Possible to remove the bloat code?

[d42UK]

One of the reasons I started using Vivaldi browser was the lack of bloatware. But now it comes with lots of crap pre-installed such as mail client, mastodon client, translator which all create more mess in the settings and I'm sure have an impact on the code of the browser itself.
I have better tools for all these things already at my disposal and would rather have a lightweight, fast browser, where these things are integrated as addons if wanted by the user, not forced on us at shipping. For example, why on earth would I need theming on a browser? It serves me no purpose and just adds wasteful code to the product.

Certain tools which I do find useful, tracking protection and popup blocking for example, should all be installable by the user, not forced upon them.

Just feels like Vivaldi is getting away from what made it so attractive originally, and just becoming yet another bloatware on my system which will soon get removed.

[npro]

@d42UK asked Possible to remove the bloat code?

Totally. Edit your application path and add --disable-vivaldi . This will give you Vivaldi Light️.

[Pesala]

@npro If you are going to post a tip like this, you really need to provide more information about what it does (and what it does not do). Is there a blog article somewhere explaining this mode?

[luetage]

@d42UK said in Possible to remove the bloat code?:

Just feels like Vivaldi is getting away from what made it so attractive originally

Clearly shows you have no idea about Vivaldi’s mission. Vivaldi was never meant to be lightweight. But you can choose not to enable certain features like mail and feeds. Mastodon is not built in, it’s just a panel which you can remove.

[TbGbe]

@d42UK said in Possible to remove the bloat code?:

such as mail client, mastodon client, translator ...

theming ...

That sounds as if you want to be using Chromium.

[Ayespy]

@d42UK There is no Mastodon client. There is just a panel that links to a Mastodon page. You can remove that. If you don't like mail and feeds, don't enable them. Then their code will never be active, and will not affect the browser, and how it runs, in any way.

But all in all, the reason for the existence of Vivaldi is to have things like theming, translation, mail, feeds, configurable UI, flexible tab-handling, etc. all built-in so that extensions (and all of their bloat, system drain, risks and inherent and potential liabilities -like incompatibilities, security vulnerabilities and loss of support) become unnecessary and all desired modifications are at one's fingertips in the browser itself as it ships.

What you are looking for appears to be Chromium, which is just a naked browser that you can modify by adding extensions.

The things you don't like being integrated are, literally, the reasons For Vivaldi ever having been developed in the first place.

[waltonsimmons]

I guess in an ideal world having everything modular and open source would be cool. But it's probably not realistic.

Also, past a certain level of simplicity it becomes hard to define which feature is bloat and which isn't, the definition could change depending on the person. You see this with a lot of people who take it to various levels of extremes regarding their OS. One guy would argue that his extreme is the right extreme while another could be even more minimalist.

[npro]

@Pesala I will wait first for OP's opinion.

[Pesala]

@npro Please don't. The OP is not the only user who is ever going to read this thread, and who might try your tip. It is easy enough to reverse, but it would save time if people knew beforehand what it does.

[wintercoast]

@waltonsimmons Yes, it's ultimately subjective. There are various types of users. There are those who want as minimal as possible and then maximum freedom to plug and play as they see fit. There are others who think integrating stuff is more efficient, secure and reliable than adding it.

Then there are users who think certain features are essential but others are just "bloatware" and complain when they are not options.

Then, with other software, depending on context, the same user might prefer minimal plus optional customisation or everything but the kitchen sink.

@Ayespy sums it up pretty much.