Massive code refactoring brings speed to Vivaldi

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Over the years, some of you have reported that the opening of new windows was not fast enough. But not anymore!

Our new version on desktop – Vivaldi 6.2 – is now faster, especially when you open a new window. By rendering browser windows through React portals, we’ve unlocked new possibilities, reduced memory usage, and significantly improved overall performance. 

Upgrade to Vivaldi 6.2 today on your desktop and notebooks, and enjoy faster and more efficient window creation. 

We’ve also rolled out a new version on Android phones, tablets, and Chromebooks, today.

What is Portal Windows and its effects?

Portal Windows derived from React, a Javascript Framework, allows for a more efficient sharing of running code between windows. 

Vivaldi’s codebase, which dates back to 2013, uses React to develop its desktop User Interface. To implement Portal Windows, we took on a daunting multi-layered project that has been in development for several years now. 

The implementation of Portal Windows in the browser represents a fundamental shift in how Vivaldi handles multiple windows. The aim was to reduce memory and CPU usage so that we could address bugs and implement improvements that were previously challenging or impossible. 

Vivaldi developer, André Schultz who has worked extensively on this project says, “Windows has a new architecture with one UI document as compared to the old way where each window had a separate document. All actions needed a target window so this had to be added as the old way was done in the documents window. This called for a huge refactoring of code. As a result, we now just run one script context for all windows, of the same profile. Private Windows run in a separate context.”

In order to get a deep technical understanding of the React Portal, here is a recommended read. 

The effects of Portal Windows are noteworthy. The introduction of the Window Panel, which initially displayed only the state of tabs in the current window, has now evolved into a multi-window panel, Windows Panel that was recently introduced. 

Now you can effortlessly navigate tabs across different windows, thanks to the code refactoring achieved through Portal. 

Additionally, not long ago, we made our Pop-up Windows (you know those small, not irritating at all, windows that are created/initiated by websites) portal-based, resulting in them appearing and being faster. 

Experience a new window open much faster. 

You can now bid farewell to the slow process of opening new windows. Whether you use Shortcuts, Menus, or Quick Commands, the portal-aware functionality ensures a noticeable increase in speed when opening a new window.

During internal tests, we observed a 37% improvement in the opening of new windows compared to the previous version. Even when compared to an older 2018 version of the browser, windows now open a remarkable 64% faster. These results were achieved with a new profile on a machine equipped with a 2GHz Intel Core i3 processor.

The exact speed increase will depend on your setup but it should be noticeable for most people.

Looking ahead, the Portal work opens up many possibilities and flexibility for us, and for you. We have exciting plans in the pipeline, including the ability to move Mail tabs between windows, a feature that was previously not possible.

There’s more in Vivaldi 6.2 

In this update, we’ve also got some more interesting additions to the browser for a more powerful and personal experience:

• Address Field suggestions: You now have the freedom to prioritize the order of the drop-down menu, tailoring it to your specific needs. By heading to the Address Bar Settings, you can choose to hide categories and select their priority. Whether it’s bookmarks, typed history, nicknames, browser history, or search, we’ll always want you to make your browsing experience more personal.

• Geolocation services make a comeback on MacOS: By utilizing MacOS’ built-in CoreLocation system, powered by Apple Location Services, Vivaldi for MacOS now matches the functionality of its Windows counterpart, which uses the built-in Microsoft Location Service. This is useful when you want a website to provide you with a local map, route, or suggest a nearby restaurant or hotel.
  
• Clear browsing data button: This handy button in the History panel allows you to quickly purge your recent or entire browsing history and data. With just a click, you can maintain your privacy and keep your browsing experience clutter-free.

• The Feed Reader is now more discoverable: As we believe in the open web and open standards, we’ve made the news feeds more discoverable now, with feeds being detected on more websites. Click the Feed Reader icon in the Address Field to follow updates from most of your favorite news publishers and blogs right in Vivaldi. More here.

Additions to Vivaldi Mail 1.7 

• New Mail filters: These filters aim for a better user experience. By default, the “Vertical Layout” now features a drop-down menu with textual descriptions, ensuring you can easily differentiate between similar-looking icons with different functionalities.
  
