Opera staples like the Speed Dial tool for browsing between bookmarked sites.

Importantly for power users, the number of possible dials has been extended, meaning that browsers can add quick links to any number of their favourite pages.

The focus on improving desktop usability, which has already driven the browser's share up, will continue going forwards, according to the firm.

"In 2011, Opera will have a relentless focus on desktop," said Jan Standal, vice president of desktop products at Opera Software.

"Barracuda is our first release in the new year and shows off some of our freshest ideas to make your browsing easier. If you are already an Opera fan, you will appreciate the polish we added to Speed Dial."

Plug-in support has also been increased, particularly when running Flash, and the firm explained that rather than interrupt browsing with a download prompt, the browser would download and install it in the background.

Web developers have not been overlooked and Opera has added support for CSS3 multi-column layouts as well as the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) and Google's WebP image protocol.

Opera's Dragonfly debugging tool is also available in the beta, and since this is the most recent browser release its code checking features can be viewed by right clicking on a page element.