Vivaldi For Linux

Image a western-like scenario where a couple of web browsers walk into a bar, hats, and guns, and all that. One is the most popular, the star of the show, but somewhat wants your data. Another looks like a fox and is all about making the Internet a better place, and the third has some unique features and has an O-shaped face.

Then there's the quiet, mysterious browser in the corner of the bar with an eye-obscuring hat that minds his own business. The trio of browsers calls him out after a couple of drinks. The mysterious browser gets up and pulls out 100 guns, each loaded, each fully customizable, each perfect for pretty much every situation.

The name of the browser in question is Vivaldi, and even though "he" is not popular, everyone that meets him remembers "his" name.

If we were to pick one word to perfectly describe what Vivaldi is all about, that word would be "control." The expression "everything's an option" is pretty much spot on when used to describe Vivaldi.

A cross-platform browser built by a series of passionate Opera expatriates that's all about providing you with the ultimate control over the browsing experience. In short, the most feature-stacked browser in the world, ergo the "100 guns" metaphor from above.

Of course, Vivaldi's features are impressive, but there's one more reason why Vivaldi is so great. Strip away all the features, and Vivaldi is a Chromium browser at heart. It's fast, has no bloat, and offers top-notch security options (built-in ad-blocker, dangerous site blocker, tracking protection, and Google Safe Browsing).

Then there's the issue of privacy. Vivaldi doesn't collect anything from you apart from some basic usage information such as the version of Vivaldi you're running, your CPU architecture, a randomized ID, and the screen resolution. Check out Vivaldi's Privacy and Security page.

Even though it's dripping with features, Vivaldi is not intimidating. Flexibility is the name of the game with this browser, and you can choose to experience either a minimalist browser or a full-featured, productivity-boosting monster by enabling one of the three modes: Essentials, Classic, and Fully Loaded.

Here are a couple of features that you'll probably enjoy the most on Vivaldi: the ability to take notes while browsing and attach files or screengrabs to them, the ability to fully customize the GUI (including the position of the tabs), keyboard, and full mouse gestures, custom macros, a reader view, support for multiple profiles, and all-round synchronization (bookmarks, settings, history, etc.).

The tab management game on Vivaldi is on another level entirely. Tabs can be stacked, grouped, and tiled, meaning you can pretty much work on multiple web pages simultaneously. Other nifty tools include the in-built mail app, a calendar, a feed reader, and a private, Vivaldi-owned translation engine.

Vivaldi is one of those browsers that, if passionate about, you would spend the whole evening talking about everything it can do, and you'd still struggle to remember a few extra details you might have missed.

To sum it up, Vivaldi presses all the right buttons when it comes to privacy and security. It presses all possible buttons when it comes to features meant to offer flexibility, control, and help your workflow. It's also fast and not that resource intensive (even though we would not call it light on resources).

Vivaldi is every power user's dream, and interestingly enough, not a nightmare for beginners. One thing is for sure, there's no browser out there like Vivaldi. The sheer level of customization and control it offers is just mind-boggling.