  However, if you prefer individual icons, you still have the option to display them. By navigating to “Settings → Mail Settings → Filter View Buttons,” you can customize your Mail filters to suit your preferences.
  
  For the Horizontal and Vertical Wide Layouts, we have more space and can therefore use text labels to describe each view filter without the need for a drop-down, but again you can just set it to “icons only” if you find that neater.

• Support FastMail OAuth login method: You can seamlessly log in to their Fastmail accounts using the OAuth login method, eliminating the need for app-specific passwords. This integration streamlines the login process and ensures a secure and convenient experience for FastMail users.

Download Vivaldi 6.2 now! 

We have been listening to you — both praises and complaints. And we assure you that performance and user satisfaction are our priority. We regularly introduce new features and enhancements but there are certain projects that require more time and effort to yield tangible results. 

The Portal project represents a monumental undertaking, and we are immensely proud of what we have achieved. We hope both existing and new users will appreciate the difference brought about by introducing Portal. 

For now, upgrade to Vivaldi 6.2 and share your feedback with us. For more details, the changelog is below! 

Changelog 6.2

New

• [New][Portal] Enable Browser windows in Portal by default (VB-98481)
• [New][Address Field][Settings] Customize drop-down category prioritization (VB-92814)
• [New][Geolocation][macOS] Enable native CoreLocation/Apple Location Service (VB-64414)
• [New][History][Panels] Add a Clear Browsing Data button (VB-98708)
• [New][Mail][Calendar] Support FastMail OAuth login method (VB-97422)
• [New][Mail] View Filters are confused for being a Mail Action Toolbar (VB-95308)

Address Bar

• [Address Bar] Keep best result when typing new text (VB-96015)
• [Address Bar] Remove dropdown category “From …” (VB-98029)
• [Address Bar][Settings] Disabling “Search in Address Field” and Autocomplete is not working as intended (VB-97928)
• [Address Bar] Best/top result not updated when pasting (VB-98423)
• [Address Bar] Can not Undo (Ctrl+Z) after pasting (Ctrl+V) in the Address Field (VB-98733)
• [Address Bar] Do not auto-complete on known redirects (except typed history items) (VB-96345)
• [Address Bar] Address field text does not align (VB-99208)
• [Address Bar] Cannot drag and drop from textbox on web page to search box (VB-87410)
• [Address Bar] Ctrl+Enter use typedUrl instead of autocomplete value (VB-99136)
• [Address Bar] Emojis as favicons appear blank (VB-81544)
• [Address Bar] Engine icon is often not displayed in search field (VB-94157)
• [Address Bar] Search Field dropdown remains opened (VB-98720)
• [Address Bar] Text drag-over lacks highlight styling (VB-99335)
• [Address Bar] Trailing slashes are removed from URLs (VB-94032)
• [Address Bar][Bookmarks] Bookmark nicknames trigger search sometimes (VB-99105)
• [Address Bar][Bookmarks] Display folder nickname (VB-98925)

Bookmarks

• [Bookmarks] Bookmarking on Youtube saves the wrong name and description (VB-90350)
• [Bookmarks] Need tooltips for bookmarks panel when the title is too long to be displayed (VB-32884)
• [Bookmarks] URL is displayed twice for non
• [Bookmarks] URL is displayed twice for non https protocol (VB-99093)
• [Bookmarks] URL stored in title field (VB-55938)
• [Bookmarks] Wrong placeholder at creation (VB-99094)

Downloads

• [Downloads][Panels] The Remove All Finished button constantly cycles between on/off while downloading (VB-98500)
• [Downloads][Panels] Use decimal SI units instead of legacy binary units (VB-98728)
• [Downloads][Panels] Various performance improvements
• [Downloads][Panels] Google Safe Browsing causes downloading to get struck (VB-96539)

History

• [History] Dates are out of order (VB-99506)
• [History] Shows [History] Shows http entry after
• [History] Shows http entry after https entry on a redirect (VB-26114)
• [History] Sorted by date not listed in correct order (VB-99167)
• [History] Two entries as you click links (VB-99148)

