Adding custom thumbs in Speed Dial
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There's a new method that works on all platforms and that doesn't reset on every update.
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/5110/customising-your-speed-dial-thumbs/1------------------------------ The original tutorial ------------------------------
Oh yeah, I found out how to customise the Speed Dial images and it's so ridiculous that I almost slapped my face and thought how idiot I was to not find it before.
As you may have noticed on the forums there's a lot of people complaining about the SD thumbs not showing up, well I've found out why. The problem is that the SD images are saved kind of inside Vivaldi cache and, as we all know how bad Chromium cache is, this leads to this problem sometimes happening.
Well since I've found out how to use any image as a SD image this simply does not happen and SD thumbs even load much faster, like instantly.
The only way I've found will require the folder with your custom dials to be inside Vivaldi install directory, so when you install a new version this folder won't exist and you'll have to copy it again in the new version's folder. And if you don't have privileges to edit that folder you won't be able to have custom SD thumbs.
@The_Solutor brought that this can be circumvented if you have a local HTTP server, so you can use it to load the images instead and you won't need to worry about copying the files on new versions. If you don't know what a local HTTP server is, there are plenty of search engines to use to find the answer.
Both methods above also seems to not work with Mac as you can't edit the Bookmarks file.
Files may be any image type Vivaldi can handle, so you may even use an animated gif (yes I tested and it works, it's animated). The default size is 440x360px, this size will fit perfectly leaving no blank spaces. Default SD images are indexed colours, and I suggest you to do so as this will make loading faster.
How to do it
But lets explain how to definitely do this, first locate your Vivaldi installation directory. Open a directory named after the version number, if there are two it's the highest number, as that's the last version you're running. From this directory navigate to /resources/vivaldi/. Create a directory with any name here, I called mine SD, and place your images inside.
Now open your Vivaldi user data directory, on Windows Vista or higher it should be /users/username/AppData/Local/Vivaldi/User Data/. Open Default directory and open the Bookmarks file with a text editor. You should see a huge JSON file with all your bookmarks, the order is exactly the same as it's presented in Vivaldi so if you have the default Speed Dial folder set as your SD and it's the first in order, you should see them right at the top of the file, if not you'll have to search them.
The file is easily 'human readable' and you'll notice that each bookmark has its name, url and a Thumbnail property. You'll probably see that those properties are filled with an url starting with chrome://thumb/*, simply edit those to match the folder you created before, as I used SD as its name the url I must type is "SD/filename.ext". No more or less slashes, if you add ../ before, it won't take any effect. Vivaldi already comes with some SD images ready, you can use them and they probably will always be available, the url must then be "resources/filename":
PS: Do I really need to tell you to backup the files?
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Thanks!!!
Very nifty tip. I look forward to trying it out.
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Thank you very much.
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Good information but it is a shame we need to use this and that Vivaldi can't be bothered to fix a long-term bug on a standard feature but persist on adding other features like tab snapping.
Why can't we have tabs in a side panel so we can move them in and out as we wish? Hows about allowing us access to a url bar and tabs in full screen mode by allowing cursor/mouse gestures or something?!?!
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Yes again one cannot use 'Quickpaste' hotkeys when using Vivaldi but we can on Opera
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Good information but it is a shame we need to use this and that Vivaldi can't be bothered to fix a long-term bug on a standard feature but persist on adding other features like tab snapping.
Why can't we have tabs in a side panel so we can move them in and out as we wish? Hows about allowing us access to a url bar and tabs in full screen mode by allowing cursor/mouse gestures or something?!?!
"Long-term?" Vivaldi has only existed for two months. There is nothing "long-term" about any aspect of it, in any way, shape or form. I know this is going to be a severe shock to you, but the developers will not be waiting on you hand and foot, breathlessly anticipating your every complaint and whim, and fixing them on the spot.
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"Long-term?" Vivaldi has only existed for two months. There is nothing "long-term" about any aspect of it, in any way, shape or form. I know this is going to be a severe shock to you, but the developers will not be waiting on you hand and foot, breathlessly anticipating your every complaint and whim, and fixing them on the spot.
