Make Amazon.com and other websites work with the Opera web browser

Since the Opera web browser only commands a relatively small portion of the browser market, several websites do not ensure that their functionality works in it - in fact, some will instead use JavaScript and "browser detection" to serve an error message simply stating that Opera is not supported. 99% of the time, however (and in our experience), the websites in question work just fine. Aware of this type of issue, Opera ASA (the company that makes the browser) has built into the software a feature that allows you to "force" sites to play nice with Opera on Windows 7 / Vista / XP, Mac OS X, Linux, etc. Pictured below is the problem you face when trying to preview a book's content with the Amazon Online Reader: "Your web browser does not support this feature. Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions for a list of compatible web browsers that support the Amazon Online Reader."

Note that we only use Amazon as an example: the simple trick explained in this tutorial will work to fix most every website problem you're likely to encounter in Opera.

Fix websites problems in Opera

Here are the simple steps to follow to make problematic websites work in Opera:

• First, navigate to the website that presents some kind of incompatibility.
• Then, press F12 on your keyboard or go to Tools > Quick Preferences.
• When the menu appears, choose "Edit Site Preferences":
  
  
• The "Site Preferences" dialog will now open; as the name suggests, Opera allows you to create "exceptions" of sorts for as many websites and problems as needed.
• Select on the "Network" tab, and click on the "Browser identification" dropdown menu at the bottom - you now have several choices:
  
  
• Each of these options allow you to make Opera appear to the selected website as another web browser, which generally fixes any issue you face. While you can tinker and test with each choice, we recommend that you save time and directly skip to choosing "Mask as Internet Explorer" - because Microsoft's IE remains the most widely used browser, nearly all websites are designed to work properly in it.
• Now click on the "OK" button to apply the new setting and return to the web page.

Testing your new site setting

You are done! Press F5 or hit Ctrl+R (Windows or Linux) or Command+R (Mac OS X) to reload the web page. Your problem should now be fixed; in our example, we are now able to use the Amazon Online Reader without any issue!