Keyboard

• [Keyboard] Cycling focus stuck when tab bar is hidden (VB-95976)
• [Keyboard] F6 focus cycling stuck (VB-95976)
• [Keyboard] Focus Panel Controls has stopped working (VB-93688)

macOS

• [macOS] Fullscreen state has extra space (VB-96235)
• [macOS] Title bar is shown when window is in fullscreen (VB-96235)
• [macOS][Media] Poor video performance (VB-81757)

Menus

• [Menus] In the event of corruption, better handle reset to defaults (VB-98722)
• [Menus] The Vivaldi button uses the wrong background color in combined Address Bar mode (VB-98312)
• [Menus] Update the Report a Problem link (VB-98537)
• [Menus] layout can be out of sync with UI language (VB-99272)
• [Menus][Bookmarks][Windows][Linux] Bookmark menu does not layout correctly (VB-99378)
• [Menus][Keyboard] Shortcuts for Japanese UI gone after renaming (VB-98661)

Notes

• [Notes] Blockquotes are not rendered correctly (VB-99468)
• [Notes] Can display the “Write your first note” message again when there notes present (VB-98901)
• [Notes] Checkboxes display a bullet point as well (VB-99376)
• [Notes] Clicking new note creation notification is not working properly (VB-99312)
• [Notes] Deleted from the notes panel are not deselected from the notes manager (VB-98902)
• [Notes] Editor always uses white background (VB-98723)
• [Notes] Scrolling gets stuck upon holding down arrow button in Notes Manager (VB-83855)
• [Notes] Text is not updated when creating a new note (VB-94169)

Panels

• [Panels] Close button should preserve the Panel Bar toggle status (VB-89637)
• [Panels] Closing floating web panel hides the sidebar unexpectedly (VB-98621)
• [Panels] Content dragged over should open it (VB-96532)
• [Panels] Content reflows when opening (VB-98671)
• [Panels] New window opens with empty panel if a panel was already open (VB-98270)
• [Panels] Opens when going full screen (VB-98440)
• [Panels] Panel contents are incorrectly displayed when the system resizes the window (VB-85105)
• [Panels] The panel drawer is expanded with no active panel on first-run (VB-98701)
• [Panels] The scroll bar is covered by the side panel handle when it is set on the right side. (VB-98065)
• [Panels] Toolbar not hidden when floating panel is closed (VB-99195)
• [Panels] Unexpectedly opens when opening a new window (VB-98625)
• [Panels][Menus] Add “Copy All Links” context menu item to window panel (VB-98931)
• [Panels][Settings] Separate width option not saved (VB-98231)
• [Panels][Tabs] Gap with tabs and panel toggle on right side (VB-99209)
• [Panels][Workspaces] Not all Workspace functionality is available in the Window Panel (VB-98479)

Settings

• [Settings] Keyboard access in saved passwords (VB-52423)
• [Settings] Preferences reset on window close during Speed Dial thumbnail bulk refresh (VB-99255)
• [Settings] [Address Bar] Drop-Down Menu Priority settings appear in all searches (VB-98669)
• [Settings] [Feeds] Some Feed Settings appear in all searches (VB-98790)
• [Settings] [Mail] Mail toolbar buttons not rendered in the Settings window (VB-98700)
• [Settings][Sync] Account details verification checks fail when creating account (VB-98441)

Speed Dial

• [Speed Dial] Accidental drag leads to entries removal after Esc (VB-97785)
• [Speed Dial] Can’t move item back to its Parent Folder (VB-99459)
• [Speed Dial] Fast bookmark drag+click may block pointer events (VB-98930)
• [Speed Dial] Rearrange some default Speed Dials (region-specific) (VB-98516)
• [Speed Dial] Title is not editable when a folder is created (VB-97854)
• [Speed Dial] Use font-size-small and centered text for Icon size entries (VB-98091)

