Vivaldi 5.6 launches with Mastodon integration

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 7, 2022
Vivaldi
|
16

Vivaldi 5.6 Stable was released today. The new version of the Vivaldi web browser integrates Mastodon and stacked tab pinning, and includes a redesigned Settings page and security updates as well.

vivaldi browser 5.6

Vivaldi 5.6 is available already. Existing users may select Vivaldi Menu > Help > Check for Updates to run a manual check for browser updates. Any update found during the scan is downloaded and installed automatically. New users may point their browsers to the Vivaldi homepage to download the latest browser version from there.

Vivaldi 5.6

Vivaldi 5.6 includes a redesigned Settings page. All Settings are still available, but the team has added colors and icons to each category to improve accessibility.

vivaldi 5.6 new settings

A new preference is available under Appearance to restore monochrome colors in the Settings.

Vivaldi 5.6 introduces an option to pin tab stacks. The browser's tab stacking functionality gives users more choice than any other browser. The new feature may be used to pin an entire tab stack on the tab bar. It is an option that is displayed when users right-click on a tab stack.

You can check out my full review of tab stack pinning in Vivaldi from October 2022.

Another new feature of Vivaldi 5.6 brings support for connecting to Mastodon. Mastodon is a popular decentralized social network that has grown significantly in the past weeks. Mastodon promises social interactions without data profiling or user tracking.

Mastodon is displayed as an icon in Vivaldi's sidebar. A click opens it next to the active website. Vivaldi Social opens by default.

Vivaldi offers better interface customization options than most other browsers. Panels, the sidebar of the browser on which Mastodon, mail and websites are placed, has joined the ranks of other editable toolbars in the browser. Basically, what it allows users to do is move icons around. It is now possible, for example, to move extension icons on the panels toolbar.

Vivaldi supports a new search engine choice. The company has added the You search engine to the browser, which users may select from the available search engines. You is available for users in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany right now.

The full changelog lists fixes and smaller changes to the browser. Mail and calendar components have received a large number of fixes and improvements, among them the ability to create local accounts.

One important change is the upgrading of Chromium, the core that Vivaldi shares with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and other browsers, to version 108.

Now You: have you tried Vivaldi recently? What is your take on this new release?

Summary
Vivaldi 5.6 launches with Mastodon integration
Article Name
Vivaldi 5.6 launches with Mastodon integration
Description
The Vivaldi 5.6 web browser for the desktop integrates Mastodon and stacked tab pinning among other new features and improvements.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
Logo
Advertisement

Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. Ivan said on December 9, 2022 at 6:42 pm
    Reply

    I’m more interested in whether Vivaldi (a browser running on chromium) will also stop working on Win 7 soon.

  2. Janne said on December 9, 2022 at 1:16 am
    Reply

    wokers move to mastodon from twitter, time to switch twitter then ?

  3. Cor Invictus said on December 8, 2022 at 6:49 am
    Reply
  4. Latz said on December 7, 2022 at 11:35 pm
    Reply

    You can only use the special Mastodon paneel if you have an account on “social.vivaldi.net” which seems to be connected to a Vivaldi Community account. Other Mastodon accounts can only be added as a web paneel which was already possible before.

  5. Anonymous said on December 7, 2022 at 9:47 pm
    Reply

    Vivaldi is turning into the Opera browser, the Chinese version.

  6. NeonRobot said on December 7, 2022 at 7:38 pm
    Reply

    Mastodon is heavily moderated platform like tweeter. So no benefits at all.

  7. Alp said on December 7, 2022 at 7:19 pm
    Reply

    I would switch to Vivaldi instantly if they were offering an iOS version as well.

    1. Jody Thornton said on December 8, 2022 at 3:41 am
      Reply

      Even if they did offer an iOS version, it would still be a shell for WebKit/Safari

      1. Alp said on December 8, 2022 at 4:59 pm
        Reply

        Yes, but at least I would be able to sync my bookmarks.

