Programs Preferences

Again, Opera has packed a lot of things into this category. The most important one may be the E-mail application. If you plan to use Opera Mail (aka M2) then be sure to select that. If you want Opera to pass mailto links to the default mail application, choose that. Or you can set an alternative mail application.

Next is the “protocols” option. Protocols are things that you don’t really care about, like MIME types, that browsers do care about. It is a way that they talk to each other. By specifying an application to handle a certain protocol, you allow Opera to utilize different types of links by handing them off to different applications.

Again, in simple language: this is how you get Opera to work with iTunes and AIM. It’s not hard, really.

Now some would argue that Opera ought to support these two “out of the box” and it would be nice if it did. Those two protocols are basically de-facto “standards” and are becoming more and more popular. But do not despair! You can add them yourself, and having accomplished that will fill you with the warm glow of self-satisfaction once reserved only for those who knew how to tune-up a car in the driveway on a Saturday afternoon. Or not. But it’s fairly easy once you know how.

And you don’t even have to change into work clothes.

Note: Adding AIM support is done exactly the same as iTunes, just type ‘aim’ instead of ‘itms’

To add iTunes support to Opera, simply click the “Add” button in the Programs preferences screen. Type ‘itms’ into the Protocol field. If iTunes is installed, then Opera should automatically fill in the information in the ‘Open with default application’ field. (If iTunes isn’t installed, one might ask why you are bothering to add protocol support in Opera?) Be sure to check the radio button so that it looks like this:

Select “OK” and presto whammo, you’ve done it!

Default Browser (Windows Only)

If you want Opera to be your default browser, you can tell it to check on startup to make sure it is. If it isn’t, Opera will prompt you to set it as default. The “Details” button will let you select the types of files and the protocols (there’s that word again) that you want Opera to be responsible for.

(Mac users: open Safari’s preference to set the default browser. Linux/FreeBSD users are on their own :-)