Author Mode & User Mode
-
Author Mode and User Mode in Opera will feel foreign to users of other browsers. They are presentation modes where the end user can control style options. Confused? Let’s begin, then!
-
Go to View -> Style -> Manage Modes and a dialog box will appear and look exactly like this. Author Mode displays all styles while User Mode displays none of the styles except stylesheets, fonts, colors, and link styles you specify. As can be seen any of those can be changed. However, let’s leave those be for the present. Feel free later to experiment.
-
Author and User Modes can be accessed through the main menus, but it is much easier and more convenient to access them through an interface button. Read how to customize the interface and place the “Author Mode” button anywhere you wish. It’s categorized under “Browser view” in the button tab of the customize dialog box.
-
Click the arrow on the button to display the dropdown menu. Author Mode provides a sort of dynamic stylesheet switcher, allowing the end user to apply and combine custom styles on top of the website’s styles. Feel free to explore. Some interesting combinations useful for web development are already built into Opera.
-
Click on the arrow on the button and select “User Mode”. You should notice that the page loses all styles. This is useful for developers to make sure their markup is semantic and that their sites work with styles turned off, a necessity for accessibility.
-
Knowledgable users can create their own stylesheets to use with Author Mode by closing Opera, finding their preferences folder, navigating to the styles/user folder within, and dropping in a stylesheet they created. When Opera is reopened an additional stylesheet should be present in the menu.
-
Author Mode and User Modes are powerful features which give Opera users more control over the content they view.
