Hide and sleek: Latest Vivaldi release can tuck its UI away until summoned
- Reference: 1773922511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/03/19/vivaldi_7_9/
- Source link:
[1]
Vivaldi browser showing content without window cruft
It's a [2]simple concept – hit the auto-hide icon (or use the keyboard shortcut) and all the browser fluff disappears. Move the mouse pointer to the edges of the window, and it comes back. It's rather like the Windows function that automatically hides the taskbar, which frees a little screen real estate until the cursor makes the taskbar slither back into view.
Full-screen browsing is frequently used to hide the more prosaic origins of kiosk applications, but Vivaldi's approach makes the process more suited to desktop users. A spokesperson told The Register : "It works in both full screen and restored/normal window." There's also a setting to limit the feature to full-screen mode – another checkbox in Vivaldi's ever-expanding settings arsenal.
The spokesperson told us: "This feature has been developed to give our users maximum real estate for control, without losing the controls they would like to have available."
There are obviously some security implications, not least the fact that the URL is completely hidden, which means that it might not always be clear which website is loaded. Not all of the expected bits disappear either. Scrollbars, for example, depend on the site being viewed.
[3]Latest Vivaldi release surfs a wave of anti-AI sentiment
[4]Not in my browser! Vivaldi capo doubles down on generative AI ban
[5]Vivaldi bakes Proton VPN into browser to boost privacy
[6]Vivaldi 7.2 browser wants to topple tech's feudal lords
It's certainly a neat feature and the most notable of the 7.9 release, yet it won't be to everybody's taste. Then again, like the rest of the browser's options, it doesn't have to be used and isn't pushed into the user's face.
Vivaldi said: "As always, we're shipping with No AI. No tracking. No BS. Just the web, edge to edge. Or Vivaldi to Vivaldi." We see what you did there.
[7]
The release also includes a new option, "Open Link as Tiled Follower Tab," which opens a tiled page alongside the current tab. Any further links open in the follower tab. There's also the ability to open the mail composer in its own window, along with several other email tweaks.
[8]
Vivaldi uses the Chromium rendering engine, but what surrounds it is up to the Norway and Iceland-based company. Rather than force AI onto users or collect customer data for commercial purposes, Vivaldi – which claims four million users – is focusing on features aimed at improving the browsing experience. Those who don't want them can simply ignore them. ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2026/03/19/vivaldi.jpg
[2] https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-on-desktop-7-9/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/vivaldi_release_ai/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/28/vivaldi_capo_doubles_down_on/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/27/vivaldi_proton_vpn/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/18/vivaldi_72/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2abwrtcxmqC_2LNqTBpwADwAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44abwrtcxmqC_2LNqTBpwADwAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Somebody check my memory
I suspect you're describing full-screen mode (F11). What made it genuinely useful was that you could still navigate using mouse gestures. Back in the day when the free version was ad-supported it was very effective in banishing the ads -- though before long I shelled out for the paid version.
-A.
Re: Somebody check my memory
Those were the days when Opera 6 was the top of the pile and doing useful stuff for users. I paid for it too.
Was my default up to Opera 12 then unfortunately in one release cycle it completely lost its way.
Re: Somebody check my memory
Can't count on something "ad-supported" to "banish the ads."
Everything I've read about Vivaldi suggests its internal ad blocker is very weak compared to a more typical Firefox + uBO + DNS.
You could already hide the UI with F11 in Vivaldi, but you couldn't bring it back with the mouse. This is more modular too so you can keep the URL bar up if you want to always see that, and the mouse only brings back the part of the UI you're hovering over. It's easy to navigate with the keyboard too, the usual Ctrl+W, Ctrl+T for tabs, tab twice to focus the URL bar, etc.
It's pretty good for reading documentation, every other browser only hides the server-side decorations. Here's one for the devs ->
Tab follow
I just started playing with tab follow, and it's awesome. They solved that exact problem where you want to check multiple links on a page without opening new tabs/windows every single time, or worse, navigating away from the source page. That's the best enhancement for me in this release. Really starting to like Vivaldi. Need to find a way to sneak it onto my corp machine!
Re: Tab follow
Or you could simply middle-click on links of interest to open them in background tabs - something I've been doing and teaching for many years. It works in all the browsers I use on all the (desktop) OSs I use.
Re: Tab follow
Yes, you can do a completely different thing that doesn't provide the same functionality.
Somebody check my memory
Didn't Opera, back in the 1990s (when the Web was the *real* Web, amd small furry creatures from Arcturus were *real* small, furry, creatures from Arcturus), have "hiding away all the UI" as a feature? Have memories of writing a presentation as a web site and showing it without any gubbins around, clicking links as required (so not just going into step-by-step slideshow mode).