🌐 🇵🇱 Polski · 🇬🇧 EN
On January 27, 2015, I wrote that a new player had appeared in the web browser world alongside Chrome, Firefox, Explorer, and Edge — I am talking about Vivaldi. Today, we can say that this product has moved out of beta and is available in its first stable release. This post is being written in Vivaldi, and I can certainly say that this product is fast and fresh. It is a nice change from the sluggish Firefox or Chrome, which is increasingly focused on extensions. You could say it is something that was missing. The creators present their product as a browser for friends. They believe that the user is the most important thing and that the user knows best how they want to use the internet. The premise and goal is "personalization" as the greatest advantage and the direction for the development of this solution. We will see how it turns out and what future versions will bring. Since the browser engine is Blink, the same solution used in Chrome, it is possible to use the same extensions.
The browser features an intuitive interface and an elegant, eye-pleasing design. Upon launch, the installer greets us with a simple configuration wizard.
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| Vivaldi - welcome tab after installation |
Beyond personalization, another major advantage of this browser is its configuration capability. While configuration goes hand-in-hand with personalization, Vivaldi also surprises in this area with an eye-pleasing menu interface that maintains maximum readability and ease of navigation through the options.
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| Vivaldi - tab settings menu. |
We also have mouse gesture support available. The gesture configuration is also very elegant.
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| Vivaldi - mouse gesture configuration |
An interesting option is showing the user the size of the page being loaded, along with the number of elements on it. The tab thumbnails also look great.
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| Vivaldi - tab thumbnails, page load size and number of elements |
Browser history. (quote from vivaldi.com)
A browser for our friends
In 1994, two developers started working on a web browser. The idea was to make a really fast browser, capable of running on hardware with limited resources, with the awareness that users are individuals with their own requirements and wishes. That is how Opera was born.
Our little piece of software was gaining popularity, our group was growing, and we formed a community. We were close to our users and our roots. We improved our software based on user feedback, as well as our own ideas on how to make a great browser. We were innovative and strove for excellence.
Fast forward to 2015. The browser we once loved changed its direction. Unfortunately, it no longer serves its community of users and contributors – those who helped build this browser from the very beginning.
So we came to an obvious conclusion: we must create a new browser. A browser for ourselves and for our friends. A browser that is fast, yet feature-rich, highly customizable, and puts the user first. A browser that is made for you.
That is how the Vivaldi browser was created.
—Jon
What can Vivaldi do and what features does it have?
This information is perfectly presented on the page https://vivaldi.com/features/
The first change I made to the settings was the Ctrl+b keyboard shortcut, which I use when writing posts to bold text; in Vivaldi, it triggered the bookmarks panel. I very easily changed it to Shift+b. Making this change simultaneously proved how simple it can be to make any changes and how a configuration menu for the user should be created.
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| Vivaldi - keyboard shortcuts menu. |
Plugins
After installing and launching Vivaldi, I realized what the world of internet advertising looks like now. Popular Polish portals are simply unreadable. More ads than content. In other browsers, we use adblock; can Vivaldi do that too? Yes! You can add extensions exactly the same way you do in Chrome. Just use the Shift+Ctrl+E shortcut to see for yourself. Ads are no longer a problem.
Interesting features.
For me, grouping tabs proved to be an interesting feature, and I wondered why other browser creators hadn't thought of it. The eye-pleasing color matching of the browser to the currently displayed page, web panels, and the quick commands option available using the F2 key are all great.
From my point of view, the product is certainly worth watching. It is pleasant to use, and although it requires changing habits from other browsers, especially if you have been using one for a long time, its intuitiveness, personalization options, and large number of available settings speak in its favor. It is said that this could be a revolutionary success on par with Firefox when it first appeared. I think that might actually be the case.
Sources and links
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