  8. Tachy said on December 7, 2022 at 5:27 pm
    Reply

    @Martin

    RSS feed is returning a lot of 404 errors. Started this morning for me (PST).

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on December 7, 2022 at 7:09 pm
      Reply

      Thanks, we are investigating!

  9. Paul(us) said on December 7, 2022 at 5:22 pm
    Reply

    I am still using Vivaldi as the second to go to. But I dislike the integration from Mastodon and others. And new peaches of software are integrated quit regularly.

    Why not offer the possibility (Like the mail option) to extend your experience with the choice to integrate the new (in this case Mastodon) yourself at any by you choice of time?

  10. Alex said on December 7, 2022 at 5:12 pm
    Reply

    Mastodon?
    Welp, time to switch browsers then… again.

  11. ECJ said on December 7, 2022 at 3:46 pm
    Reply

    Been using Mastodon for a while now and love it. It probably won’t appeal to those who constantly seek drama, but for academic types and professionals who seek intelligent interaction it’s great. It helps if you choose a server (instance) based on your main interest.

    As a side benefit, no more being tracked and profiled, or email addresses and phone numbers (even if just used for 2FA) being used for advertising purposes, or algorithms filling user timelines with a bunch of drivel in the name of ‘engagement’, or harassing non-signed in users, or every page visited being sent to google[.]com, etc..

    Mastodon has long been promoted by the privacy community and privacy-orientated companies such as Vivaldi, ProtonMail, Tutanota, Startpage, etc.. It’s great, as it’s just posts from people who you follow, displayed in chronological order. Much simpler when the focus is not on maximising outrage and profits.

    I’m kind of surprised Ghacks doesn’t already have a Mastodon account, given it’s sway towards more security and privacy related topics – similar to the ghacksnews feed:

    https://nitter.net/ghacks

    1. Anonymous said on December 7, 2022 at 9:04 pm
      Reply

      lol….
      So all your balbla, makes it a good idea to waste time and integrate this BS in a browser? lol please.

      what “drama” are you even talking about? nobody is ‘seeking’ for drama, and you make it seem like having yet one more account on the internet and leave your traces behind with ANY information is somehow more privacy than just don’t use these dumb servers and mastodon crap and all that.

      Look at the comment section at Vivaldi blog, they already show that you can’t even say anything negative because you get comments deleted or threated about it.
      I mean, Vivaldi is literally one clownish company full of hypocrites and lies, you believe their ‘we care about your privacy’
      Yet, they still send your information every 24h to their servers, they still whitelist Bing by default because “partners”, plus Bing is the default search engine, they are still close source, and they obviously will not do much about all the information Google is getting from users everytime you install and update extensions, not even mentioning how they have Google DNS by default and other Google services on.
      But sure, Vivaldi is great and I am sure wasting time in Mastodon, which is another phony crap to control users because “words hurt” and “we have the power so we can ban you because we don’t like how you think or what you say” etc etc, it’s all about control, it’s not about privacy, it’s just dumb feature to implement, just like having email and rss in the browser.

      I mean, their adblocker sucks, it is basic, just as basic as Opera adblocker which sucks even more. But okay! let’s waste time not hiring anyone to improve it or make it better! because the same developer that works in Sync has to do the Adblock, and while they had 3 years since manifestv3 announcement, they still decided to go and use WebRequest API, which they have no idea still how much it will break the ‘native’ adblocker.
      That’s called incompetency, and users are too naïve to understand how they are not improving key areas while releasing all this crap that will not protect people’s privacy.

      I mean, the adblocker is basic, so people have to turn it off, because it will never have advanced features like Adguard or uBlock, so what is the point of it? especially when mobile doesn’t have extensions support? well, good luck not having to turn your adblocker off and let trackers track you.

  12. Jek Tono Porkins said on December 7, 2022 at 2:52 pm
    Reply

    I don’t know about that…

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.