Text Wrap / Text Reflow
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It has been painful to use any mobile browser after the Kitkat days.... That was the very last time when it was normal to have such a normal feature. BTW that is the main reason why I have opera installed in almost every mobile device. Like in this very moment I have this same page opened on an 8.4 inch tablet and its just painful to read it with vivaldi while it's OK with opera. I'm afraid that someone will soon post something like "but you can increase text size"..... No definetly not. In a desktop browser I decide each style and heading which font and size shall have, and a mobile device is even more powerful than conputers that are not even that old.
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@knosso
Hi, iirc the problem with this feature is it is patented from Opera and therefor not even Chrome can implement it easily.
Is there any other browser with this feature?Cheers, mib
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Kiwi browser already have this feature and it is open source also.
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The lack of this feature prevents me from switching from Opera to Vivaldi on mobile devices... I'd love to dispose Opera completely, but I do need this feature (low vision)...
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@ayespy Sad to hear this. Maybe you can revive some old contacts to your friends in the Opera team. They do pretty well on this job. And they have implemented it quite some time ago already.
For me, this is the reason why I (have to) use Opera on my mobile device. It's a crucial feature on these tiny screens, especially for people with impaired eyesight -
And another year without this crucial feature. Vivaldi could be the best browser, but without this feature it will not be usable.
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is there any example website to see the text-wrap behavior difference between opera, uc, vivaldi and others ?
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Just reminding again...
So this feature will come to top again!It's a must have feature, without it surfing web on small mobile devices is a pain
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I started using vivaldi on desktop a few days ago, very nice tool, a user centered browser finally, like opera in its old days.
Yes, I would like to have a word wrap feature like opera on mobile vivaldi too, web pages are meant to be read. Zooming text is fine, but constantly scrolling horizontally is pure horror.
Its hard to believe that wrapping around on a device border can be subject of a protected patent. Its a straight forward thing, totally natural. Kill patent offices first
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@ascaris Opera is based on Chromium if I recall correctly, so the text wrap function was developed by Opera itself, not by Google. Since Vivaldi is some sort of spin-off from Opera, I am hoping the code to text wrap on mobile (where it is more useful than on any other platform resolution) still is available somewhere.
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@vectorwhiz The text wrap option was, indeed, developed by Opera after they abandoned their roots and cleaved to Chromium. They had over 200 developers to work on the Chromium conversion and as part of that effort, they developed this text wrap function. It is their property. It is only on mobile and, interestingly, was mainly developed in connection with how to display on Apple systems.
Vivaldi was founded by a co-founder of Opera, co-founder BEFORE they switched to Chromium, who really wanted Opera to stick to the Presto engine (developed under his leadership), which would have required hiring even more developers. Investors in Opera, who came to control the company, decided to drop the Presto engine and go with Chromium. Jon, the Co-founder, could not agree with the new direction and left the company. He though Opera would continue with a customization and features philosophy. They did not.
So, totally independently from Opera, and using none of their code base, Jon decided to start developing the Vivaldi browser. He did it based on the customization and features philosophy, which he felt Opera had abandoned. He retained NO rights to Opera developments or technology. He had to start afresh. Vivaldi is, in no sense, any kind of "spin-off" from Opera. It has no Opera code or basis, but is a completely different direction.
So if Vivaldi wants text-wrap, it will have to write it from scratch, with 10% of the Opera development workforce, and be careful in the process not to violate Opera's IP rights.
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I guess ebook readers use text wrap too. Maybe there is something patent-free that helps.
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@bariton Calibre and FBReader are open-source. Don't know how compatible their code would be with a browser.
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How can we support development of text wrap? Can someone contact authors of Calibre and ask to share code? My coding is weak...how may I help? Can we raise money, is there enough demand?
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I just ping-resurrect this thread for a moment again... since I'd still really appreciate this feature.
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Kiwi Browser [ https://github.com/kiwibrowser/src.next ] has the feature.
Haven't adequately tested, but seems to be working.
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It is licensed under the same license as Chromium. -
To everyone who wants text wrap: please do not forget to vote up the first post with your thumb.
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I needed to do some long form reading on mobile so I wanted to increase the font size. I noticed that if I do that through settings, rather than pinch to zoom, I can change the font size and get pretty decent text reflow. So the functionality is already there, it just needs a good set of controls for enabling the zoom.
I won't be so naïve as to say that makes adding this functionality any easier, though.
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Check out the most recent Snapshot for some new zoom options in Settings > Accessibility and the main menu. I think a lot of you will like the new settings.
If you encounter any issues or have some feedback, please comment below the latest Snapshot blog or report the issue on vivaldi.com/bugreport.
