Panels are not new in Opera8, but there are some new features present since Opera7 was introduced. Today we will look at what panels come with Opera, as well as some other customized panels made just for you *.
Panels were previously called “Sidebars” which is the name I still find more descriptive. But “panels” is the official name, so I have acquiesced.
Start by pressing F4 or goto View → Toolbars → Show Panels if you loathe the keyboard… (you know who you are). Actually there’s an easier way to open it with the mouse, which we’ll get to in a minute (or longer, depending on how quickly you read and how soon I remember to include it).
Once they are open, right click and choose “Customize” and you will see a window like the one below.
We will briefly go through the various built-in panels and describe what they do.
![[Screenshot of Opera's Panels window]](http://operalover.tntluoma.com/images/sidebars-all-562x445.png)
Go ahead and turn on all the available panels to see what they have to offer. You can remove them later by right clicking on them and selecting “Remove Panel”
- Search (ctrl + 1)
- A quick interface to several search engines. Personally, I find myself using shortcuts such as F2 and then type “g foo” to search Google, but for those who are really into panels, this is another way to use them. See also the search dropdown on the Addressbar.
- Bookmarks (ctrl + 2)
- By contrast, the Bookmarks panel is extremely useful for managing bookmarks. Click on the “View” dropdown to change the display and sort order. Type into the Quick Find to quickly locate matching bookmarks, including descriptions, nicknames, and so forth.
- Mail (ctrl + 3)
- Note: this panel cannot be enabled unless you have setup an Opera Mail (M2) account. This is perhaps the best use for a panel yet. RSS/Atom feeds are also shown in that panel as well.
- Contacts (ctrl + 4)
- Opera’s addressbook, for use with Opera Mail and Opera Chat. Easily search/edit entries here. (see also Tools → Contacts)
- Chat (ctrl + 5)
- Manage Opera Chat rooms and servers
- Notes (ctrl + 6)
- Notes are important enough to get their own day later in the series, but here is where you can find them and search for notes you’ve saved. (see also Tools → Notes)
- Transfers (ctrl + 7)
- Manage downloaded files (see also Tools → Transfers)
- History (ctrl + 8)
- View/search previously viewed pages (see also Tools → History)
- Links (ctrl + 9)
- A list of all the links on a given page, which can be clicked or saved. ((see also Tools → Links)
- Windows (ctrl + 0)
- Manage all your Opera windows and pages in one panel.
- Info (no quick key, we ran out of numbers!)
- Technical information about the page/image that you are viewing. Especially helpful for web designers who are trying to debug pages.
Custom Panels
You can find many more panels at http://my.opera.com/community/customize/panel/ and several at http://tntluoma.com/sidebars/.
Any webpage can be put into a panel by bookmarking it (ctrl + T for Windows/Un*x or 
+ T for Mac) and check the box next to “Show in panel”. Of course not every page works well in the space of a panel, so you may need to click View → Small Screen to see it properly (see Day 8: Fit to Window Width for more information on Small Screen Rendering). Unfortunately this setting is not retained so you have to select it every time. Feel free to consider that a bug. OOps. Turns out that I was wrong, and Small Screen Rendering is saved (See comments below).
If you know of other good panels, please add a comment below!
p.s. Aha! Several readers pointed out that I had neglected to explain the other way of opening panels. Look along the far left edge of the browser window and you will see a small triangle. The good news is that you do not have to click on the arrow itself. You have the full height of the edge, about 10 pixels wide.
This is what is called the “panel toggle” (see image above). Clicking on it will open/close the panels. If you do not want to have that there, uncheck the option. (Another reader points out that if you have moved the panels to the right side of the browser window, the panel toggle will be on the far right not the far left.)
One final tip: shift + F4 will open/close the panels but leave the panel buttons visible. Try it, you’ll see what I mean.
(*) Ok, so these Sidebars aren’t made just for you, but I wanted you to feel special. Because you are. To me, at least. Ok, so really I don’t know who you are, but I’m sure someone thinks you’re special. (return to above)