Former Opera CEO Launches Vivaldi, A New Browser For Power Users

I think it's a matter of taste, I'm way too used to webmail and I don't need any calendar function. I would rather see them focusing more on the browser part, there are still too many things that need to be fixed and improved.

 

Vivaldi 5.4.2753.51

Minor update (7) for Vivaldi Desktop Browser 5.4
This update includes fixes from the Chromium project and a couple of other small changes.
September 14, 2022
https://vivaldi.com/blog/desktop/minor-update-seven-5-4/

 

I just hate it when they do this, I just downloaded the slightly older version. What a waste of bandwidth!

 

Good news, this build finally fixed the problem with the bookmark dialog. However, still no fix for the not being able to search for text bug. Again, go to this site and select text written on pics, and you won't see the ''Search Google for'' option. Can anyone confirm? BTW, It's a Dutch newspaper.

www.ad.nl

 

Thanks for checking and to clarify it's a newly introduced flaw in Vivaldi because it never did work this way. Whenever you select text, you always should be able to perform a search via right-click menu. It always worked on the AD site and it also used to work on JustWatch, select Morbius (2022) on the link, it will show the wrong right-click menu.

This bug hasn't been fixed in the last 3 months or so, quite bizarre if you ask me. And BTW, I did notice that Vivaldi now also tries to block autoplay of videos, but it doesn't seem to work on every site, see link 2. I'm not sure if this is a standard Chromium feature, never saw it before. But other than these quirks, Vivaldi does work quite nicely and stable. Hopefully they also fixed the freezing bug on Instagram while sending DM's.

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/morbius
https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/kaspersky-standard (scroll down to video)

 

It's already up, and it seems to have new look. I was never a back fan of the forum software though, it's so unhandy. But anyway, it looks like the newest Vivaldi is even more resource hungry, why don't they tackle this problem. I have no choice but to use the ''Hibernate Background Tabs'' function once in a while, but I hate doing this. I do often open at least 50 tabs, that's just my way of browsing, I always first collect news items that I want to read later.

 

BTW, I already posted this in another thread, but it should also be mentioned over here. It's a new article about how Vivaldi will handle MV3 which Google designed to cripple adblockers. It's not clear to me if Vivaldi will be able to fully remediate it, slightly worrying:

https://vivaldi.com/blog/manifest-v3-webrequest-and-ad-blockers/

 

Vivaldi says its ad blocker will continue working even after changes in Manifest V3
https://www.ghacks.net/2022/09/24/vivaldi-ad-blocker-manifest-v3/

 

Isn't Vivaldi forked from Chromium? So Manifest V3 shouldn't be there?

 

Yes. Not necessarily.

 

From the linked article:

It is only about their built-in adblocker and "on paper". So nothing is sure for now.

 

Yes, from what I understood, eventually only the built-in adblocker in Vivaldi may be able to bypass MV3, which would be cool if it gets the exact same capabilities as uBlock Origin. Now that I think of it, another option is to simply stop updating to newer versions of Vivaldi to avoid new versions of Chromium which will only support MV3, but then auto-updating of extensions should also be blocked. This way you can continue to use the old uBlock Origin based on MV2.

 

I can't believe it, but seems like Vivaldi sometimes has trouble loading Instagram, even when I disable extensions it happens. So seems like another annoying bug. Unless Meta has messed things up once again of course, Zuckerberg kinda sucks!

 

I like them, and at the same time I don't. It's much easier to do simple things like compose and email, since there's no need to login to a website first. But at the same time the choice to make m3 use views and not folders can be kind of maddening at first. There is no inbox in m3, which can be very frustrating. The way around that is to turn off the other views in "received."