Tabs

• [Tabs] Closing tab in tab stack does not go to last open tab (VB-98021)
• [Tabs] Pinned tabs background overflows with horizontal scroll enabled (VB-99000)
• [Tabs] Vertically tiled tabs get horizontally upon relaunch (VB-99237)
• [Tabs][Workspaces] Alignment issues (VB-98220)

Toolbars

• [Toolbars] Hide the “Update Status” button in the Toolbar Editor on Linux (VB-96638)
• [Toolbars] Reordering extensions in popup may remove toolbar button (VB-98412)
• [Toolbars][Mail] Buttons are visible in toolbar edit mode even if mail is disabled (VB-98386)

Web Panels

• [Web Panels] Hijacks keyboard focus on document.title changes (VB-37747)
• [Web Panels] Show desktop mode is broken (VB-98617)
• [Web Panels] Title notification badges not updated on document.title changes (VB-98620)

Windows

• [Windows] Dragging file attachment to desktop corrupts the file (VB-97745)
• [Windows] Window controls get a white box when new window opens (VB-99314)
• [Windows][Linux][Menus] Make Vivaldi menu icon look more obviously intractable (VB-98025)

Workspaces

• [Workspaces] Button shows audio icon when none is playing (VB-98524)
• [Workspaces] Button shows audio indicator when it shouldn’t (VB-99342)
• [Workspaces] Button title spacing wrong (VB-99111)
• [Workspaces] Creating a workspace in a private window creates an empty “Restored Workspace” in normal windows (VB-98506)
• [Workspaces] Loudspeaker icon on Workspace tab keeps appearing and disappearing (VB-97425)
• [Workspaces] Make sure tab opens in the last-open workspace when started (VB-96702)
• [Workspaces] Moving tab to new window switches workspace in existing window (VB-98804)
• [Workspaces] Replacement tab from root workspace moved into active workspace when moving original tab in Window Panel (VB-99014)
• [Workspaces] [Tab Stacks] Duplicated Tab Stack tab opens inside the root- instead of the active Workspace (VB-98749)
• [Workspaces][Panels] Improve Drag and drop in windows panel (VB-97871)

Other

• [Chromium] Upgraded to 116.0.5845.168
• [Clock] Use highlight color for clock second hand (VB-69141)
• [Extensions] The counters on the extension icons are always the same color (VB-98002)
• [Linux] Vary Process names to ease use of tools like killall and top (VB-99065)
• [Performance][Clock] Button can slow down the creation of tabs (VB-83297)
• [Performance][Downloads] Progress animation stresses GPU (VB-98841)
• [Periodic Reload] Repeated reloads when waking device from sleep (VB-82978)
• [Periodic Reload][Menus] Add 60 and 90 mins
• [Pop out Video] PiP button not conformant to WCAG / WAI standards (VB-99465)
• [Private Window][macOS] New Private Window does not open maximized (VB-98689)
• [Profiles] Replace Google graphics in Profile selector dialog (VB-93927)
• [Quick Commands] Navigating to a page while a page is loading steals focus (VB-98453)
• [Search Field] Run search button uses wrong value (VB-98535)
• [Search] Update Ecosia favicon for regional variants (VB-99377)
• [Spatial Navigation] Box is moved on scroll (VB-89443)
• [Sync][Tabs] Do not sync tab bar position setting (VB-98075)
• [Themes] [macOS] Window control buttons have the wrong background color while in fullscreen (VB-98508)
• [Tracker Blocker] Counts of blocked items in pop-out not centred (VB-98684)
• [Website compatibility] JavaScript method window.resizeTo and resizeBy not working. (VB-51077)
• [Welcome page] Link to themes.vivaldi.net front page instead of /featured
• [Windows Panel] Window/Workspace root level reports wrong number of tabs (VB-96966)

Crashes

• [Crash] Loading chrome://extensions in Private Window (VB-99456)
• [Crash] Trying to use WebToEpub (VB-95640)
• [Crash] When adding vivaldi://discards as a speed dial (VB-98877)
• [Crash] When trying to close one of the profiles (VB-98511)
• [Crash] When updating the sync thumbnail reference for a deleted bookmark (VB-97997)
• [Crash][Mail] With large attachment (VB-37883)
• [Crash][Popout Video] Google Meet page is crashing after enable PiP on a meeting (VB-98251)

