Work smarter and stay focused with Vivaldi’s Web Panels

[varsha]

Web Panels got a whole lot better in Vivaldi 2.0. Håvard Nordlie Mathisen, a new addition to Vivaldi dev team, talks about his experience with Web Panels.

Click here to see the full blog post

[Christoph142]

I, too, love having pages in panels that I need oftentimes not for browsing directly, but for complimenting it, like e. g. checking messages in Telegram or quickly looking up a word in dict.cc They are just perfect for such tasks.

[pafflick]

For me, the ability to use the mouse navigation buttons in the panels and the floating panel option are the biggest improvements. The lack of those features was the biggest show-stopper for me, until now. Hopefully, I'll get used to using panels more often now.
So, thank you for all the improvements - you did a great job!

[Pesala]

I am not having much success with mouse gestures working anywhere at the moment. The rocker gestures do work for back/forward in the panels, but not GestureLeft or GestureRight. If anything happens, the commands are executed on the web page.

[pafflick]

@pesala I've made a mistake, I meant the navigation buttons only, not gestures. I do not use gestures in panels, as usually, I keep them quite narrow, so it's easier for me to use the navigation buttons rather than gestures. Gestures still apply to the active tab, but initially, it was true also for the navigation buttons - which was kind of counter-intuitive for me and therefore pushed me off from using panels extensively.

I also forgot to mention that the option to close panels once another element of the browser gets focus is also a very big improvement for me.

[Pesala]

@pafflick For me, the navigation buttons on my Multimedia keyboard go back/forward in both the panel and on the webpage. Reported on 27 April and still happening.

(VB-39837) Multi-media Keyboard Back/Forward Work in Both Tab and Focused Web Panels

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Specs: AMD A10-6800K, 8 Gb on Win 10 64-bit build 17134,286 • Snapshot 2.1.1322.4 (64-bit)

[pafflick]

@pesala Strange. That must be hardware-specific. For me, they work either only in the panel or only in the active tab.

[Banz]

Unfortunately some websites lack of a mobile version that would make them great in a web panel. But still, I'm using them everyday, and I think this is a great improvement for desktop web browsing in general.
As for the web panel suggestions, I only noticed them now when reading this article, and the suggestions on my Vivaldi showed a website that I indeed use every day, that I never thought to try in a web panel, and that actually fit perfectly there. So thanks for the suggestions, the article, Vivaldi, and just being the nice human beings you are

[Pesala]

@banz You can use the Desktop version of a website in the panel. Apply separate width, but they might not fit too well.

[Alacho]

@banz: This makes me so happy to read! Thank you very much

[Ornorm]

I can't live without them since I discovered them (by chance while reading a forum thread because I didn't know the feature was there).
I have different dictionaries I use on a daily basis, the weather, news, etc. I really love that feature. It's a fantastic added value to have it in a browser and, for me, Vivaldi here is really a step forward compared with its competitors.
Edit : I forgot to say that I love the first picture of the article (neat, subtle and eye catcher... well done!)

[ragz028]

Webpanels is a great feature. Few observations/requests (not sure if they're already documented elsewhere)

1. When I add whatsapp web as a web panel, it shows a message to accept dekstop notifcations.
   But no pop up is visible to accept. When whatsapp web is opened in a tab, a pop up is visible to accept desktop notifications.
   Not sure if this is just problem with whatsapp or is with all websites which show desktop notifcations when added as web panel

2. When vivaldi is launched, if the panels are preloaded, accessing the panels for the first time becomes faster.
   Right now, each panel is loaded only after clicking the icon.

3. Need a built in web search as a web panel with ability to choose search engine. It'll be very useful to do a quick web search in the side panel rather than open a new tab.
   noticed that bing loads properly as a webpanel, but google doesn't fit the search results page to the width of the panel.

4. right click on a link and add as webpanel will simplify adding new webpanels

5. need setting to enable/disable auto-close at individual panel level. some panels are useful to keep them open while some need to auto-close on losing focus.

[Alacho]

@ragz028: I have noticed some of these things as well, and I've been considering to try to implement some of them. Especially the preloading-thing, was actually talking to another dev about it the other day. Maybe you will see these improvements in the future!

[JamieMontreal]

Great job on this concept of web panels. I'm one of those maniacs with multiple windows open at the same time. I used to have to take three separate browser windows and manually place them on my screen since Windows doesn't "snap" three windows (but it will let you snap two). For those of us that have to track time for everything we do, and who often forget to do so, having a Vivaldi web panel displaying my XPunch punch clock is an amazing feature on the browser. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qAfVYEJFZGkV0tqAdA3wWWO3nCDKDgHL

[vbrazelton]

I know this is an older article now but the floating window tip is very useful! Thanks!

[greybeard]

I use Web Panels extensively and I could use them more but there is simply is not enough room for all those I use regularly and as yet no way to widen the panel or scroll through the items in it to be able to increase the nimber of "useable" Web Panels. I understand the team is working on this issue and am patiently waiting for improvements.

[Pesala]

@greybeard Each web panel can have its own separate width, so I don't understand what you mean by “no way to widen the panels.”

Scrolling through additional panels is possible by using the Open Next Panel and Open Previous Panel shortcuts. I assigned Ctrl+Down and Ctrl+Up, but I don't have enough panels to need them. I also use a 1200x1600 pixel portrait monitor, so I have loads of vertical screen real-estate.

[greybeard]

@Pesala I guess I did not express myself properly. But I meant to be able to widen the entire panel to be able to put two separate web panels beside each other. This would enable a user to have twice the number of Web Panels with the Panel bar open.
As it is few of my Web Panels have a visual aid (see below, except for the tool tip) to define the Web Panel so those that get put below the lower edge of the bar are invisible. This makes Opening Next a gamble if one does not have them memorized or written down.
Since there is no way, as yet, to sort the Web Panels or to add a spacer (or something similar to arrange them) I have been forced to remove many and add them to a Speed Dial folder.

A small example of the generic page icons:

[mirona]

Funny that this article is called "Staying focused with web panels" because to me, it seems web panels are a recipe for distraction.

They always show information aside from what you're trying to focus on. Worse if they auto-update, like feeds of all sorts; but I see there's even a function to periodically update.

I can see a use case in seeing stock price at all times, if you're a day trader or if you enjoy distracting yourself with emotional rollercoasters.

Am I using them wrong? Are there use cases that don't involve distraction?

[mib2berlin]

@mirona
Hi, it´s distracting like the Windows Start Menu, use it if you need it.
Some user have 600 tabs in 10 windows open, this I call distracting.
I use the panel toggle but other use F4 to open/hide it.

Cheers, mib