Vivaldi gives its browser a buffing, adds a dashboard
- Reference: 1729758614
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/10/24/vivaldi_browser_refresh/
- Source link:
While the browser engine remains based on Chromium (as are most desktop browsers), the customizable interface around it has long been a hallmark of Vivaldi, alongside the company's [1]obsession with user privacy .
However, the interface, despite the customization possibilities (and there are a lot of those), has been starting to look distinctly long in the tooth, and so a revamp is long overdue.
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The most visual change is around browser tab handling, with tabs now appearing as floating lozenges rather than squared-off elements of earlier versions. Vivaldi says, "Tabs now float, creating a clean, spacious look that feels intuitive and modern."
[3]
Vivaldi 7 with dashboard (click to enlarge) Pic: Vivaldi
Also updated are the icons, which have a more modern appearance. There's nothing revolutionary here; it's all just easier on the eye.
Alongside the user interface polishing is a customizable control center that Vivaldi has called the "Dashboard," accessible via an option on the Start Page navigation bar. While being able to festoon a browser's start page with various elements is not new, Vivaldi's Dashboard takes things further, allowing users to manage their Mail, Calendar, Notes, and Tasks in the same browser window.
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Furthermore, pretty much any website can also be used as a widget on the Dashboard, "turning it into a true command center," according to Vivaldi.
A true command center it might be, but it is also distinctly reminiscent of the glory days of Windows Phone or Apple's Control Center. Widgets can also be added to the Android home screen. It also carries a distinct whiff of one of the first Windows 11 features this writer tends to turn off – the Widgets board, into which Calendar and Email widgets can be dropped.
[6]
The Register asked Vivaldi what differentiated its take on the dashboard and widget concept, and a spokesperson said: "Our Dashboard is quite different. Firstly it's fully customizable and it offers easy access to all our built-in tools like mail, and feed-reader.
"Secondly, with web widgets, users can basically add/create their own widgets (depending on their technical capabilities).
[7]Vivaldi composes Split View sonata for browser on iPadOS
[8]Apple's pleas ineffective: iPadOS on EU's gatekeeper list
[9]Oh look, cracking down on Big Tech works. Brave, Firefox, Vivaldi surge on iOS
[10]EU-turn! Now Apple says it won't banish Home Screen web apps in Europe
"We see Dashboard as something that will add great value to the user, and plan to expand the amount of available widgets rapidly with future releases."
Other updates in the release include separate feeds in the Feed Reader, the ability to jump to the latest mail, and real-time synchronization of tabs, bookmarks, and settings across desktop devices.
Vivaldi CEO Jon von Tetzchner said, "This is more than just a browser update. This is a new Vivaldi and a leap forward for users who demand more control and power in their browser."
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He might be overegging the pudding somewhat. However, the refreshed interface is appealing, although we're a little dubious about the Dashboard, particularly since, from a user's perspective, similar functionality is present elsewhere, if not as wildly flexible as Vivaldi's take.
Ultimately, the updates are unlikely to lure many users away from other platforms, but for those already there or who make the move, things now look much more modern. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://vivaldi.com/features/privacy-security/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zxoaxxeb0I4Tip_FruDISwAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/10/18/vivaldi_7.jpg
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zxoaxxeb0I4Tip_FruDISwAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zxoaxxeb0I4Tip_FruDISwAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zxoaxxeb0I4Tip_FruDISwAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/02/vivaldi_multiple_windows_ipad/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/29/apple_ipados_dma_gatekeeper/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/brave_mozilla_europe_ios/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/02/apple_reverses_pwa_decision/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zxoaxxeb0I4Tip_FruDISwAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: We need a User Agent that isn't Googled.
Pre-emptive response: "Source Available" does *not* cut it for a web browser, supposed to be a User Agent, with which human beings do things like Internet Banking, personal or intimate messaging and – on occasion – research which conflicts with the prevailing status-quo of the land in which they're living such as searching for certain bears that like honey or for clinics deplored by a certain political lobby for culture-war reasons.
You cannot fork a Source Available software if those who publish it change their behaviour in the future. Without the threat of being forked, the corporation behind the software faces no checks and balances from their user base and being morally upstanding holds no specific utility value. This means that morality necessarily ceases to be a dominant strategy as soon as the Dollar arrives at the door.
A Source Available software will have no long-term plans to maintain support for user-first standards like Manifest v2 because they know that user disagreement is impotent. Indeed: Vivaldi say they'll support v2 until some time next year – THAT'S NOT LONG-TERM and we can't just fork Vivaldi in 2025, either, should they neglect to extend that or even just forget that promise before June, 2025. (Vivaldi, to be fair, are in an unfortunate position because they surely don't want to maintain v2 in their own fork of Chromium. Again: the problem is in evidence.)
Re: We need a User Agent that isn't Googled.
There is a completely new engine, not Blink, not WebKit, not Gecko, in development
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladybird_(web_browser)
But don't expect to see anything until 2026!
From https://ladybird.org/ : "Ladybird is currently in heavy development. We are targeting a first Alpha release for early adopters in 2026."
Sigh
When will browsers stop trying to become operating systems...
Sigh
Is there an option to go back to how it was?
The whole point of Vivaldi was to bring back how Opera used to be, and Opera was so configurable for stuff like this it was amazing.
If you're just going to enforce UI changes on me that I don't want (e.g. Speed Dial which I disabled on day one and have never used), then there's little point in using a different browser.
We need a User Agent that isn't Googled.
If it is not truly Open Source, it can never be a proper "User Agent". Also, it's Chromium so its very existence exacerbates the monoculture problem, no matter how honest their claims of privacy – which, I guess, we just have to trust because it isn't Open Source. It exacerbates the problems with EME and other Google-mandated "standards", too.
We need a proper User Agent that isn't controlled by Google – directly, or indirectly via their advertising-company proxy: Mozilla. Vivaldi is not that.
That said, this news did impart one positive and novel idea: after reading their response, beginning "Our Dashboard is quite different…", I no longer doubt that LLMs *can* actually replace many humans in the workplace.