In the previous story I mentioned that the Opera web browser, made free (as in beer) last week, lacked a good GNOME skin to provide Linux users with a native look and feel. That is no longer the case.
Opera has the ability to use custom skins to change the UI, and there is a vibrant community of modders that make all kinds of skins. Now, I could sit around whining about the lack of a GNOME native skin, or do something to rectify the situation. So last week I created a skin that provides a consistent, familiar, usable, and clean GNOME UI for Opera. Last night I posted it to the official Opera skins repository. You may preview it here, or, if you are using Opera, you may use this install link.
Due to a PEBKAC problem the skin is currently named incorrently on the site, but Opera staff will be recifying that this week. And my thanks to Brian, Jorunn, and others at Opera ASA for providing feedback and guidance.
And wow, more than 1.5K downloads in the first 24 hours. Awesome.