 

Vivaldi 5.5.2805.32

The new Vivaldi speeds up your browsing and organizes your schedules with a Tasks Panel.
Vivaldi 5.5 brings in a Tasks Panel in the sidebar, easier account set-ups for the built-in Vivaldi Mail and Calendar, and Address Field improvements that enhance speed. Now available on your desktop and notebooks.
October 5, 2022
https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-5-5-on-desktop/

Spoiler: Changelog

[
Changelog

New

• [New][Calendar] Add tasks panel (VB-89974)
• [New][Mail] Use MX record for detection of mail server hostname (VB-43329)
• [New][Calendar] Improve CalDAV service discovery (VB-91354, VB-91079)
• [New][Windows] Snap layout menu on Windows (VB-82583)
• [New][Address bar] Performance improvements (VB-91176)

Address Bar

• [Address bar] Address field appears behind bookmark bar in full screen (VB-90484)
• [Address bar] Can’t close a site badge by clicking it again (VB-14343)
• [Address bar] Display bookmark title when possible for default bookmarks (VB-91257)
• [Address bar] Drag and drop selected text from end up with full URL (VB-90585)
• [Address bar] Favicon in address field doesn’t get updated once chosen (VB-88348 )
• [Address bar] Incorrect focus in URL field (VB-90430)
• [Address bar] Issues when searching dropdown items (VB-91229)
• [Address bar] Make sure IPv6 IP address brackets in URL aren’t %XX escaped when copying the URL from the address bar (VB-79398 )
• [Address bar] Mouse focus color same as keyboard focus in drop-downs (VB-91091)
• [Address bar] Typing fast makes characters disappear (VB-91114)
• [Address bar] When adding a bookmark the popup moves (VB-90567)
• [Address bar][Search] Search field history deletion not working for whitespace strings (VB-90697)
• [Address bar][Search] Unwanted forwarding to standard search engine if url =http://localhost/ (VB-68853)

Bookmarks

• [Bookmarks] Move Vivaldi Community Speed Dial bookmark to the top level (VB-91386)
• [Bookmarks] Text only setting should only display folder icon (VB-91216)
• [Speed Dial] Add Quant to defaults for France, Germany and England (VB-91655)
• [Speed Dial] Adding by URL adds wrong one (VB-91286)
• [Speed Dial] First thumbnail does not move (VB-91736)

macOS

• [macOS] Add Share submenu to main File menu (VB-3072)
• [macOS] Can’t minimize browser window with ⌘+M (VB-89950)
• [macOS] Changing the toggle images default shortcut to ⌘⇧i (VB-91462)
• [macOS] Double-clicking window edge minimizes the window so much that the window becomes unclickable (VB-90981)
• [macOS] In fullscreen, window controls are invisible but active (VB-90888 )
• [macOS] UI shifts on app menu hover in fullscreen mode on display with a notch (VB-84125)
• [macOS][Keyboard] Share to email shortcut clashes with developer tools shortcut (VB-91462)

Menu

• [Menu][Settings] Items not showing in preview box (VB-91292)
• [Menus] Wrong Menu Shortcut Indicator after renaming a command (VB-90968 )
• [Menus] “Copy without parameters” item is invisible in the menu editor (VB-90986)

Notes

• [Notes] Focus not moved to editor when creating new note in manager (VB-91373)
• [Notes] Manager duplicates note after restart (VB-91133)
• [Notes] Manager tab title is not updated when unselecting active note (VB-91379)
• [Notes][Panel] Various issues (VB-91115)

Panels

• [Panels] Dragging a web panel into the default panel section duplicates it (VB-90930)
• [Panels] Unmute Panel tooltip says “Unmute tab audio” (VB-90869)
• [Panels] Web Panels title not updating (VB-90975)

Search

• [Search] Rewrite search engine preloaded favicons code (VB-91754)
• [Search][Settings] Reset search engines dialog gets truncated in some languages (VB-89083)

Settings

• [Settings] Option to disable autocomplete on all forms: under Security and Privacy (VB-17716)
• [Settings][Menus] Display menu icons in settings (VB-90505)
• [Settings][Privacy] Add setting for hyperlink auditing (VB-52073)

Tabs

• [Tabs] Cancelled beforeunload handler blocks ever closing any tab (VB-92017)
• [Tabs] Select next or tab select previous in a stacked tab selects all the tabs instead of just the next/previous (VB-83007)
• [Tabs] Tiled Slack or Discord tabs flicker when switching (VB-56402)
• [Tabs] Wrong tabs are selected on closure (VB-90597)
• [Tabs] “Window with x Tabs” doesn’t appear in trash (VB-91385)

Themes

• [Themes] Change ‘Vivaldi’ and ‘Dark’ to have solid color backgrounds (VB-90782)
• [Themes] Imported themes are duplicated in settings (VB-91579)

