New Web Browsers - Vivaldi and Yandex Alpha

Download Vivaldi
Download Yandex

Following on from my previous blog which focused on web browsers which are currently popular, I will now take a look at browsers which are currently under development.
A big change in the web browser market is about to happen as Microsoft is reducing the focus on Internet Explorer in favour of a project currently referred to as Spartan. However, I have chosen to look at two lesser-known browsers: Vivaldi and Yandex.

When you first open a new tab in Vivaldi, you will see the speed dial feature. This allows you to pin your favourite websites, making them quick and easy to access. It has different tabs and each page can have single website tiles, or folders which contain multiple links. There is also a bookmark manager if you prefer to organise your favourite sites in a more traditional way.

Interesting functions available in Vivaldi include:

• You can create a ‘tab stack’ by pulling a tab on top of another tab, which is useful if you have lots of tabs open.
• You can use the ‘load pages without images’ function to reduce loading times if you have a slow internet connection.
• You can easily zoom in and out of webpages by using the slider in the bottom right of the window.
• The colour of the area at the top of the window changes to match the colour of the favicon of the website you are currently on, but you can switch this off if you find it annoying.

The main attraction of the Vivaldi browser is that it already contains many features without the need to add extensions. On the side panel, you will find sections for bookmarks, contacts, notes and downloads.

• Bookmarks – Lets you see all of your bookmarks
• Contacts – An address book
• Notes – Take a note and include a URL and a screenshot
• Downloads – Shows all your downloads and allows you to pause current downloads

An email feature will soon be added to the side panel and the ability to more add extensions is expected. You can keep up-to-date with new developments on Vivaldi's blog.

Yandex Alpha offers a somewhat unorthodox approach to the browser interface, yet it is still intuitive. It has a speed dial-like feature called Tableau. You can customise your tableau by adding websites you access frequently and change the background to another from the lovely selection of backgrounds available. Some of the backgrounds are animated - if you find this distracting you can select a static one or ‘pause’ it.

The window has the ‘SmartBox’ at the top. Clicking here give you access to various options for the webpage you are currently on. The share function is particularly useful as you can put the link on Facebook or Twitter with just a few clicks. Contrary to the majority of web browsers, Yandex Alpha puts the tabs at the bottom.

Yandex Alpha tries to help you focus your attention on the webpage rather than including lots of extra clutter (so, in this aspect, it is the opposite of Vivaldi). However, if you feel the need to get some extensions to enhance your experience, they are available.

As Yandex Alpha is still under development, you may come across some bugs (problems and errors) but it is easy to report them using the ‘bug report’ extension.

Why don’t you give these new browsers a try and see how they compare with your old favourite? What do you like about innovative, new browsers? Do you prefer to stick with what you know? Let me know in the comment section!