With Coast, Opera Hopes to Revolutionise Tablet Browsing

Opera has launched Coast, an iPad-specific web browser

No “mere mobile browser tweak, nor a scaled-down PC browser”, according to Opera, Coast is intended to reflect the capabilities and usage of a tablet device, with a focus on content. 

This approach results in a streamlined UI, which strips out the URL field, back button and tabs of your average browser in favour of gesture-based navigation. The user can swipe left or right to move through their recent history, while bookmarks are handled through a tile-based interface. 

“Websites and apps today invite you to interact in new ways, but browser design for tablets has not pushed to liberate itself from the influence it has experienced from its computer and mobile phone cousins,” says Huib Kleinhout, head of the Coast project at Opera. “On a tablet, browsers felt outdated, and that bothered me.”