Vivaldi (web browser)

Vivaldi

Vivaldi 1.0 on GNOME
Slogan A browser for our friends[1]
Developer(s) Vivaldi Technologies
Initial release April 6, 2016 (2016-04-06)
Stable release 1.6.689.34 (December 15, 2016 (2016-12-15)[2]) [±]
Preview release 1.6.689.32 (December 13, 2016 (2016-12-13)[3]) [±]
Development status Active
Operating system Windows 7 and newer, OS X, Linux
Engine Blink
Platform IA-32, x86-64
Available in 47 languages[4]
Type Web browser
License Proprietary freeware with open-source components
Website vivaldi.com

Vivaldi is a freeware, cross-platform web browser developed by Vivaldi Technologies, a company founded by Opera Software co-founder and former CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Tatsuki Tomita.[5][6] The browser is aimed at staunch technologists, heavy Internet users, and previous Opera web browser users disgruntled by Opera's transition from the Presto layout engine to the Blink layout engine, which removed many popular features in the process.[5][7] Vivaldi aims to revive the old, popular features of Opera 12 and introduce new, more innovative features.[8] The browser is updated weekly, in the form of "Snapshots", and has gained popularity since the launch of its first technical preview.[9]

On November 3, 2015, Vivaldi Technologies launched the first beta of the Vivaldi web browser and announced that the browser's technical previews had been downloaded more than 2 million times.[10][11]

On April 6, 2016, Vivaldi Technologies released Vivaldi 1.0, the browser's first stable release.[12]

History

Vivaldi began as a virtual community website that replaced My Opera, which was shut down by Opera Software in March 2014.[13] Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner was angered by this decision because he believed that this community helped make the Opera web browser what it was. Tetzchner then launched the Vivaldi Community—a virtual community focused on providing registered users with a discussion forum, blogging service, and numerous other practical web services—to make up for My Opera's closure. Later, on January 27, 2015, Vivaldi Technologies launched—with the community in mind[14]—the first technical preview of the Vivaldi web browser.[9] Its name comes from the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, which according to one of its creators, is an easy name to be remembered and understood worldwide.[6]

Features

Vivaldi 1.0.228.3 displaying the Wikipedia homepage in its "Chromeless UI" mode

Design and customizability

Vivaldi has a minimalistic user interface with basic icons and fonts, and a color scheme that changes based on the background and design of the web page being visited.[15] The browser also allows users to customize the appearance of UI elements such as background color, overall theme, address bar and tab positioning, and start pages.[16] According to CEO Jon von Tetzchner, Vivaldi's vast, unique customizability is a huge part of how the browser caters to power users.[17]

Usability

Vivaldi features the ability to "stack" and "tile" tabs, annotate web pages, and add notes to bookmarks.[18][19] Furthermore, users can place digital bookmarks on a "speed dial" page for quick access and harness "quick commands" to search bookmarks, browsing history, open tabs, and settings.[20] Vivaldi is built around and based on web technologies such as HTML5, Node.js, React.js, and numerous NPM modules.[21] As of Technical Preview 4, Vivaldi also supports numerous mouse gestures for actions like tab switching and keyboard activation.[17] Vivaldi can also be set to a "Chromeless UI", which gives users more screen real-estate and the ability to focus on a single page without distractions.[22]

Version history

Future additions

Vivaldi Technologies is planning to release a service called "Vivaldi Sync," which will allow users to synchronize their bookmarks, history, passwords and settings across different computers. Also, the company hopes to integrate the email client "M3" into a future version of Vivaldi.[23] The developers are planning to release their own extension platform for Vivaldi.[24] The browser has support for Google Chrome browser extensions as of July, 2015.[25]

Market share

Desktop/laptop browser statistics
Google Chrome
  
 63.19%
Mozilla Firefox
  
 14.59%
Internet Explorer
  
 9.73%
Safari
  
 5.29%
Microsoft Edge
  
 3.06%
Opera
  
 2%
Yandex Browser
  
 0.48%
Coc Coc
  
 0.37%
UC Browser
  
 0.25%
Maxthon
  
 0.19%
Chromium
  
 0.17%
Sogou Explorer
  
 0.15%
360 Secure Browser
  
 0.12%
QQ Browser
  
 0.1%
Mozilla Suite
  
 0.05%
Pale Moon
  
 0.04%
Phantom
  
 0.03%
Microsoft-WebDAV
  
 0.03%
SeaMonkey
  
 0.03%
Vivaldi
  
 0.03%
Amigo
  
 0.03%
Iron
  
 0.02%
Other
  
 0.07%
Desktop web browser market share according to StatCounter for October 2016.[26]

