A tiny toggle at the bottom right-hand-corner hides the panel entirely otherwise you can click on one of the icons - bookmarks, for example - and the panel will slide out to reveal the full function. Vivaldi cuts into this space to add a narrow column of icons that link to a number of utility functions, from RSS feeds to even mail and a nicely organized calendar function. Vivaldi smartly realizes that most larger monitors incorporate a ton of additional white space that goes unused. With Vivaldi, you’ll notice a difference in your browsing experience right out of the box. In some cases, Reader View added visual cruft as it spelled out certain normally hidden elements within the page. With Vivaldi, there’s little reason to use Reader View, as the default view is simply more effective. “Reader View” typically strips down an article on the Web to a plain background, minimal art and navigation elements, and absolutely no ads.

Interestingly, Vivaldi also includes a “Reader View,” a legacy control that appears on other browsers - the little “text” icon that appears to the right of the URL bar. About the only “ads” that the browser seems to preserve are these shopping links. Normally, media-rich sites like are full of ads and floating windows. Vivaldi tamed the most cluttered, media-heavy sites I visit like or without fail or flaw. The result is a very slick, seamless experience that seems to intelligently block the ads you don’t want to see, while leaving other content intact. With Vivaldi, ads and inline video are blocked by default - no plugins or add-ons required. You know that Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge view ads as a revenue source, because everything’s allowed by default without an ad blocker plugin. Privacy isn’t what you probably think of when downloading Vivaldi, but you’ll probably be surprised how well it works straight away. (Note that you are absolutely not required to enter an account to use Vivaldi, at all.) Privacy and ad blocking Vivaldi offers an Android version of its browser too, allowing you to share tabs across desktop and mobile browsing.

About the only “annoyance” is that Vivaldi, like many other browsers, encourages you to sign up and log in with a custom account to preserve your bookmarks, reading list, and more across multiple PCs. At press time, Vivaldi had released Vivaldi 5.2.

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