I noticed in several posts that you are a very angry (young?) man. Take it easy. It's better to you and for the others. You risk to make people hate Vivaldi because of you; and the team don't deserve it
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"Long-term?" Vivaldi has only existed for two months. There is nothing "long-term" about any aspect of it, in any way, shape or form. I know this is going to be a severe shock to you, but the developers will not be waiting on you hand and foot, breathlessly anticipating your every complaint and whim, and fixing them on the spot.
I noticed in several posts that you are a very angry (young?) man. Take it easy. It's better to you and for the others. You risk to make people hate Vivaldi because of you; and the team don't deserve it
If you knew anything about the commenting history of the person to whom I was replying, you would understand completely. He complains bitterly and is extremely caustic to the development team about inconsequential stuff, makes nonsensical demands, and is insulting and condescending to basically everyone. He has gotten so bad, a number of us now have him on "ignore."
And, on the whole, if you look over my comment history you will find me calm, cheerful, constructive and helpful. Contrary to limited observations, I am neither like a tree, a rope, a spear, a wall or a snake.
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And, oh yeah, I'm an Opera Classic user from the mid-90's, and am pushing 62.
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There's the good old said "never argue with a β¦"@*(^*Β£$"$", listeners may not notice the difference..."
Omicron's message is a proof that the said is still alive and kicking :lol:
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There's the good old said "never argue with a β¦"@*(^*Β£$"$", listeners may not notice the difference..."
Omicron's message is a proof that the said is still alive and kicking :lol:
I fear you're 100% right - which is why said "@*(^*Β£$"$" has been officially put on "ignore."
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In case anyone else wants to do this in Linux; In Linux Mint the install dir is /opt/vivaldi/ or /opt/vivalidi-snapshot/
The user dir is ~/.config/vivaldi/ or ~/.config/vivaldi-snapshot/ -
The only way I found will require the folder with your custom dials to be inside Vivaldi install directory, so when you install a new version this folder won't exist and you'll have to copy it again in the new version's folder. And if you don't have privileges to edit that folder you won't be able to have custom SD thumbs.
I made a little refinement to your method.
I placed the images on a folder shared via a local Http server.
So I have my thumbnails available via "http://myserver/SD/β¦" or " http://localhost/SD/.." instead of accessing them via "/SD/β¦"
In this way you can serve more than one installation on the same PC (or on different PCs inside the home/office) and more importantly there's nothing to adjust when Vivaldi is upgraded.
Obviously who have a public website can use it for the purpose.
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So I have my thumbnails available via "http://myserver/SD/β¦" or " http://localhost/SD/.." instead of accessing them via "/SD/β¦"
That's genius, I'll be following that example.
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That's genius, I'll be following that example.
That's a little exaggerated, but thanks :oops:
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I placed the images on a folder shared via a local Http server.
But you need to have it set-up, not something everybody has. Still a good addition.
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But you need to have it set-up, not something everybody has.
True. Maybe a similar process could be done with a cloud service? It didn't seem to work for me with OneDrive or Dropbox. I'm otherwise currently unable to test MEGA, Google Drive, or Yandex.Disk.
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But you need to have it set-up, not something everybody has. Still a good addition.
Sure, but nowadays there is an huge amount of SWs that have a WebUI and many of them already installs IIS express, or requires IIS, just to mention Windows and the MS web servers alone.
There are also dozens of simple web servers well suited for the scope, starting from this pyton based one line solution
https://www.pantz.org/software/http/quick_and_dirty_web_servers.html
Obviously would be better to have the problem fixed once for allβ¦
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True. Maybe a similar process could be done with a cloud service? It didn't seem to work for me with OneDrive or Dropbox. I'm otherwise currently unable to test MEGA, Google Drive, or Yandex.Disk
Not sure about remote drives, but http://tinypic.com can be a solution. (just tried, it works). Likely most of the similar services will work too.
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Now open your Vivaldi user data directory, on Windows Vista or higher it should be /users/username/AppData/Local/Vivaldi/User Data/.
In case anyone else wants to do this in Linux;
The user dir is ~/.config/vivaldi/ or ~/.config/vivaldi-snapshot/does anyone know where the user data directory is on mac?