In the eternal search for the perfect browser, I downloaded one I'd never heard of the other day called Vivaldi

Originally, I was pretty disappointed as new websites was pretty slow to load. However, once on a site, it was very quick between pages. But, I stuck with it. A few days later, and all of a sudden, the browser is lightning fast to every site I throw at it. Others seem to have had the same experience.

So, what do I like about it?

1. Note taking. Yeah, on the very left of the screen, there's a small icon that allows you to literally open up a notepad and take notes about the website (or anything else you want to write about). For those of you doing research and using online databases, that means no flipping back and forth between screens (if you're working with a single screen).

2. Download and bookmark shortcut icons are found on the same third-inch panel on the left side, as is the setup icon at the bottom. Below that, on the base of the screen, is the ability to hide the panel.

3. Page stacking/tiling. You can literally tile pages together in a single screen. So, if you're arguing in the politics forum and looking up sources, you can tile the forum and your sources all in a single screen, then until them when you're finished.

4. Page actions. Next to the Page stacking icon (which sits at the bottom right) is a page-action button. Some of the actions given are merely gimmicks (faked 3-d which just slants the page and makes it unreadable, for instance). But others work well, such as Filter Intensify which provides better coloring for your screen on that page, Filter Invert (does as it says), content blocker (removes annoying videos on pages, for instance). Etc.

5. Ability to save sessions. Don't know if other browsers have had this - but it's built right into the menu in Vivaldi, which makes it easy to access.

6. No problem with HTML5, Java, or Flash material. I've been getting all types of errors of late due to certain browsers trying to force feed the shift away from Flash and lately, even Java in some instances. So far, this browser has handled every site without an issue.

-------------

Of course, there's a couple of things I've noticed I don't like about Vivaldi.

The first one is dragging tabs to create a second browser window. Unlike a number of other browsers, you can't do it. Instead, you have to right click on the tab and tell it to open in a new browser. I'd guess this has something to do with the coding that allows tiling.

The second is "Control + B" is also the bookmark key command. So every time I try to bold something, I end up popping up the bookmark tab. There's probably a way to fix this, but I haven't looked for it yet.

Third - is the fear that the lagged browser response I had the first few days will return sometime in the future. It hasn't yet. In fact, it's gotten faster. But without knowing exactly why, I remain skeptical for now.

-------------

Final thoughts:

I'm going to keep playing with the this browser. If it continues as it has, I just may have found one that makes me as happy as Netscape did when I first switched to it from Internet Exploder back in 1997.

 

The real question is... Does this have incognito?

>_>

 

^ What Seratin said.

I'll check the browser out as soon as it finishes downloading and then post the review.

 

They call their incognito windows 'private', which is as good of a name as any, I guess.

I've been using Vivaldi for a month or two now, I quite like it.

Performance wise, I've not noticed any difference between it and chrome and any lowered performance after a fresh installation is probably due to the new browser having no cache.

Bookmarks are actually more convenient than chrome - as there is an 'add active tab' button at the top of each folder, which makes new bookmarks really quick.

The start page (new tab page in chrome) lets you pick what you want on it, so you can add or remove things as you see fit. You can also easily access your bookmarks and history from this page. Definitely better than Chrome's implementation.

It uses the chrome addon/plugin ecosystem, so you can use all your favorites from Chrome without issue.

There's also support for mouse gestures, where you hold the right mouse button and do a movement, which translates into a browser command (like new tab, forward, reload etc), very nice and you can customize it to suit your preferences.

The only major (depending on your needs, I guess) downside I've encountered so far is that there's no fast & easy way of syncing tabs between it and your phone as they don't yet have a mobile browser.

Overall would recommend.

e: ars technica review which gives a nice overview of the browser http://arstechnica.com/information-...oses-in-on-the-cure-for-the-common-browser/1/

 

I remember using Vivaldi quite a while back, when it was in open beta.

