Vivaldi is a pretty good option for Linux users. They focus on Linux as one of the first-party platforms, which is impressive.
With Vivaldi 5.0 release, it proved to be a versatile Chromium-based option for many Linux users. Now, Vivaldi 5.1 is finally here!
As a browser popularized by its powerful multitasking functionality, this release should be interesting.
Let’s dive in!
New Features In Vivaldi 5.1
Note that Vivaldi is almost an open-source browser with its source code available, except its UI.
Just like its previous 5.0 release, this version brings several key improvements, including:
- Scrollable tabs
- New reading list
- New start page quick settings panel
Scrollable Tabs
With Vivaldi 5.1, you do not need to shrink all your tabs necessarily when you have a lot of them. You can simply scroll through the tabs without shrinking them.
Considering you have the tab bar on top or bottom, this should let you navigate tabs by scrolling your mouse or using the arrow keys.
I’m sure many people will be pleased to hear that this can be combined with Vivaldi’s tab stacking feature, allowing for easier finding of tabs. Yes, you can scroll through tabs on both levels.
This brings Vivaldi’s horizontal tabs up to scratch with its vertical tabs, which have always supported scrolling.
Reading List
As reading the news starts to feel like a full-time job, the inclusion of a reading list seems apt. While this has been achieved through browser extensions previously, it is built right into the browser significantly increases its convenience and usefulness.
This inclusion seems to be a continuation of Vivaldi’s constant push to add new services to its browser, replacing several common extensions and competing with the likes of Pocket on Firefox.
You can access/add pages to the reading list using keyboard shortcuts or mouse gestures.
Quick Settings For The Start Page
The start page has always been a key part of web browsing, and users have been customizing it for many years. Unfortunately, this often required diving deep into settings menus to find the necessary options.
Now, this is set to change thanks to Vivaldi’s new start page quick settings panel. As a result, all the settings related to the start page are in one place, significantly improving the user experience.
You can access the quick settings through the gear icon in the top-right corner of the startpage.
Other Changes
In addition to these changes, there are various bug fixes and subtle improvements to improve the translation, mail, calendar, and feed reader.
You can go through the changelog in the announcement post to know more about the technical improvements.
There are also new additions to the Android version, including the ability to tweak tab width and choose more colors. You can read more about it in their blog post.
Getting Vivaldi 5.1
If all these new features appeal to you, download Vivaldi 5.1 from its official website. If you are on Debian, Ubuntu, or Fedora, it’s as simple as downloading the appropriate package from Vivaldi’s website.
It also offers AMR packages for 64-bit and 32-bit systems.
For other distros, you will, unfortunately, have to wait for Vivaldi 5.1 to land in your distro’s repositories, considering there’s no Flatpak or Snap package available for it.
Overall, I think Vivaldi 5.1 is a massive improvement and might convince me to switch.
What do you think about the changes introduced in Vivaldi 5.1? Let us know in the comments below!
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