What Vivaldi Is Getting Wrong: Tab Groups & PWA

Bizzet

Vivaldi is a great idea that I will continue to watch.

However, there are two things that have made me continue to use the Chromium browser versus the all-powerful, yet resource heavy Vivaldi browser.

Let me outline two of the things I truly hate about Vivaldi and hope they will fix them soon so I can use it again.

Tab Stacks

I know Vivaldi came out with their implementation of tab groups before it was released by the official Chrome browser.

It was great when I first started using it. I love the idea of being able to limit the amount of space being used on my tab bar. The two-level tab bar was also a good feature I must admit.

However, once Chrome came out with their version of tab groups, I couldn't stop thinking that they actually did this feature better than Vivaldi.

Chrome allows you to create tab groups which are similar to folders. You can add certain tabs to a group, label that tab group whatever you would like, and then choose a color so you can find it easily.

It blows my mind that Vivaldi does not have a similar feature. Instead, I am left with a bunch of "tab stacks" which only show one of the tabs in the group on the main tab bar.

This leads to a fundamental issue: I cannot find the actual tabs I am looking for.

For example, lets say I have Facebook and a Google Search in one tab stack. Then I have Twitter and YouTube open in another tab. I also have 4-5 other unrelated tabs stacks open of various websites. I am searching thru my Google search results but I get bored with what I am doing so I want to go look on Twitter.

The problem is, I can't find Twitter. On the main tab bar, it is only showing Youtube on the main tab bar.

I have to go clicking thru all my tab stacks in order to find where my Twitter tab is. Obviously, this is less than ideal.

Chrome solves this issue by letting you name your tab groups and add a color so I could name it something like "Social", put a red color, and now my mind knows that if I need to look for Twitter, I just go to my "Social" tab group. This is an option that can't be enabled in Vivaldi as far as I know.

I also like how Chrome's tab groups are small. They don't take up the entire space of a tab because they are not a tab. The groups are more a folder in a sense.

I am not sure why Vivaldi doesn't allow these options. It's actually quite shocking due to amount of features Vivaldi has and the fact that it is already implemented in the core Chrome browser in which Vivaldi is based on.

I hope the Vivaldi development team can solve this issue in the near future. It truly does suck.

Progressive Web Apps

Progressive web apps are another area that Vivaldi is completely failing.

They simply do not work, at least consistently.

Sometimes a website will give you an option to install it as a PWA. Sometimes that same website won't have the option.

But it doesn't even matter, because that PWA will only work once. After the first time the window is open, it is broken. Now, when you click PWA icon that was placed on your desktop, it simply opens a regular Vivaldi window with all the PWA features missing.

Again, I hope this is another thing that the Vivaldi development team will fix very soon. It is unlikely though since this has been an issue for years now, reported by many users, and they have showed no signs of wanting to fix it.

I now have started to use Chrome again, much to my enjoyment.

There are things Vivaldi has that Chrome doesn't have, that's for sure. However, these features I mentioned are not just some barley used features. These are features that I constantly use every day, much more than a sidebar.

Pesala

@bizzet said in What Vivaldi Is Getting Wrong: Tab Groups & PWA:

Chrome solves this issue by letting you name your tab groups

Vivaldi also lets you rename your tab groups. You can find individual tabs within a group by hovering the tab stack.

There is also a neat CSS workaround to hide the thumbnails.

/*Hide Tab Thumbnails*/
#vivaldi-tooltip .tooltip .tooltip-item {
  width: 280px !important;
  height: auto !important;
}
#vivaldi-tooltip .tooltip .thumbnail-image {
  display: none !important;
}

Renamed Tab Stack.png

I don't use PWA, but if you're having problems with them, someone may be able to resolve the problem, or formulate a decent bug report.

Bizzet

@Pesala

This is true so I apologize. I guess what I really wanted was the colors.

However, for the PWAs, there have been many bug reports on this feature.

mib2berlin

@bizzet
Hi, I test 3 of my main pages as PWA without problems, opens every time.
Please add a link to a page with PWA issue and your Vivaldi version.
They add PWA support since Vivaldi 4.3, what do you meant with "issues for years now"?

Cheers, mib

RealMat0s

Chrome solves this issue by letting you name your tab groups and add a color so I could name it something like "Social", put a red color, and now my mind knows that if I need to look for Twitter, I just go to my "Social" tab group. This is an option that can't be enabled in Vivaldi as far as I know.

This is a request that was made some time ago on the forum. You can enter the conversation to revive it and have a better chance of getting it to the devs.

Regarding the rename, it is something totally possible as you were told.

Sometimes a website will give you an option to install it as a PWA. Sometimes that same website won't have the option.

Not all pages are websapps. There are about a hundred that are developed, and others that work as shortcuts offering the same functionality. But yes, I have seen something out there with WhatsApp that sometimes dials to install it and sometimes not. We are in the first version of the browser with PWA, so it will gradually improve.

But it doesn't even matter, because that PWA will only work once. After the first time the window is open, it is broken. Now, when you click PWA icon that was placed on your desktop, it simply opens a regular Vivaldi window with all the PWA features missing.

Since the advent of PWAs, I have used them (WhatsApp, Deezer and Google Maps) and it has never failed me, in fact, sometimes forgot they are PWAs. If you have bugs, we'd love to hear from you via the link below.

Thank you once again for expressing and giving your opinion of the browser. This allows us to have a broader view of where Vivaldi's development should be heading.

Pesala

@bizzet said in What Vivaldi Is Getting Wrong: Tab Groups & PWA:

I also like how Chrome's tab groups are small.

Small Tab Stacks in Vivaldi

Small Tab Stacks.png

treego

To find a tab easily, one could use Quick Commands (F2). Simply start typing the name of the webpage/tab after initiating the Quick Command -- you should then see a list of tab(s) with that name very quickly. Simply click on that entry in the Quick Command list, and you will be taken to that tab.