Reception

Ars Technica reviewer Scott Gilbertson wrote about version 1.0 in April 2016. He praised its innovative features, such as its tab handling, while noting that it will most likely remain a niche browser and not see widespread uptake.[27]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stephenson von Tetzchner, Jon (2015). "Vivaldi: Our Story". Vivaldi. Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Lighten up your Day with Vivaldi Browser". Vivaldi Blog. 2016-11-22. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  3. ↑ Ødegaard, Ruarí. "Vivaldi 1.5RC 4 - Vivaldi Browser snapshot 1.5.658.42". Vivaldi Blog. Archived from the original on 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  4. ↑ Shpankov, Ilya (April 15, 2015). "Localization: We did it together!". Vivaldi Blog. Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Shankland, Stephen (January 27, 2015). "Ex-Opera CEO composes Vivaldi, a new Web browser". CNET. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 27, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Vivaldi: testamos o navegador de internet que tem personalização completa". Tecmundo (in Portuguese). Grupo NZN. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Minic, Ivan (February 10, 2015). "Jon S. von Tetzchner: We will (re)create a browser you love.". Medium.
  8. ↑ Gilbertson, Scott (March 6, 2015). "Hands-on with Vivaldi, the new Web browser for power users". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Dagenborg, Joachim (February 6, 2015). "Vivaldi browser hits 500,000 downloads in first 10 days". Reuters. Oslo, Norway. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  10. ↑ Tomita, Tatsuki (November 3, 2015). "Vivaldi launches its first beta". Vivaldi Technologies. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  11. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (November 3, 2015). "Vivaldi Browser Hits Beta After More Than 2M Downloads". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  12. ↑ Andrii, Degeler (April 6, 2016). "Vivaldi 1.0 tries to reverse web browser simplification trend". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  13. ↑ Shankland, Stephen (January 23, 2014). "Ex-CEO picks up where Opera left off, launching Vivaldi site". CNET. CBS Interactive.
  14. ↑ "The Vivaldi Community is driving the Vivaldi browser development". Vivaldi.com. Twitter. January 29, 2015.
  15. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (March 8, 2015). "Vivaldi Is Quickly Becoming The Alternative Browser To Beat". TechCrunch.
  16. ↑ Brinkmann, Martin (June 2, 2015). "Latest Vivaldi snapshot introduces interface scaling". Ghacks. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  17. 1 2 Frederic, Lardinois (July 16, 2015). "Vivaldi Browser Gets New Customization Options, Mouse Gestures And Experimental Chrome Extension Support". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  18. ↑ Williams, Owen (April 28, 2015). "Latest Vivaldi browser preview brings useful tab stacking feature and more". The Next Web.
  19. ↑ Paul, Ian (April 28, 2015). "This is neat: You can stack and tile browser tabs in the Vivaldi beta browser for power users". PCWorld.
  20. ↑ Clarke, Victor (January 27, 2015). "Vivaldi Browser: a Quick Look at the Opera Successor". hackerspace.lifehacker.com. LifeHacker. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  21. ↑ Williams, Owen (January 27, 2015). "Meet Vivaldi, a new browser from the former CEO of Opera". The Next Web.
  22. ↑ Ødegaard, Ruarí (July 17, 2015). "Snapshot 1.0.228.3 - With Chromeless UI". Vivaldi Technologies.
  23. ↑ Moore, Charles (May 29, 2015). "Hands-on with new Vivaldi browser from creators of Opera". Technology Tell. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Vivaldi Extensions - Interview With Vivaldi Co-Founder". Extension-Zone. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  25. ↑ Williams, Owen (2015-07-16). "Sick of Chrome? Vivaldi can now run your favorite extensions". Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  26. ↑ "Top 5 Desktop browser on Oct 2016". StatCounter. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  27. ↑ Gilbertson, Scott. "Even at 1.0, Vivaldi closes in on the cure for the common browser". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
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