Opera Software co-founder and former CEO Jon von Tetzchner has released the first post-beta version of a brand-new Web browser called Vivaldi that he hopes will appeal to the Web’s “most demanding users”. The software, called Vivaldi, has been in public development for more than a year.
“While other browsers strip down their offerings, Vivaldi adds features and powerful personalisation options to help the Web’s most demanding users increase their productivity and efficiency,” the company said in a statement.
“Millions of people have already agreed that they want a better browser, one that puts them in control. Everything we build is in service of the user,” said Von Tetzchner in the statement.
“We have no investors and their agendas to dictate our progress. There’s no exit strategy and we’re here to stay.”
Vivaldi Technologies is owned by its employees. It is headquartered in Oslo, Norway with offices in Reykjavik in Iceland as well as in Boston and Palo Alto in the US.
The free Web browser can be downloaded from the Vivaldi website.
Vivaldi offers a number of features that its developers hope will attract power users. They include, the developers said:
Tab stacks: “Drop tabs on top of each other to create a stack. It’s the fastest way to reduce clutter and keep organised. And when you’re ready to switch between tabs, Vivaldi has a number of customisations for that, too.”
Tab stack tiling: “Have a big screen? Tile that tab stack and see multiple pages at the same time. With multiple tab stacks, it is like having multiple desktops.”
Sessions: “Save your favorite set of tabs as a session for later retrieval.”
Notes: “Mark that quote and save it as a note. Vivaldi can remember which site you were browsing at the time, and allow you to take screenshots as well.”
Quick commands: “Access open tabs, bookmarks, history, settings and more through a command interface.”
Mouse gestures and keyboard shortcuts: “Mouse gestures turn a flick of the wrist into almost any action in the browser. Keyboard shortcuts do the same with simple key combinations.”
Speed dial: “Your favorite sites and bookmarks easily accessible from any blank tab. Include groups and folders for even more speed dials.”
Better bookmarks: “Access your bookmarks from the bookmarks panel, bookmarks manager, bookmarks bar and speed dial.”
Web panels: “Browse tweets, Facebook posts or chat alongside your primary browsing window.”
Vivaldi supports Chrome add-ons, too. For those more technically minded, it uses React and JavaScript, as well as Node.js. The core of the browser uses Chromium. — (c) 2016 NewsCentral Media
