Opera Gains Extensions and Joins IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome in Web Dev War

by Cameron Sturdevant

Extensions add functional elements to browsers and Opera hopes to catch up with the browser pack with this feature addition.

Here you see a simple “hello world” button in the Windows task bar.

The “hello world” button popped up in the upper right corner of the browser window in this simple demonstration.

Extensions go beyond Opera Widgets in that extensions are standards-based.

Controlling private data is still buried deep in the menu layers of Opera 11 alpha.

Opera extensions are available today for the version 11 alpha.

The test version of Opera 11 alpha hosts developer tools and community sites to assist with extension creation and troubleshooting.

Developers can keep pace with Opera 11 news using community forums and social-networking tools.