Today we're proud to announce the first Opera 11 alpha, an early snapshot of our upcoming Opera 11 release. In Opera 11 alpha our attention is first and foremost on one of the most anticipated features of Opera 11: extensions. More exciting functionality will be announced as we get closer the our final release of Opera 11.

Extensions are browser add-ons made using Opera application programming interfaces (APIs) and web standards like HTML5 and JavaScript. Extensions allow users to make their web browser their own by adding features and functionality directly into the browser itself, rather than as standalone Opera Widgets or Opera Unite applications.

Developers can build extensions with the same web standards they already use to build websites and web applications. Better yet, with only a few tweaks to their code, developers who have already authored a similar extension for other browsers will be able to share their creation with more than 50 million Opera users.

Try it out

To run Opera Extensions, you'll need an Opera 11 Labs build that supports them:

• Opera 11 Extensions build for Windows
• Opera 11 Extensions build for Mac
• Opera 11 Extensions build for Linux/FreeBSD

Note that the current release is an experimental labs build, therefore the implementation, architecture and design may change before the final release. If you create a complex extension, it may require updates as our APIs mature.

Once you've installed Opera 11 alpha you'll be automatically directed to http://addons.labs.opera.com . This is our online catalog of extensions. Please bear in mind that both Opera 11 alpha and the online extensions catalog is under continuous development.

Want to develop extensions?

If you want to learn how to develop extensions, run on over to Dev Opera, and read our Getting started with Opera extensions article.

You can also check out the following resources:

• Saying hello world to Opera extensions! : A very simple tutorial to get you started with building Opera extensions.

• What's in an Opera extension? : Learn more about how Opera extensions work, what files they contain, what the different parts of the architecture do, and what types of extension you can expect to build.

• Hands-on tutorial: building an Opera extension : A more in-depth extensions tutorial.

• Converting UserJS to Opera Extensions : Learn how to convert Opera UserJS files into Opera Extensions.

• Opera extensions: tabs : This article takes you through using the Opera extensions API tabs object to allow extensions to manipulate tabs in the Opera desktop browser.

• Opera extensions: windows : This article shows you how to manipulate windows in the Opera desktop browser via the Opera extensions Windows object.

• Opera extensions: buttons, badges and popups : This article takes you through the ins and outs of implementing buttons, badges and popups for Opera extensions.

• Opera Extension APIs : References for the specialist APIs that allow you to hook into the browser to extend functionality

Give us feedback

Let us know what you think and have your say on the Dev Opera extensions forum .