Vivaldi Browser Now Features Improved Support for Large Screens, Mouse Gestures

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/27/vivaldi-browser-now-features-improved-support-for-large-screens-mouse-gestures-and-more/

by tobiikern • 11 years ago

50 26 11 years ago

techcrunch.com

whoopdedo• 11 years ago

Nice shout-out to HN there.

The lack of Android lowers my interest in Vivaldi. If it hasn't happen already, I predict soon mobile will account for the majority of web traffic. It's also a platform that still has a lot of room for new ideas. Most features for desktop browsers I think have already been explored.

rplnt• 11 years ago

Most features for desktop browsers I think have already been explored.

And then trashed by the likes of Chrome because they want to provide similar experience as on mobile. So mobile support is the last thing I look for in a desktop browser.

Already__Taken• 11 years ago

We still just render pages into rectangles for one. Why can't I make an 'L' shape around my console for the tutorial I'm copying. Responsive design isn't done till I can do that.

kagamine5• 11 years ago

While we are on the subject, can sites that include code samples not put them in those frames/boxes with the scroll bar?

I realize that line shifts ruin the copy/paste experience but maybe just make your page wider than 450px on the main content.

And don't get me started on vertical scrolling on the same, why are you (yes, you!) making me scroll the little box vertically? Are you running out of web-page paper?

Ironic that so many tech bloggers have poor presentation of information on the web.

william20111• 11 years ago

tab stacking in the images looks amazing. And its not been explored by the current browsers. Unless you are using a third party plugins that is..

V-2• 11 years ago

I don't use it, and I won't use it for a very simple, trivial even, yet important usability related reason: there is a gap left between the tabs bar and the top edge of the screen, which is inconvenient for switching tabs.

For UI designers, if they ever wondered why Firefox or Chrome don't have this gap - old but gold: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063....

kagamine5• 11 years ago

Magnificent link, thanks. On the Apple subreddits there are occasional discussions about moving from WIn to OS X in which this issue of the static menu bar on OS X comes up. I have always preferred the OS X way, but could never explain why.

Additionally, does anyone know of *nix (preferably Linux) DE that does it the OS X way?

oblio• 11 years ago

Ubuntu/Unity?

lloeki2• 11 years ago

Magnificent link

If you're interested in this kind of stuff, may I recommend reading Designed for Use by Lukas Mathis.

does anyone know of *nix (preferably Linux) DE that does it the OS X way?

Gnome 3 does it slightly differently (menu entries get collapsed into one) and tries hard to respect Fitts's law, to the point of being quite innovative in how submenus work (they expand instead of branching in a tree). If you approach it with an open mind, it's quite nice.

KDE used to have an option to put the menubar on top. Plasma changed a lot of things, so I don't know if this still stands.

lqdc13• 11 years ago

The gap on Ubuntu is actually smaller than the same gap on Firefox/Chrome.

Incidentally, I like how you can make notes on sites. I wish there were public notes as well for each domain or maybe page. That feature of stumbleupon was great. People would add comments etc on many pages. It was a way to have essentially a reddit thread for every page without having to search for it. Too bad they got rid of it when they redesigned it a few years ago.

lloeki2• 11 years ago

Doesn't mention Fitts's law[0] at all, which is what matters here. Having a visual gap doesn't matter as long as the area is reactive: see how you can click the top left/right corners on OS X, yet the highlighted target is clearly not extending there. Same for the Dock icons, where the icons are visually perceived as being within a square, yet moving the pointer along the bottom edge still registers: although it is visually perceived as being outside the square (below the glowing dot even!), there is a logical shadow of interactivity hanging below, introducing a slight cognitive dissonance in exchange for a huge boost in usability.

This was indeed a huge complaint on Windows 95, that MS fixed later on without any visual change (98? 2000? I can't remember).

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law

thunderbong• 11 years ago

There's a very important reason as to why that gap exists. And it has to do with usability.

Earlier, when tabbed browsing happened, all the browsers, which in those days was Opera and Firefox, did NOT have the tabs right till the top. The title bar would still show which in turn would give you a gap above the tabs to move the whole browser window.

So, when you're browsing full screen and you use your mouse to drag the whole window you'll click on the top bar and move it away (which in turn would restore the window to the non-maximized size).

Then Google Chrome appeared and started using the title bar to put tabs into. I think this also had to do with Windows 7 allowing this. (I don't think this was possible in Windows XP).

Other browsers, including Opera followed. However, Opera kept usability in mind and put a 1px gap between the top edge and from where the tabs begin. So, even in full screen mode you can control the whole window using the mouse.

How did Chrome solve this problem? Their tabs were tapered, so that you'd get a gap in between to tabs to control the window. In the case of Firefox, the tabs had more rounded corners to achieve the same thing. However, Opera tabs had always been the squarest, so they decided to leave the 1px gap.

In any other browser, which allows tabs in the title bar, when in full screen mode, try to control the window by clicking the top of any tab and you'll see that it cannot work. You'll only end up holding the tab and the browser window will think you're trying to detach it.

Hope this helps.

Shorel• 11 years ago

Now give me a valid reason why this is not optional and customizable.

chr1• 11 years ago

This is unnecessarily negative. The gap allows to easily drag the window which is a useful feature too. Opera have an option to enbale/disable this gap. Vivaldi can easily add a similar option.

Grue3• 11 years ago

The typical desktop screens are pretty large now, so browsing fullscreen is rather wasteful. And if you're not fullscreen, tabs reaching the top of the window make no sense. Instead, tabs on the bottom become optimal as it minimizes the distance between content and the tabs making them easier to target (Fitt's law). The screen sizes are bound to increase even more in the future (as 4k standard becomes more widespread), so the decision to move tabs to the top is going to look increasingly silly and counterproductive.

kagamine5• 11 years ago

I tried Vivaldi on OS X last week and I have to say I was quite impressed. It had a Midori/Linux feel to it which I liked (and it didn't crash). I'm going to continue using it and see if it makes it further than that one computer.

Osiris• 11 years ago

Vivaldi is being built by former Opera developers, so you'll notice a lot of similarities like mouse gestures and the sidebar on the left (with a promised Mail client coming also). I'm actually surprised that the "new" Opera hasn't tried to build in many of the features that made the "old" Opera (12.x) so popular among its small fan base.

fredoralive• 11 years ago

Vivaldi manages to be much more Opera-ish than the current Opera, but for me it's currently at the "missing that one feature" state. I would go from my current Firefox with 20 gazillon extensions bolted on setup to Vivaldi despite that latter's current flaws (ugly as sin, no customisable toolbars etc) if only it had the "Click on tab to minimise" checkbox. I live in hope...

BFay2• 11 years ago

The most exciting thing I noticed playing around with the tech demo is that in the developer javascript console, Ctrl+U clears the line and Ctrl+L clears the screen (just like in a bash terminal).

The developer console is actually stripped straight out of Chrome, so I probably shouldn't be so excited about that...

It is a nice looking browser, too.

klibertp• 11 years ago

just like in a...

...any readline enabled CLI program (ie. mysql client, python shell and most other REPLs - and even if your program doesn't support readline directly you can rlwrap it to get those features for free).

Vivaldi Browser Now Features Improved Support for Large Screens, Mouse Gestures

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