FileHippo News

The latest software and tech news

Vivaldi could be the best internet browser most people have never heard of. And that’s hardly surprising, as in internet terms, it’s relatively new.... Vivaldi Browser: Better Than Chrome? Is It The Next Big Thing?

Vivaldi could be the best internet browser most people have never heard of.

And that’s hardly surprising, as in internet terms, it’s relatively new. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try it out. You really should, as it’s rather good.

Vivaldi is a feature rich web browser that excels at customization, with an initial interface reminiscent of Opera and is based on the same Chromium based open-source platform that runs Chrome. This is a browser built from the ground up to deliver a distinctly individual user experience.

Vivaldi looks great and is all about giving you the ability to cookie-cutter your browser whatever way you want

Fast and customizable

Vivaldi is fast, there’s no denying that fact; but then most browsers are pretty fast these days, so that’s not such a surprise. Where it comes into its own however, is the way it allows for distinct personalization, allowing you to setup and customize the interface of the browser to your own needs and desires.

Customization is the key factor where Vivaldi is concerned. It is in that sense, unique among other browsers. Unless you choose not to change any of the default options after installing Vivaldi, literally no two users of Vivaldi will look the same.

Put simply, Vivaldi looks great and is a serious contender as much as any pretender to Google-Chrome’s throne is ever likely to be.

Vivaldi has a fresh and original feel

Versatile and easy to use

Of course, one of the major benefits of using the Chromium engine means that Vivaldi should work with any extension from the Chrome Web Store. Yay! Basically if it works in Chrome, it will work in Vivaldi.

When using Vivaldi for the first time, users are taken through an initial setup process that lets them arrange all the different parts of their browser in whatever way they see fit. Users get to choose where the tabs and address bar go, and even get to decide whether the browser tabs are shown at the top of the page or in a separate side-panel. There’s also a really nice selection of themes, the best one changes the color of all the borders and tabs to match the dominant color on whatever web-page you’re on.

Power-users

Cool effects and transitions aside, the browser has clearly been designed with power-users in mind, as the Quick Commands tool shows. This helps the user to search or run commands in much the similar manner to OS X’s Spotlight feature.

Admittedly though, that power-user angle could put some less ‘advanced’ users feeling a bit lost and confused. Vivaldi, while undeniably brilliant, could overwhelm users who just want to Google stuff, surf the web and check Facebook with the sheer abundance of options. Hopefully the team behind Vivaldi will work on the accessibility factor in future releases.

Conclusions

Overall, if you’re after a new browser that feels fresh, new and original, it’s worth giving Vivaldi a go. It’s 100% free, built by a large contingent of the same people who gave us the excellent Opera browser, so you can’t really go wrong. Vivaldi browser is fast, looks great, and isn’t hard on system resources.

You can download and try out Vivaldi, here.