This month marks the end of my journey with Vivaldi. And what a journey it has been.
Life has its ways of making things work out, and in my case, I have been incredibly lucky and privileged to have been able to call myself a part of the Vivaldi team for the past six months.
When I got introduced to this amazing opportunity, I attacked it with an open mind and no expectations. However, I have to say that I was quite skeptical. As I mentioned in my early blog posts, I had been a Google Chrome user for as long as I could remember, and couldn’t see myself switching browsers any time soon.
From a marketing perspective, I think that working for an internet browser is a huge but fun challenge. There is no question that the browser market is a difficult one to crack – just think of the competitors!
How can you convince the average internet user – like me – to use Vivaldi?
This is the question that has stuck with me since the beginning, and I’ve worked hard to educate and inform people about the browser.
I promised myself that I would not be biased, that my experience would be authentic and that I would not ask for help on my journey discovering the browser. I wanted to communicate my honest explorations and opinion while keeping in mind how I use browsers every day – for school, work, sports, and more.
As I got to know the browser, I started writing about a few of my favorite features (though it’s safe to say there are quite a bit more than a few).
I fell in love with the Web Panel and the ability to tile tabs in a split-screen view. Those two features, combined with the appearance of the browser, were why I got genuinely interested in it, and the main reason why I will stick with Vivaldi moving forward. 🎉
Switch from Google Chrome to Vivaldi browser
I have been impressed with a lot of things regarding Vivaldi, but the process of switching from Chrome to Vivaldi was a game-changer. The switch is done so seamlessly.
Browsers today are very personal. Bookmarks, password managers, and other features make browsing so easy and efficient. It is absolutely crucial that Vivaldi is able to synchronize this when you come from other browsers.
As I got more familiar, experienced, and, frankly, impressed with Vivaldi, I started wondering why I hadn’t used it earlier. I settled on the reason that I hadn’t been introduced to Vivaldi.
Therefore, I decided to do an experiment with a good friend and fellow student, where I observed his first experience with the browser and tried to convert him to Vivaldi. In the process, I got his raw opinion. His reaction confirmed my hypotheses that Vivaldi is a better browser than most and people just need to know that it exists.
My friend uses Vivaldi today.
Comparing Vivaldi to other browsers
A couple of months into my journey, I got curious about how certain features in Vivaldi work compared to other browsers.
I wrote an article about three things that I believe work better in Vivaldi compared to Google Chrome.
The three that stood out to me were Vivaldi’s tab management, the ability to view multiple pages in split-screen, and the ability to take notes within the browser.
As I explored, I dug more into the tab management. It seems like there are endless options to manage your tabs in Vivaldi. I, like many, am used to having many open tabs at once. Vivaldi’s way of grouping tabs into Tab Stacks is absolutely unique and in my opinion genius.
I also explored how Vivaldi’s Picture-in-Picture mode and History features differ from other browsers.
Moving forward
It was never a given that I would stick to Vivaldi for everyday use.
However, after using it for a good while, this is absolutely a no-brainer. The customization possibilities and the countless features available have made my browsing so much more pleasant.
As I mentioned above, the decisive factors for sticking with Vivaldi as my main browser are the two features I use most frequently and believe really differentiate Vivaldi from other browsers. Tab Tiling and Web Panel. Out of the endless features, these stand out for me.
These two features have simply changed the way I browse. Keeping my social media in the Web Panel and being able to view multiple pages at once, are something I could never function without.
Another vital reason for sticking with Vivaldi is the team’s motivation and will for improvement. Having seen Vivaldi from the “inside”, I know how much work goes into making Vivaldi. The ability and will to optimize performance and add exciting features are astonishing.
An example of the team’s constant need to improve and innovate is the addition of Mail and Calendar. In my opinion, this is such a great addition, and the mission to optimize one window with multiple tasks is alive and well.
Being able to do the majority of your work within the browser so seamlessly is impressive, and I now believe this is the way to move forward.
To wrap up, I think that optimization and efficiency are key in today’s world. They should be prioritized by any company, regardless of industry.
I am so thankful for my time with Vivaldi and the experience I gained.
If you ask me to describe Vivaldi with two words, I’d go with optimization and efficiency.
