Vivaldi 8.0 Arrives With an Impressive New Unified Design

Vivaldi 8.0 for Windows, Mac, and Linux is described as the most significant design overhaul in the browser’s history. If it’s been a while since you took a look, this is a good time to do so.

“More than thirteen years in, and I am still as excited about building this browser as I was on day one,” Vivaldi CEO and co-founder Jon von Tetzchner writes in the announcement post. “We have spent over a decade proving that we can out-think and outshine the tech oligarchy. Not because we have more resources. Because we are building it for the right reasons. Vivaldi 8.0 embodies that belief, louder than ever.”

The new unified design in Vivaldi 8.0 is not just a visual refresh, Team Vivaldi says, it’s a complete re-architecture of the user interface. In previous versions of the browser, its core elements–tabs, toolbars, panels, and content–were separate distinct layers. But now they’re all a single, contiguous surface that creates what Vivaldi says is a more cohesive, readable, and intentional app. More to the point, themes now flow across the entire app window, backgrounds extend from the tab bar into panels and edges, and wallpapers are less decoration and more an integral part of the environment.

To help show off the new design, Vivaldi created a new collection of default themes you can choose from on first run. And you can still build your own or browse through the 7000+ themes available at the Vivaldi Themes website. And if the new look isn’t to your liking, you can still go back to the old design because choice and configuration capabilities are core to this browser’s identity.

In addition to the new design, Vivaldi 8.0 introduces six layout presets that range from a minimalistic edge-to-edge content and no visual user interface to more complex layouts with additional visible UI.

“Vivaldi 8.0 is built on a foundation that no other browser can match,” Team Vivaldi adds. “Years of listening, building, and refining have produced a browser with the most advanced tab management available, a complete suite of built-in productivity tools, and a level of customization that puts every other browser to shame. Navigation by gesture, by keyboard, or by command: However you think, the browser follows. Your mail, your calendar, your feeds, your notes, all inside the browser, all on your terms. Vivaldi 8.0 is, quite simply, the browser you have been longing for.”

Vivaldi 8.0 for Windows, Mac, and Linux is free and available now from the Vivaldi website.