Opera 21 Hardware-Accelerated Browser Released for Mac and Windows

The company notes in a blog post that the Opera browser will be automatically updated if already installed on a system. For others, the Opera for Windows and Opera for Mac are now available for download.

Opera Software says its Opera 21 browser is using the new Aura technology by Chromium Projects, which hardware-accelerates the entire browser, as per the company. The company released its Chromium-based browser in July last year.

Opera's official blog said, "The team here put a lot of effort into getting Aura to work properly with Opera and the benefits are already paying off. Aura allows for smoother, snappier animations with a more responsive feel. So far, we have only scratched the surface of this technology, and Opera 21's primary intention was to get Aura working and stable. In the future, you will see further benefits as it allows us to give everything that little extra bit of polish!"

Notably, the Opera 21 browser for Mac does not use the Aura technology, but instead uses Apple Core Animation technology.

Some of the fixes and improvements in Opera 21 include the updating of Chromium to 34.0.1847.132 for site compatibility; browser scaling with screens that use 200 percent dpi setting in Windows; a new reworked Mac keyboard, and an explanation of Off-Road mode (Opera Turbo) when it is enabled.

The Opera 21 can now also show a page's complete URL in the address field, which was not available in previous versions and the users were provided a shortened version showing the domain and a badge indicating site security.

Opera has also listed the complete changelog for the Opera 21 desktop browser update, which reveals minor tweaks, enhancements and bug fixes in the new browser release.