Built-in Ad Blocker and Tracking Blocker, Status Bar Clock and more in Vivaldi Browser snapshots


Posted March 20, 2020 by vivaldi

In the latest snapshots we added new features and addressed various issues. Find out what was improved and give us your feedback.
 
The purpose of these snapshots is to allow you to preview upcoming changes and to help us ensure the quality of the latest fixes and improvements, before we add them to Beta or Final releases.

Tracking blocker
Your privacy is our ultimate goal, so we included a built-in tracking blocker. We rely on lists of well-known tracker URLs and stop requests to those URLs before they are sent. We are partnering with DuckDuckGo and using the list from their DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials browser extension. Based on DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar, it blocks most of the known trackers and should not break websites.

On Android, Tracking Blocker is disabled by default. You can enable it for specific domains through the shield icon in your address field. This means that the first time you go to the site they can track you, but they won't be able to track you after that. The shield icon also serves to indicate whether blocking is active on the current page or not. You can also enable Tracking Blocker in "Settings - Ads and Tracking Blocker - Block Trackers on all sites". Using again the shield icon you can disable it for specific sites.

Ad Blocker
For many users Tracking Blocker is enough, preventing tracking but allowing sites to generate revenue, while for others advertising is simply too intrusive and distracting, and needs to be removed. We added the ad blocker option - an additional level of protection that you can select between No Blocking, Block Trackers or Block Trackers and Ads. By using the shield icon in the address bar, you can adjust this on a site by site basis. Ultimately, how you want sites to display and what you want sites to know about you, should be your choice. You will find a new section in settings, under "Privacy - Tracker and Ad Blocking - Manage Rule Lists". This allows you to add and remove new lists and decide which ones are used for the tracking and ad blocker options elsewhere in our UI.

Tabs UI
We integrated tabs UI to Vivaldi mobile. Tabs are one of the most used components of mobile UI and making it available on the phones contributes towards improving usability. If you are not a fan of it and you prefer not to see the tab strip go to "Settings - Show Tab Strip" to disable it.

New Settings
Meet 2 more new settings: "Settings - Hide Status Bar" and "Settings - Small Speed Dials". Enable them to remove the top status bar and get smaller Speed Dial icons if you need more space on your device.

Status Bar Clock
The built in clock in the status bar allows you to quickly set alarms, either in the form of a count down or to a specific time in the future. It can be removed through the context menu.

Spatial Navigation
A new feature "Spatial Navigation" gives you the ability to navigate websites with the keyboard by holding "Shift" and using the arrow keys.

Visit vivaldi.com to try out the lates changes and let us know your thoughts.
-- END ---
Share Facebook Twitter
Print Friendly and PDF DisclaimerReport Abuse
Contact Email [email protected]
Issued By Christian Dysthe
Phone 1111111
Business Address Møllerparken 6
Country Norway
Categories Software
Tags browser , vivaldi , vivaldi browser , vivaldi technologies , web browser
Last Updated March 20, 2020