Vivaldi’s colourful interfaceis packed with
tools you won’t find in other browsersVivaldi lets you sync your data across
computers without using Google’s servers
44 10 - 23 July 2019
VIVALDI
http://www.vivaldi.comWhy use it?
After the news emerged that Manifest
V3 might stop ad blockers working in
Chrome, the team behind the
Chromium-based Vivaldi published a
blog post addressing users’ concerns
(bit.ly/vivaldiblog479). While
acknowledging the importance of free,
ad-supported content on the web –
which is why the browser doesn’t offer
its own full ad blocker – the post
emphasised that Vivaldi is “all about
giving you choice” and promised to find
a workaround for the proposed changes
to Chromium. “The goodnews is that
whatever restrictions Google adds, at
the end we can remove them,’’ said the
company. Now that’s music to our ears.
Vivaldi is a much more innovative,
customisable and versatile browser than
Chrome, constantly refining its interface
and adding useful new features, while
allowing you to install all your favourite
extensions from the Chrome Web Store.
Last October, it added Sync, which lets
you synchronise your bookmarks,
passwords, extensions and history
securely across devices using Vivaldi’s
own end-to-end encryption system
rather than Google’s sync server. You
can also delete your private-browsing
data for the pasthour, day, week or
longer, with a single click.
Vivaldi looks more like Opera than
Chrome, so it may take a little getting
used to, but its tidy menus, handy side
panels and comprehensive help pages
(help.vivaldi.com) make its impressive
array of tools easy to master. These
include options to stack and tile open
tabs for ease of use, the ability to
control the browser using mouse
gestures and keyboard shortcuts, a
built-in screen-capture tool, thumbnail
previews of tab contents, a choice of
colourful themes and much more.
In our Basemark 3.0 performance
test, Vivaldi scored 561.27, comfortably
beating Chrome’s score of 465.66. If
Vivaldi ever starts using too much
memory, you can set tabs to ‘hibernate’
until you need them.Why not?
Vivaldi comes with several bookmarks
and Start Page tiles preinstalled, for
companies including Amazon, eBay and
Booking.com, which you need to
remove manually if you don’t want
them. This is presumably how the
browser earns the money to fund its
development, so don’t judge it too
harshly. It’s also one of the few major
browsers not to offer a mobile version,
although the Vivaldi team say an
Android app is on its way soon.BRAVE
http://www.brave.comWhy use it?
Brave switched to using Chromium code
last year, boosting its speed by up to
22% and allowing you to install
extensions from the Chrome Web Store
(before the switch, it offered only nine
approved tools). This may seem an odd
decision for a privacy-focused browserWHAT YOU SHOULD USE INSTEAD
Here we recommend three brilliant alternatives to Chrome and explain their benefits.
We’ve also tested how well they handle the latest web technologies using the
benchmarking tool Basemark 3.0 (web.basemark.com) and its 20 ‘rendering’ tests
Microsoft surprised everyone
atthe endoflastyearwhen
it announcedplanstorebuild
its Edgebrowser fromscratchusing
Chromium, the open-sourceproject
owned byits nemesis, Google.The
softwaregiant cited the need to
“create betterweb compatibility”
for its customersand reduce
fragmentationfor developers.
AlthoughMicrosoft hasn’t yet
announceda releasedatefor its new
Chromium-basedbrowser, preview
versionshavebeenavailablefor Windows 10 sinceApril and,asoflastmonth,
for Windows7 and 8.1, too – the firsttimethe browser hasbeen availablefor
thoseplatforms. You cantry it for yourselfbydownloading the Microsoft
EdgeDev Channelfromwww.microsoftedgeinsider.com.
The redesignedbrowser is muchmorecustomisablethanChrome
and retainsthe bestfeaturesofthe oldEdge, including reading view, read
aloud,Androidsyncand media casting,while adding newones. Notably,
you cannowinstall extensionsfromthe ChromeWeb Store aswell asthe
Microsoft Store,whichoffersadd-onsthatGoogleforbids, suchasYouTube
downloaders. Microsoft hasalsodisabled orreplaced otherGoogleservices.
Mostimportantly, the newEdgeis considerablyfasterand lessbloated than
bothits previousincarnationand Chrome(Edge squeakedpastChromeinour
performancebenchmark witha score of 47 1.65). AsChromiumEdgeis stillat
the development stage,wewouldn’t recommendusing it asyourmain
browser justyet, but wereckonMicrosoft hasfinally got it right.WHAT ABOUTTHE NEWEDGE?
The new Chromium-based Edge is fast
andworks with Chrome extensions