vivaldi browser features
The creators of this Internet underdog claim that Vivaldi’s software enables personalization “beyond what has ever been available in a Web browser” with the most recent release to version 1.3. Even though this claim is exaggerated, one of this newcomer’s true assets is the ability to customize the user interface. Additionally, it is quick and fully complies with all current Web standards. It is incredibly easy to use, and both common browser features and new additions are well incorporated in a simple, effective, and logical manner. It does not yet have several fundamental features, though, such reading modes, share buttons, synchronization services, and mobile versions, which are provided by its more experienced competitors.
Jon von Tetzchner, who founded Opera Software and served as its former CEO, is the creator of Vivaldi. Von Tetzchner’s discontent with the existing browsers—which, with the notable exception of Maxthon, are becoming more similar and simplistic—led to the creation of Vivaldi. One of the most recent weapons in the recently revived browser scene is Vivaldi. Microsoft Edge, which is included with the Windows 10 operating system, made the most impression. The Mozilla ex-browser, CEO’s named Brave, has been making waves of its own as well, but not always favorably. I’ll demonstrate how Vivaldi is off to a strong start.
There are instructions for installing Vivaldi for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The 38MB Windows version (which I tried) only takes a few seconds to download and set up. It occupies a bit more space on the disk than Firefox (91MB vs. 406MB), but not nearly as much space as Chrome. The Advanced configuration offers a wide selection of languages. The browser may be customized right away by running a brief tutorial that walks you through light and dark color schemes, tab-bar placement (top, side, or bottom), and Start page backgrounds.
The Settings box provides a variety of options when you wish to further personalize the browser, and one great feature is that every interface modification you make is immediately reflected in the browser window. For instance, you can click a button to instantly display a menu with common menu options (such File, Edit, and so on) over the top of the browser window.
Vivaldi’s interface takes cues from Opera and Edge in terms of its large, straightforward buttons, drop-down menu from the browser’s logo button in the top left, and default collapsible toolbar along the left rail. You can fast-forward and rewind to the beginning or conclusion of a session on a certain website in addition to the conventional Back and Forward keys. A reading view and share buttons like those found in Edge and Firefox are two features I think essential for exploring the modern web that are missing from Vivaldi.
Tab Preview for Vivaldi
Themes. A theming feature has been added to Vivaldi in version 1.3. Although the developers of the browser assert that it offers unrivaled customizability, I would argue that earlier Firefox skins were more radical, even enabling altered button and window shapes. Vivaldi, however, gives you the option to select any color from the color wheel for your default background, foreground, highlight, and accent colors (which includes default tab color). Additionally, you can change the contrast and radius of rounded tabs. Additionally, there are now additional pre-made themes available, including Redmond.
Tabs. Vivaldi is one of the greatest implementations of tab customization, and you may disable the majority of its unique tab features if you’d like. Tabs can be positioned in the browser window’s top, bottom, or on either side. When you hover the mouse pointer over a tab in Vivaldi, like Edge, site thumbnails appear. You can also stack (or group) tabs by dragging them on top of one another. One of the nicest features is tab tiling, which enables you to display websites in a grid or side-by-side within a single browser window. Given the popularity of widescreen monitors, it’s odd that other browsers don’t offer this option.
Choosing the behavior while opening a new tab is another option. Do you want it to show up at the end of the list of tabs, next to the one that is open, or next to tabs from the same website? Your decision. That level of customization is not available in most browsers.
If you have a lot of tabs open, Vivaldi makes it simpler to determine which one is active because the active one is the site scheme’s color while the others are off-white (you can change that behavior to the opposite if you prefer). Vivaldi even alerts you to noisy tabs and allows you silence them with a right-click, just like Edge and Firefox. If you want all inactive tabs to stop using bandwidth, you can even hibernate the background tabs.
A mechanism to preserve a group of tabs for later usage is provided via the Tab Sessions feature. With the File/Save Open Tabs as Session option, Vivaldi’s capability is a little easier to reach than most browsers’ bookmark or favorites folders. The Open Saved Session command allows you to name a session and return to it later.
Vivaldi lacks a tab feature found in the other popular browsers: To open a new tab, you cannot drag an existing one out of the main browser window. However, you may move them about by dragging them back and forth.
The Address Bar. Even this stalwart of browsers demonstrates consideration and added capabilities. The separate address and search bars, which resemble those in Firefox, are OK in my opinion. Searching on something that appears to the browser to be a URL, say it has a period and some characters at the end, prevents you from finding what you’re looking for. Entering a Web address is distinct from searching.
