Hello, Habr!
It's always fun to work on big new projects. Here you have both a huge scope for creativity, and results visible from afar. For example, a few days ago we showed a long-awaited mail client , and in addition to it, an RSS feed reader and a calendar - it is clear that such new items immediately attract attention and delight in scale. Or another release, just last week - a new stable version of Vivaldi 3.5 for Android - also a scale and also an active interest from users. Everything is correct and everything is correct, but in fact, high-quality work is also a constant polishing of existing components, allowing you to take a fresh look at familiar things.
Tabs: moving towards the ideal
Working with browser tabs is practically the main occupation of users on the web. That is why we are constantly trying to make their use a little more comfortable, following your requests and suggestions. Today we are introducing a new option for displaying thumbnails of grouped tabs - now you can see not only thumbnails of pages, but also the domain on which they are located, as well as a description that makes it easier to find the desired page:
Using the new list view, you can individually control the playback of sound on the group tabs and also selectively close them if desired.
Before moving on to the next tab improvements, there is one more small change that needs to be said. The Settings item has moved up one level - from the Toolsto the main menu:
Well, now back to the tabs. We create them, including by opening links from the pages viewed. For this there is even a special context menu of links:
If you go to Settings (and you already know where to look for this menu item), then in the Tabs section you can find a new option:
Turn it on and check the context menu of links again:
An attentive reader will notice that one item is missing in the top section - and this is not a bug. Now by default when using the menu item Open Link in New Tab the new page will open in a background tab. Exactly the same behavior will be when using a mouse gesture or keyboard shortcut for this action. By the way, when this option is enabled, cloning of tabs will also occur in the background so that you are not distracted from your current tasks.
And one more light touch with tabs - there was an option that allows you to make the buttons for closing tabs visible Permanently . This option is in the Tabs section , which you will find in Settings , and they have moved to the main menu. Touchscreen owners should appreciate the new option.
Sending a signal to another universe
The world of desktop computers and the world of mobile devices have been divorced from each other for a long time - they were two huge Universes that existed independently. But today life is changing and the boundaries between these worlds are rapidly disappearing. For example, in the sidebar of a desktop browser, we easily place mobile versions of web pages, and now it is possible to even send links from our computer to the mobile devices of our friends. To do this, you must first enable the appropriate option in the Browser Settings (remember where this item is now?), In the Address bar section :
After that, the corresponding icon will appear in the address bar of the Vivaldi browser, when you click on it, a QR code with a link to the one you are viewing will be automatically generated page:
You can scan it with your smartphone and send it to the destination.
We increase the information content of context menus
In previous versions of Vivaldi, we started implementing the ability to edit context menus. So, for example, we could go to the Browser Settings (yes, that's right - they are now in the main menu), the Appearance section , and add a new item to the Home button :
As a result, the corresponding item appeared in the context menu of this button:
And now let's return to Settings (yes, in the main one), the Keyboard section , and assign a key combination to this action (if you can find a free one, it almost never works the first time):
Go back to the Home button and see that the key combination has appeared in the context menu next to the corresponding item :
Cutting off all unnecessary
Vivaldi uses Chromium code, so some of the built-in functions of the latter have been carried over to our browser. Someone these functions help to work more efficiently, but someone does not need them - so we added the ability to disable some of them. You can do this in Settings (namely), in the Privacy section - in fact, the section heading explains everything:
These are extensions built into the browser by one well-known and very attentive company, and not all users like such attentiveness. Therefore, you can turn them off - now it's easy to do with one click. Yes, just don't forget that the online store- this is where many install extensions from. Therefore, by disabling it, you will not be able to install new extensions. And if you turn it on, you can. Here's an unusual effect.
Movies and music without problems
In previous versions of the Vivaldi browser, one unpleasant feature came to light - on some paid services that provide access to music and films using DRM, movies were not watched, and music was not played even for money. In the new version, we found a way to avoid this annoying nuisance - from now on, Amazon Prime HD, Spotify, Netflix, Disney + and Peacock TV have restored their functionality in Vivaldi.
Just a little life hack. For Amazon Prime HD to work, you must first clear all site data. Go to the Amazon Prime video site, open the site settings menu by clicking on the lock in the address bar, select: Site settings → Delete data . After that, you will need to log in to the Amazon Prime service again.
And other improvements
This, of course, does not end the list of changes. We can note such improvements as fixing conflicts when using single-key commands and filling out forms, expanding the number of deleted items in the trash, improved work with the choice of supported languages for web pages, and much more. You can find a complete list of changes here . And to try all of the above functions (as well as a huge number of those not listed) yourself, download the browser from the official Vivaldi website .
Thank you for your help in preparing this version of the browser!