There has been discussion here regarding the makers of the Arc browser who have explicitly stated they are shifting focus on a new browser of different design. The immediate (and obvious) concern is that as a small company, they will simply stop developing Arc – which does not bode well for the browser’s function in the ever evolving web.
I got a notice about Vivaldi and as I followed found it was on version 7 (also noted in Tidbits last fall) speaking for some commitment and progression. I downloaded it as for a trial and within 48 hrs made it my new “default” browser.
Key factor for me
– it is Chrome based (but you can minimize Google presence)
– since Arc was also, I was able to load the key extensions that made it functional for me – 1Password, raindrop.io, Print Friendly – that process took <20 min
– it has the same organizational options Arc did
>“workspaces”
> pinned windows
> left column listing instead of tabs
I am at the end of a week of full daily use and had no problems or surprises.
Obviously, may not work for everyone – but since Arc issue was raised here, I thought some might be interested in how others move forward.
Thanks! I haven’t had time to explore Vivaldi in depth yet, and Arc keeps getting minor Chromium updates that tell me they’re still paying a little attention. I’ve also made a note to check out Zen, which is very Arc-like, though based on Firefox.
Vivaldi is remarkably customizable, with the biggest preferences page I’ve ever seen on a browser. It’s like the Firefox about:config page is all in the Prefs. A minor annoyance is that if you keep a folder of links in the Bookmarks Bar, there is no Open All in Tabs item as in Firefox. You can ctrl-click on the folder and select Open in Tabs, though.
Another browser worth investigating is Orion (also Chromium based, I believe). It’s party trick is that it can use extensions from both Chrome and Firefox.
It’s never occurred to me to check out Vivaldi on the desktop (I’m so used to Firefox and Safari, and am not really missing anything), but it’s been my main browser on mobile for years.
Firefox finally got a built-in “left column listing instead of tabs”. This was possible with an extension before, but now it’s native.
I learned something the past few days that I missed initially about “Workspace”
I created one and it was automatically named “Workspace 1”
I left it. But apparently either due to the passage of time or an automatic update when I opened the program one morning, “Workspace 1” was gone – and there was no record of it in the Application Support files.
I could recreate it easily enough and now have named it formally and I think that saves it unless I delete it.
Also if you put a link in the Workspace, and then click a link you find on that page, the item you clicked on becomes what shows in the workspace. The way to keep a link fixed in the workspaces is to “Pin it” and then new links are opened outside the workspace while the link in the Workspace doesn’t change.
I’m sure those points could be obvious to some
– I offer them in case they are useful to you.
Tell me if you hit any problems
– If I experienced those and solved them, be glad to help.
I’ve been trying Vivaldi. If you create a session (a selection of tabs), you can then open the session in tabs, like Open All in Tabs. I think there’s another way of opening a collection of tabs (Tab Stacks, maybe? Can’t remember).
The Mail function in Vivaldi is quite impressive. All in all, though, I suspect Vivaldi is not gonna stick with me. At some point the multitude of options and configurations becomes a distraction. The Mail function, though powerful, has too much friction. For example, even though Vivaldi offers shortcuts (nice, as a keyboard guy I like this!), I can’t find a way to quickly navigate folders, or even to return to the Inbox, except by clicking. And this means keeping the Mail panel open. In Apple Mail I keep the folders list closed (so I have more screen real estate for viewing the message text), and use Cmd-1, Cmd-2 etc to quickly navigate to message folders. I
I don’t use the mail function offered by Vivaldi.
I have a several emails addresses I monitor separately.
Each has a pinned tab in my Vivaldi workspace and when I open that I have full control of the display as provided by the email site.