This also implies that, like in Firefox, you can select from a dropdown menu of search engines. By combining the two, the major platform’s browsers send whatever you input to their search engine. Another great, tech-savvy element of the address bar is the progress bar that appears while a page loads, showing the amount of data being downloaded and the number of items on the page that still need to be downloaded.
a web panel. Web Panels is a cool interface feature that enables you pin a website to a side panel, perhaps a reference site like Wikipedia. The left-side toolbar, which is reminiscent of Opera and has buttons for bookmarks and downloads, is where you access and add Web Panels. It leverages the mobile version of a site, if one is available, in a clever trick so that it won’t seem terrible on the small panel.
Website Notes With the ability to attach a file or snapshot, the Notes function allows you to annotate websites. Web Notes, in contrast to Microsoft Edge’s Annotation feature, does not allow you to annotate, highlight, or share a webpage via email, social media, or online storage. However, Vivaldi notes are kept and connected to the current page.
Vivaldi’s Panel and Speed Dial
Speed Dial and bookmarks. Vivaldi’s strengths also include bookmarking. You may access your bookmarks from side-panel buttons, the Bookmark bar, or the Speed Dial—which resembles Opera and provides helpful recommendations for websites to visit—which appears on new tabs. When you start a fresh, empty tab, Speed Dial is what you initially see. Speed Dial tiles can be rearranged to your preference, and when you add one, Vivaldi provides suggestions based on your surfing.
Although Vivadi’s tiles can be organized into folders, they lack Opera’s active, app-like capability. The Speed Dial page in Vivaldi doesn’t have a Search bar, which is actually not a problem given you always have one at the top of the browser window, but you’re not limited onto a specific search provider bar as you are with Opera.
Mouse motions. Mouse Gestures, which let you perform tasks like dismissing tabs or reloading pages by holding down the right mouse button and dragging in a pattern, are another tool that was acquired from Opera. On the Settings page, the actions are animated, and clicking the right and then the left mouse buttons will take you back. All of the common keyboard shortcuts for browsers also function.
Extensions. Vivaldi supports all of Google Chrome’s extension functionality, and you can actually download extensions for it through Chrome’s extension gallery. I made an attempt to add the LastPass addon (one I rely on). The extension showed up next to the search bar and performed as it should.
Functionality and Compatibility
Vivaldi inherits a lot of Chrome’s performance and compatibility because it is built on top of Chromium, the code that drives Google’s browser. I had no issue browsing any kind of material, including The New York Times, financial websites, Apple iCloud, WhatsApp Web, Asana, and Facebook Live Video. Vivaldi offers built-in Flash and PDF viewing features, just like Chrome.
2015 Browser Benchmarks
Vivaldi and Chrome both received the same results on HTML5Test.com, as was to be expected. By checking that HTML5 features are recognized by the browser, the test attempts to gauge standards compatibility, but it does not confirm that the features are correctly implemented. How well the current crop of browsers performs is seen in the table to the right.
The results of performance tests are consistent. I conduct my testing on a Surface Pro 4 ($750.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) with a Core i5-6300U CPU and 8GB RAM while deleting all browser caches, closing all open programs, and disabling all browser extensions. I keep the tablet computer plugged in and repeat each test five times before discarding the top and lowest scores and averaging the remaining data.
Given that they are all based on the same rendering code, Vivaldi performs fairly similarly to Chrome and Opera on JavaScript benchmarks like Google Octane and JetStream. Microsoft’s PenguinMark tests graphics hardware acceleration, and for some reason Vivaldi performs better than Firefox but significantly worse than Chrome on this test.
Although the majority of client-side interactive functionality on modern websites is powered by JavaScript, browser performance encompasses more than just the results of these artificial JavaScript benchmarks: Besides JavaScript, there are other components involved in loading webpages. The ability to parse HTML and CSS, network communication, choosing which material to load first, handling mouse movements, filling the window with content, and caching techniques are all important. Vivaldi, though, supposedly sounds quick on contemporary machines.
Privacy
Like many contemporary browsers, Vivaldi has a Private Browsing mode that prevents cookies, cache, and history from being saved while you surf. However, it does not prevent third-party tracking in the same manner as Firefox’s equivalent mode does. However, Vivaldi has something to offer to the privacy narrative. Websites typically have access to your IP address if you use WebRTC while connected to a VPN. Although Vivaldi doesn’t directly address the issue, it does allow you to completely disable WebRTC functionality on a selected basis. You can also disable additional Web services that might compromise your privacy.
Vivaldi: A Classic or Not?
It’s always nice to see more innovation and variety in web browsers, and Vivaldi offers a lot for anyone who want to use a lot of tabs and precisely customize their web browsing experience. The browser is still in its infancy, but the developers of Vivaldi promise a continual stream of additional features, such as synchronization, mobile apps, and an email reader. We’re eager to see what new additions Vivaldi introduces. In the interim, Firefox, which is likewise customizable but more sophisticated and privacy-enhancing, is our Editors’ Choice Web browser.
