Howto run Opera in SDI mode

[author: ResearchWizard, first published on myOpera]

This page describes the settings you have to refine to use windows instead of tabs in Opera.

Applies to Opera9 (should be similar in other versions)

Necessary settings

tools > preferences > advanced > tabs > check:
[x] Open windows instead of tabs

right click on tab bar > customize > check:
[x] Show only when needed
(worse alternative: view > toolbars > uncheck: [ ] Tabbar - with the disadvantage not to see if another tab is open for some reason)

Additional settings to make it pure SDI

tools > preferences > advanced > browsing > check:
[x] Show window menu

tools > preferences > advanced > shortcuts > middle click options > check:
[x] Open in background windows

tools > preferences > advanced > tabs > check:
[x] Reuse current tab

preferences > general > startup:
Choose either Start without open tabs or Start with home page

change Shortcuts (mouse gestures and keyboard - see below)

change Menus (see below)

Mouse gestures

You can download this sdi-mouse.ini to your Opera/profile/mouse - folder and select SDI Mousegestures in tools > preferences > advanced > shortcuts > mouse setup

Or you can manually do following changes

GestureDown
from "Open link in new page | New page" to

Open link in new window | New browser window

GestureDown, GestureUp
from "Open link in background page | Duplicate page" to

Open link in background window | Duplicate page

Keyboard setup

You can download this sdi-keyboard.ini to your Opera/profile/keyboard - folder and select SDI Shortcuts in tools > preferences > advanced > shortcuts > keyboard setup

Or you can manually do following changes

[application]

t ctrl and n ctrl shift
from "New page, 1" to

New browser window

delete
4 Minimize page

[History panel]

Platform Windows-Unix-MCE, Enter shift and (I'm not sure about Mac) Platform Mac, Enter ctrl
from "Open link in new page" to

Open link in new window

Enter shift ctrl
from "Open link in background page" to

Open link in background window

[Advanced]
[Browser Widget]

Platform Windows-Unix-MCE, Enter shift and (I'm not sure about Mac) Platform Mac, Enter ctrl
from "Open link in new page" to

Open link in new window

Enter ctrl shift and Space ctrl shift
from "Open link in background page" to

Open link in background window

[Advanced]
[Bookmarks Widget]

Platform Windows-Unix-MCE, Enter shift and (I'm not sure about Mac) Platform Mac, Enter ctrl
from "Open link in new page" to

Open link in new window

Enter ctrl shift and Space ctrl shift
from "Open link in background page" to

Open link in background window

[Advanced]
[Edit widget]

(I'm not sure about Mac) Platform Mac, Enter ctrl
from "Wand | Open link in new page" to

Wand | Open link in new window

Menus: edit menu.ini

The menu file has to be edited manually. You have to place the menu file in the folder Opera/profile/menu. To adjust the menu.ini for SDI I mainly added semicolons in front of the lines containing tab=page-related things, e.g.

[Link Popup Menu]
Item, 67389=Open link
;Item, 53018=Open link in new page
;Item, 53019=Open link in background page
;--------------------1
Item, 54020=Open link in new window
Item, 67633=Open link in background window
--------------------2
Item, 70463=Add link to bookmarks
Item, 50216=Copy link
Item, 50761=Save link
Item, 581357748=Download url

You can download this sdi-menu.ini and save it in the folder Opera/profile/menu. It contains only the changed menu sections, the other sections are automatically added from standard-menu.ini. If you already use a customized menu.ini you have to merge the changes.

Finally activate the new menus in tools > preferences > advanced > toolbars > menu setup select: "SDI Menu" (should be displayed in the list, if not ensure you have the sdi-menu.ini in the correct folder and you can try to restart Opera).

Of course you can edit the menu.ini yourself (search for "page").

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