Vivaldi 6.6 is a new version of the web browser for PC, first launched this year, and as expected, it comes with a number of new features, including improvements to web panels, performance in various areas and, of course, the ability to customize the application.

This update comes directly from the launch of Chromium 122, as other browsers based on the open source project promoted by Google did in the previous days, see the launch of Microsoft Edge 122 or the latest Brave 1.63. Thus, Vivaldi 6.6 is nurtured as the rest of the fixes, optimizations and patches of this version of Chromium.

In addition to what has been shared, Vivaldi 6.6 releases its exclusive new features, and after the official announcement, one of the most notable for its variety concerns web panels, that is, the ability to pin web pages to the sidebar of the browser. The first of them is support for extensions in web panelsway to extend their functionality.

What extensions are we talking about? It owns Chrome, which has been exploding since Google’s browser encouraged the use of the sidebar. So go to the Chrome Store and search for them or for ideas. The advantage of the implementation in Vivaldi is that its sidebar is already more powerful in itself.

Vivaldi 6.6 actually improves the usability of web panels with new navigation controls for pinned sites like panels that allow forward, backward and direct return to the home page.

In the customization section, Vivaldi 6.6 added an option to use light or dark theme to sites that offer this option regardless to the theme used in the browser or system. In addition, you can also force a theme on all sites, be it light, dark, or leave it in automatic mode, with the express warning that forcing this setting can cause problems.

This option is located under “Settings > Appearance > Site Appearance” and is nothing more than a hidden feature that Chrome implemented years ago that never got out of its “hole” (aka. flags browser) and which is available by the same means in any Chromium derivative. So what did Vivaldi do? Make it easy to access. If you like it but it gives you problems or you don’t trust it, Dark Reader is the reference.

Other new features of Vivaldi 6.6 include improved performance, but also the quality of the integrated translator. And something similar can be said about search for messages in the e-mail manager, which now allows you to filter results by date, sender, recipient, copy, subject, message content, or attachments. In addition, searches are saved in the history for faster searching. Filters are available under “Settings > Mail > Mail Filters and Actions”.

Finished with the new features of Vivaldi 6.6, the browser includes new A more detailed view for managing site permissions, available under “Settings > Privacy & Security > Site Permissions > Global Permissions”; and also includes improved functionality for importing and exporting notes and reading lists in standard formats such as Markdown and CSV.

An interesting launch, no doubt, although it still lacks a browser to plug the holes it opens, and there are many features that falter without the ability to sync, as demonstrated again with the issue of web panels (no, they don’t sync).