Opera 9.6 beta: Now with RSS feed previews low bandwidth email mode

Opera has released a public beta of version 9.6 of the company's web browser. The update adds a few new features and a handful of bug fixes. Some of the updates might be easy to miss, but Opera wisely included a "to do list" for anyone running Opera 9.6 beta 1 for the first time. Some of the items on the list are features that have been around for a release or two, but all are things that make Opera stand out from the crowd.

For example, you can create a custom search engine by clicking on any search field. If you right-click on the Download Squad search box, for example, you can add our search box to your browser's drop down search list in a matter of seconds.

There's also a new feed preview feature that shows you the contents of an RSS feed before you susbcribe. Just click the orange RSS icon in the location bar when visiting any site with a feed. Opera has also added a low bandwidth mode to the integrated email client. If you have a POP account, Opera will only fetch the first 100 lines of a message unless you specifically request the full message. For IMAP accounts, no attachments will be downloaded without a special request.

Tags: feed-preview, freeware, opera-9.6, opera-9.6-beta, rss, web-browsers