User Interface

• [UI] Can not open folders with keyboard in sorted lists (VB-91325)
• [UI] Tree item title ellipsis truncation is broken (VB-91101)
• [UI] Use Alt key to expand/collapse all folders in a tree (VB-90540)

Windows

• [Windows] Dragging a link to the desktop does not work correctly (VB-91068 )
• [Windows] Second click at Vivaldi menu doesn’t close it (VB-90631)
• [Windows] System Notifications does nothing when clicked (VB-89993)
• [Windows][Crash][Media] WhatsApp web tab (VB-90720)
• [Windows][Window Management][Settings] Use native Window causes two sets of window controls (VB-91935)

Crash

• [Crash] After opening second profile (VB-91172)
• [Crash] When opening new private window (VB-90970)
• [Crash] When website changes to login screen (VB-91611)
• [Crash][Commands][Settings] Related to “Keep last typed value” (VB-91516)
• [Crash][Spatial Navigation] While moving focus and scrolling (VB-91019)
• [Crash][macOS] A “Profile error occurred” error pops up (VB-91558 )

Other

• [Capture] Area selection is broken (VB-91868 )
• [Chromium] ASUS Router convenience hostname being automatically changed to HTTPS and failing (VB-91813)
• [Chromium] Upgraded to 106.0.5249.91
• [Extensions] Popup buttons gets covered by panel (VB-91376)
• [Gestures][Settings] Preview animation speed depends on monitor refresh rate (VB-86745)
• [History] Page history shows internal URLs (VB-90893)
• [Keyboard] Tabbing gets stuck in the ‘Set as default browser’ toolbar (VB-90854)
• [Languages] Aramaic numbers are used in Kurdish locale (VB-81478 )
• [Linux][Media] Change proprietary codecs to 106.0.5249.12-108653
• [Sync] Initial notes sync can remove whole folder contents (VB-91260)
• [Toolbar] Can not access toolbar button menu using up/down arrow keys (VB-82740)

Mail, Calendar and Feeds
Mail

• [Contacts] Are not sorted by name (VB-91576)
• [Contacts] Sorting does not include mail addresses (VB-79418 )
• [Mail] Account display name added in account setup interface (VB-36352)
• [Mail] Add a setting to hide unread counter for junk
• [Mail] Auto-linking of web addresses in plain-text mode is broken by some link contents (VB-90554)
• [Mail] Date field not translated when forwarding e-mail (VB-89167)
• [Mail] Disable compose action in menus when there are no accounts set up
• [Mail] Expanding mail addresses in header is persistent and doesn’t go away when switching messages (VB-91804)
• [Mail] Filtering action: Move to archive (VB-88849)
• [Mail] Import EML, MBOX formats (VB-89899)
• [Mail] Import from Thunderbird stops on 2nd account (VB-90803)
• [Mail] Incorrect background color for “Add your first account” dialog (VB-91077)
• [Mail] Make email forgery harder (VB-48421)
• [Mail] Open image on inline image breaks message view (VB-91679)
• [Mail] Panel no longer respects order and visibility settings (VB-91490)
• [Mail] Prefetching already imported bodies (VB-81283)
• [Mail] Show different color for indented text in longer mail thread (VB-58432)
• [Mail] Undo in Mail Composer only takes back one letter (VB-91117)
• [Mail] “Focus Search Field” shortcut should also apply to mail Search (VB-91255)
• [Mail][Keyboard] Add Crtl+k shortcut to add a link to highlighted text (VB-59321)
• [Mail][Menus] Disable copy link to highlight in mail and feeds (VB-90885)
• [Mail][Panel] After adding a second account, it does not always display immediately (VB-91659)
• [Mail][Panel] Restart required to rename mailing lists folders (VB-82903)
• [Mail][Panel][Performance] Speed up (VB-90858 )
• [Mail][Welcome] Buttons should wrap when there is no space available (VB-91081)
• [Settings][Mail] Setting to hide counter on Archive folder (VB-90774)