- I couldn't import bookmarks from a HTML file, or if I could, it wasn't easy to figure out how. As it wasn't a massive browser at the time, it wasn't widely documented how to (a quick google shows me I can do it now, though).
- Similarly, it didn't have my history. I know that's a daft thing, but it meant I had to type in every URL by hand from memory (or an open Chrome window). I get to DLP by typing 'dar(down)', not by typing the full URL, and so on. Again, not a massive issue, but it was an annoyance - I've used Chrome for personal browsing since it was released, and only used IE, Safari, or Firefox at work or on university machines, so having a browser not remember all my habits really annoyed me.
- Really long load times. I don't know what caused this, and you've mentioned that it seems better now.
- Showed it to my dad. He was quite impressed with quite a few of the features (don't recall which), and suggested it was probably more for 'power users'/programmers.

Now, this was all before v1.0 (I think. I remember it being a GAS or Gizmodo link to a trial version or something). So it's likely that most of these issues (and other ones I don't remember/didn't encounter) have been fixed.

I'll give it a go, and let you know if I think it's any good once I've had a twirl.


EDIT
First impressions:

Sometimes it gets slow for no reason for a minute. Lagging when scrolling on a page.

Importing bookmarks is really simple. You don't even have to have a HTML file, it can just take history and stuff. It also can take login details across platforms, which is nice. It doesn't import favicons for bookmarks, and there is no plan for this to be implemented in the near future. As most of my bookmarks bar is favicons, this is a issue (minor, but still).

The sidebar on the right (or left) I don't hate, but I'm not loving it yet. It isn't intrusive. The notes section is REALLY useful, as you can just jot anything, anytime, and the search function for it is also pretty good.

The default search of bing isn't horrific, and apparently google, wikipedia, and DDG are also set up to be default searches. Searching using them wasn't completely intuitive, but took less than a minute to figure out (search for 'shortcut' 'searchterm', so if you want the wiki page on DnD you would search 'w dungeons and dragons').

You can't use Ctrl+back/forward buttons to open in another tab, and closing the last tab in a window doesn't close the window. This could well be because Vivaldi seems to save where you were, and reopen all the tabs when you open it back up. This only seems to be if you close all windows, keeping a single one open means that you don't reopen what you closed.

So overall, I'm actually liking it. No major issues.
However, a lot of keyboard shortcuts, and default settings, are different from Chrome (and, based on my minor experiences, IE, Safari and Firefox) - shifting tabs, by default, doesn't just shift you rightwards; ctrl+b to open bookmarks, not ctrl+shift+o.

It isn't worse, that I could find, but it was different enough, and not substantially better, so I don't imagine I'll be maining it.I might check back on it now and then to see how progress is coming along though.

 

Okay, booted up Vivaldi after one failed download [Fuck my internet] and I have to say, from the base appearance alone, I'm reminded of Windows 8's appearance in the way the bars and columns were shaped and looked like- though that may just be my settings.

Opening a new tab, you can see a few pre-selected webpages similar to how Safari and Chrome have their most-visited pages sorted in the new tab page- but Vivaldi has the webpages settled into the page in a way that it looks very sleek and smooth.

From the new tab page, you can see this button that has a blue + on it. That can create folders for some select web-pages- very useful for someone like me that wants select sites in a small compact place.

[They also have a fuck-tonne of bookmarks already processed for you, and categorized. Screenshot so props for that]

[What DLP looks like with Vivaldi- bars, style, colors depend on the choices you make at start-up~ can be changed later]

The scroll function in the browser is pretty smooth until you get to the top or bottom where it kinda gets stuck for a sec or two~ minor detail- doesn't matter really.

Cool note feature. Mentioned in Joe's Nemesis' post. You can basically open a note any time you want [Stays on the same tab- doesn't take much space] and C&W some sources or information and go to another tab- with the notes open and quickly type in what you know. Don't have to alternate between the source-provider and the forum again and again.

Discovering more features as I go by. Cool shit. Thanks JN.

EDIT: Also shouldn't this be in the Gaming and PC part of the forum? Or can we discuss PC/Browser things here that aren't related to issues?