In my previous post, I described in some (perhaps too much) detail how I came to this browser. Was the journey worth it? Well – yes, but with a couple of reservations. Let me explain.
My initial view, taken on my first encounter a few months ago, was that it offered much more than I really needed. To be clear: I’m what is known as an End User, which is to say I want my system, or browser, or email, or whatever, as simple to set up and use as possible. For me it’s a bit like choosing a car: I want it to look decent, be easy to drive and maintain, and comfortable. I neither know nor care nor even understand most of what goes on under the bonnet to make it run, and I don’t really see a need to. As long as I can find the dip-stick to check if my oil needs topping up, find the cap where the stuff goes if I need to top it up, ditto anti-freeze and screen-wash, and know whether to fill up with Unleaded or Diesel fuel, plus what the right tyre pressures are, then I’m good to go. I expect to turn the key, hear that satisfying growl as the engine sparks up first time, and I’m good to go.
That, essentially, is how I want my computer to work. I switch it on and everything boots up automatically and works……my operating system (good old Windows 10) does just that, with no fuss or frills, in perhaps 30 seconds. I know the thing has been criticised ad infinitum in tech journals and forums ever since it dropped to replace W7, but I have to say I have never had a day’s trouble with it. Updates drop, I install, and carry on as before. I can’t upgrade to 11, but that’s because it’s an old-ish laptop so lacks the technical grunt to upgrade, but I’m not bothered – it still works fine and I think will do for a while yet – I’ll just get 11 when I replace The Beat at some point in the future. No rush.
So I want my browser to do that, too. Just open when I launch, and do what it’s supposed to, with the minimum of fuss, extensions or add-on’s.
So far, Vivaldi is doing just that – but then, as I wrote in the last post, so does my Chromium Edge browser, that I’ve been firmly wedded to, and singing the praises of, for these last two or three years. Slight caveat: the Windows Defender suite, while doing pretty much what I expect in terms of cookie protection and stuff, there is no ad-blocking so I had to download an extension: the Windows shop has loads of ad-blockers and I went for AdBlock Plus, simply because it was first on the list. It’s worked fine, no issues – though whether as effectively as Vivaldi’s built in tool I can’t judge as there are no stats to tell me, at least that I can find. By contrast, as I write, and bearing in mind that neither the laptop nor browser are active 24/7, the count on my home page shows that well over 38,000 trackers and close to 18,000 ads have been blocked in the month or so I’ve been using Vivaldi. I am truly astonished by those numbers! But it’s very much a BIG PLUS for Vivaldi….
What else? Well, the look and feel is good, I made some set up changes to get close to how I’ve been using Edge but nothing major. I was already using vertical tabs, so the open ones showing on the panel at the left of my screen is no big surprise, but there is a little difference. In Edge I’ve set a selection of sites I use pretty much daily to open up automatically, with one particular showing as my Home. Their icons are what show in that left side panel. They sleep when I’m not looking at them but open immediately I click on an icon. I like that. By contrast, in Vivaldi I’ve set that same set of websites as speed dials and I have to say I’m not convinced. Although in the Settings I’ve defined the tile size as Tiny, they are a good 3cm X 2.5cm – which, sorry, is not tiny in my book! – and instead of just showing, for instance, the icon of Facebook, or the BBC or whatever (as I get in Edge) I get a picture of the current web-page, very tiny indeed, in the tile with the icon and URL underneath the tile. It works fine and I’m kind of used to it, but with 16 Speed Dials defined it takes up a lot of screen real estate. I’ve played around in settings, but can’t see any way of changing that appearance.
It’s a shame, because Vivaldi has a great selection of themes to choose from but all of them are largely obscured by the Speed Dial tiles. For that reason, I’ve gone for a fairly random patterned theme rather than one of the lovely landscapes and so on that are on offer. Again, as a contrast, on Edge when I launch a new tab I get a picture of my own picture choice as my background (currently a rather lovely photo I took in a local forest on a mushroom foraging trip a few weeks back: I have others to choose from) unencumbered by the Quick Link (i.e. Speed Dial) tiles that I defined there. Much nicer. Incidentally, the Edge tiles are just 1.5cm squares containing only the site icon, with the site name (not URL) below, and can be hidden to open up the entire background (theme) picture. That is what I want from Vivaldi, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know!
Beyond that small niggle I’m very happy. Navigation is simple, sites open very quickly and videos on You Tube and elsewhere play well and look good. I rarely use the Panel to the right of my screen, with the various system short-cuts, except to open the Mail and Calendar tools, and now and then Wiki, so I’ve hidden it.
The newer additions (I believe) like Mail and Calendar I’ve set up, and I like them a lot. They’re not that different, in terms of set up and functionality, to others mail clients I’ve tried, and pretty much identical to the same apps on Edge. The big difference and advantage to me is that they are baked into the browser rather than separate apps that need to be launched individually – everything is in one place and I can get at them from a single icon on my W10 taskbar rather from multiple icons.
So all in all, I’m very happy with it. I’ve not tried some of the productivity tools, like Tab Stacks etc, because to be honest I don’t really see a use them. Now I’m retired I really don’t need all these tools: I have LibreOffice for my writing, I rarely have more than two or three tabs open at any given time, so for me there is no real benefit. Remember the KISS principal (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) – it is my basis for what I do and how I do it these days.
Oh……and I nearly forgot: loving the Community ethic that comes with using Vivaldi and setting up an account, I think it’s a great idea, and a great way to see what other people are doing and thinking via the user blogs…….as you can see! But I would like to see tweaks to that, too. First, I don’t quite understand why I have to view and approve a Comment that someone has made in response to a post before anyone can see it: in my view blogging is all about feedback and conversation, and I can’t think of a better way of stifling that than having to approve a Comment. Sure, keep the option to Delete something if you don’t like it but just post the Comment! I’m a big boy already, been blogging for 12 years elsewhere and really welcome any feedback or criticism, good and bad, I won’t be offended. Second, I’m still not quite sure how I can invite someone to Like or Follow me – I’ve done so with a few blogs I’ve looked at so far, but for me it’s a little clumsy and needs simplifying (or explaining how I can prompt or invite).
Will I keep Vivaldi this time, and more pertinently use it as my daily driver? Yes and yes…..but I’d still love to be able to do something about those damned Speed Dial tiles!