Calendar

• [Calendar] Accept and update calendar button in meeting invitation unresponsive (VB-90918 )
• [Calendar] Add to calendar button on mail view not working (VB-91569)
• [Calendar] Calendar colors change with each server sync (VB-83419)
• [Calendar] Change current date selection after midnight (VB-91581)
• [Calendar] Connecting an iCloud account detects hidden calendars (VB-90409)
• [Calendar] Consistent highlighting of current day (VB-62449)
• [Calendar] Dismissing a reminder exits cancels maximization (VB-90202)
• [Calendar] Error updating Google tasks (VB-91132)
• [Calendar] Event editor dialog disappears past bottom window border (VB-90568 )
• [Calendar] Event rendering performance improvements (VB-90933)
• [Calendar] Exporting local calendar is not working (VB-90972)
• [Calendar] Google Calendar fails to load with the error (VB-90200)
• [Calendar] Google Task’s Description Sync from Vivaldi to Google fails (VB-91532)
• [Calendar] ICS event accepted when pending, cannot respond to accompanying invite as it is already added (VB-66775)
• [Calendar] Import status doesn’t get cleared (VB-90516)
• [Calendar] Impossible to remove date from a task (VB-91951)
• [Calendar] Invites on Dark themes have poor contrast (VB-82618 )
• [Calendar] Marking repeating task complete marks all complete (VB-90143)
• [Calendar] Problems Connecting to CalDAV with an etesync service (VB-91664)
• [Calendar] Recurring event deleted item shows notification (VB-88383)
• [Calendar] Return updated invite (VB-91554)
• [Calendar] Switching tab with editor open clears title field (VB-90955)
• [Calendar] Task with only due time incorrectly rendered in year view (VB-91780)
• [Calendar] Text gets always pasted in title when it’s empty (VB-90023)
• [Calendar] Update styling of Add New Task (VB-92020)
• [Calendar] When editing task it is not possible to toggle all day (VB-89976)
• [Calendar] iCal remote import lets you select local file (VB-91879)
• [Calendar][Linux] Date and Time in 24 Hour Format shows AM/PM (VB-79870)
• [Calendar][Tasks] Add task button does not work when no task is found in search (VB-91912)

Feed Reader

• [Feeds] Subscribe to Bikeradar feeds does not work (VB-90435)
• [Feeds][macOS][Linux] Does not update due to caching (VB-91486)

/SPOILER]

 

Vivaldi 5.5 ships with Task Panel and account improvements by Martin Brinkmann

 

Holy crap, these are all features that I have zero interest in. Why not focus more on improving the browser like a better password manager, a better adblocker, more anti-fingerprinting techniques, less RAM usage, improved tab stacking and faster website rendering, for starters.

 

As Joey Sneddon on OMG! Ubuntu! wrote: Vivaldi Web Browser Continues Adding Every Feature, Ever. Apart from the features you have interest in, that is.

 

It would be interesting to know what's driving them; perhaps their marketing research indicates that users want these kinds of features? "Under the hood" improvements that tech types like us want are less obvious and may not excite the user base...just a thought.

 

Vivaldi 5.5.2805.35

Minor update for Vivaldi Desktop Browser 5.5
This update includes improvements to URL autocompletion, some crash fixes and a minor Chromium bump.
October 7, 2022
https://vivaldi.com/blog/desktop/minor-update-5-5/

 

I have to say it's very disappointing that they have chosen this path. What also annoys me is the quite bad search function in the address-bar, when looking for bookmarks. And the stupid bookmark dialog window that you need to click away when you're adding a bookmark. How about fixing this stuff?

Why on earth did they decide to focus so much on the sidebar and on mail and calendar features? It would also be nice if they added a video downloading function, so that we don't have to use sketchy extensions and what about an automatic ''cookie consent'' dialog blocker, like Firefox and Brave?

 

Vivaldi 5.5.2805.38

Minor update (2) for Vivaldi Desktop Browser 5.5
This update includes security fixes from the Chromium project and improvements to full-screen handling on macOS and Windows.
October 13, 2022
https://vivaldi.com/blog/desktop/minor-update-two-5-5/

 

BTW, can anyone check if streamwijzer.nl loads correctly in Vivaldi? There is something weird going on with this site. Somehow Win Defender always get triggered while loading this site, the CPU will spike. This stops when you disable realtime protection. But now I have noticed that this site is never updated when I run it, so I have to manually refresh it, as if Vivaldi can only load a cached version of this site, I assume from disk.