The web browser war is ruled by Google Chrome. While others have no chance in terms of popularity, Vivaldi fights with its uniqueness.
The company of the same name behind the browser has announced the major release of Vivaldi 5.0, in which the version is introducing some features and improvements to users on Windows, Mac and Linux. But most notably in this version, is the changes that are focused on mobile experiences on Android devices.
Version 5 of the browser is giving a special attention Android, in which the browser is improving web browsing experience on larger screens, like tablets.
This is something even Google hasn't managed to do with Chrome.
In fact, the last time Google focused on tablet experience, was through Android Honeycomb in 2011.
With Vivaldi 5.0, Vivaldi wants to address complaints from people who said that experiences on tablets have long been universally subpar if compared to smartphones.
With Vivaldi 5.0, the browser wants to offer a unique and a better web browsing experience that is specifically tailored to Android tablets.
First and foremost, is the tab stacking feature.
Available on both mobile and tablets, tab stacking allows users to stack tabs in a second row that is nested beneath the primary tab.
To create a new tab stack, users need to long-press the 'New Tab' button to open that tab in a second row beneath the primary tab. When users switch to another top-level primary tab, the second row of tabs will be hidden, in a way that the row gets a kind of hollow, outlined look to let users know that there are multiple tabs nested under it.
Faster way to do this, is by dragging and dropping tabs within the tab-switching page.
On larger screens, tablet stacking should be useful, since there is more room to place the elements.
The next big thing, is Vivaldi's various panels.
The panels which give quick access to bookmarks, history, notes, and downloads, have been designed to look like actual side panels. This design approach is similar to Vivaldi on desktop.
Knowing that side panels occupy the width of the screen, Vivaldi version 5 only shows the panels on desktop on tablet, and not on mobile phones.
Having the panels on the sidebar should make browsing a bit swifter.
The panels should become practically useful for users who frequently create notes, for example. With the side panels, users can browse through their list while still browsing the web page they are currently in.
Then, there is a more flexible tab bar.
Vivaldi 5.0 allows both tablet and smartphone users to place it at the top or at the bottom of the screen.
Users can also add Close buttons for background tabs and choose to show tabs as favicons only, which gets rid of the page title for a cleaner look.
And then, there is the dark mode, which allows users to set a dark theme, but only for specific pages.
While Vivaldi 5.0 focuses on mobile and particularly on tablet, the browser isn't forgetting its desktop users.
Users using the browser on their desktop computers get a translation panel, and also support for theme sharing.
The translation feature that is built-in to the browser has been rolled out in the previous versions of Vivaldi. But in this version 5 of the browser, Vivaldi is introducing a dedicated translate panel that users can access.
Making things even more convenient, Vivaldi 5.0 allows users to set the translation feature to automatic, so the browser would translate any text they select.
At this time, translations are provided by LingvaNex, which supports 108 languages.
And for last, Vivaldi 5.0 also allows users to download user-generated themes from its themes website.