Opera Resizes the Web in Beta Browser

Opera Software is pitching a new idea that promises to put and end to the problem of rendering Web pages effectively regardless of screen size.

Opera's Extensible Rendering Architecture (ERA) blends together all of the company's existing rendering technologies -- including Small- and Medium-Screen Rendering (SSR/MSR) for mobile devices and TV-rendering -- to tackle the problem head on with dynamic resizing.

As a result of this new rendering framework, Opera claims that it has eliminated horizontal scrolling altogether and made it easier to print out Web pages in their entirety. Moreover, ERA is said to be a "compelling" accessibility feature when used in combination wit the browser's built-in zoom function.

Conventional wisdom dictates that most Web pages were designed to be viewed with conventional laptop and desktop computer with portable devices as an afterthought in common Web design.

"Opera's vision is to enable people to access their favorite Web sites on any device, and ERA means that users can have a great Internet experience on any screen regardless of a Web page's width, tables, or frames," says Opera CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner. "With its unlimited applicability, ERA technology is truly a milestone in Web page rendering."

The feature will be incorporated into the next release of the Opera Web browser. In the meantime, the adventurous may beta test a public preview by downloading Opera 7.60 Preview 3 from FileForum.