The recent release of the proprietary browser Vivaldi 6.6, built on the Chromium engine, has been published. The Vivaldi assemblies have been prepared for Linux, Windows, and macOS. The changes made to the Chromium code base are distributed under an open license by the project. The browser’s interface is written in JavaScript using the React library, Node.js, Browserify, and various ready-made NPM modules, all under a proprietary license.
Developed by former Opera Presto developers, Vivaldi aims to create a customizable and functional browser that prioritizes user data privacy. Key features include ad and tracker blockers, note manager, history and bookmarks, private browsing mode, end-to-end encrypted sync, tab stacks, side panel, extensive settings configurator, horizontal tab display mode, and experimental built-in mail client, RSS reader, and calendar.
In the latest update:
- Extensions have been added to the web panels, allowing for navigation within these panels using the sidepanel API for development.
- The mail client now features enhanced search filters based on multiple criteria, allowing users to easily locate messages in large archives. Users can save search results as filters for automated sorting of new emails.
- Users can now force dark theme usage on all visited pages. Additionally, an option exists in the browser settings to automatically switch to a dark theme based on site support for such feature.
- All site permissions and access rights settings have been consolidated into a separate section in the configurator. The configurator automatically lists sites with individual permission settings, differentiating them from global settings.