Mail, Calendar and Feeds 1.7

Mail

• [Mail] Button should be shown on the Start Page (VB-98294)
• [Mail] Cannot mark all mails as read in custom folder (VB-94347)
• [Mail] Cannot mark entire IMAP folders as read (VB-94347)
• [Mail] Cannot scroll to the bottom of message bodies on short screens (VB-98673)
• [Mail] Consistently say “spam” rather than “junk” (VB-67226)
• [Mail] Do not show spoofing warning when sender name is identical to sender email address
• [Mail] Don’t hide From/Reply-To mismatch warnings for common emailer domains (like GMail) (VB-97929)
• [Mail] Flagging database can get in a state that prevent syncing read status up to IMAP (VB-99449)
• [Mail] Full/part body not shown in some messages: workaround, proper fix later (VB-83204)
• [Mail] IMAP folder names not decoded from UTF-7 (VB-98829)
• [Mail] Increase the size of the unread message indicator in mail lists (VB-98532)
• [Mail] Keep the size of the list and message view constant (VB-96009)
• [Mail] Message saved to disk before it’s inserted into search DB (VB-99549)
• [Mail] Multiple From addresses cause Reply-To warning (VB-97930)
• [Mail] Offer a shortcut to open Mail window when info message is shown (VB-98319)
• [Mail] Opening IMAP/Draft discards body text (VB-98306)
• [Mail] Renamed Flags use Colour Name instead of Custom Name in Context Menu (VB-98499)
• [Mail] Render the Size column in human-readable decimal SI units instead of raw bytes (VB-98728)
• [Mail] Reply will result in replying to yourself if the Sent tab is selected (VB-94632)
• [Mail] Search bar is not positioned correctly when tabs are not on top (VB-96227)
• [Mail] Search doesn’t find IMAP sent messages (VB-99108)
• [Mail] Sequentialize connections to multiple IMAP servers (VB-98605)
• [Mail] Warning about name containing an email address is too sensitive (VB-95869)
• [Mail][Calendar] Buttons don’t migrate to a new window (VB-98380)
• [Mail][Calendar] Vivaldi accounts are using OAuth but re-prompted for passwords (VB-96224)
• [Mail][Panels][Toolbars] Search not rotated when editing toolbar (VB-96985)

Calendar

• [Calendar] Completed tasks still appear in Calendar Status Upcoming Events popup (VB-97451)
• [Calendar] Dialog shows for a split second and then disappears – event is added for current time (VB-99477)
• [Calendar] Drag and drop to clone event should work (VB-96592)
• [Calendar] ICS import dialog too narrow (VB-98337)
• [Calendar] It should not be possible to create new tasks in the agenda by clicking between items in the sidebar (VB-97381)
• [Calendar] Long title of event flows out of notification (VB-98739)
• [Calendar] Parse calendar name or description for use during importing (VB-98338)
• [Calendar] Plus sign when dragging to move event (VB-89980)
• [Calendar] Sometimes focus gets lost in agenda view (VB-97379)
• [Calendar] Subject of event not visible in the reminder window (VB-98736)
• [Calendar] Wrong Time Zone inherited from Operating System (VB-96629)
• [Calendar] webcal(s):// URI protocol dialog revamp: support for WebCAL subscriptions (VB-93544)
• [Calendar][Tasks] There should be an edit on the context menu for tasks (VB-92085)

Feeds

• [Feeds] Deduplicate Mail addresses; use item authors then feed authors (VB-97748)
• [Feeds] Enable Feed Discovery by default (VB-98393)
• [Feeds] Icon disappears when page loads (VB-50729)
• [Feeds] Offline accounts and RSS feeds removed from panel after update (VB-96072)
• [Feeds][Performance] Cache revalidation, backoff failing, reduce redundant parsing (VB-97849)
• [Feeds][Performance] Poll immediately after adding new feeds (VB-98392)