“What is the best browser?”—I’ve got a new answer to that question

• I tried several browsers, but none of them met my expectations
• What is the best browser? We may have a winner…
• When is a sidebar more than just a sidebar?
• What is the best browser? The one that can do this.
• You get a browser, and you get a browser
• All that glitters is not gold…
• There are downsides to having that many tabs open
• What makes Vivaldi the best browser is about more than layouts and customization

It’s hard when something you rely on disappears. This happened to me recently. But as those wiser than myself have said:

• “All good things must come to an end.“—Chaucer
• “…every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”—Closing Time (Dan Wilson, Semisonic)
• “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”—Socrates
• “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.“—John C. Maxwell

Okay, that’s enough cliches and inspirational quotes. My favorite browser stopped being supported, so I had to ask: “What is the best browser alternative?” If that hadn’t happened, I never would’ve found my new favorite browser.

In the past, the answer to “What is the best browser?” was always “Sidekick”. I used it daily for 4 or 5 years. I loved several things about it that boosted my productivity. One of the few things I didn’t like about it was the lack of a mobile app, but I just used Chrome on my phone.

When I found out Sidekick was going away, I realised I’d need to find another browser. I’m not a fan of Edge, and Chrome is okay, but I wanted more. The hunt was on. I had to ask, “What is the best browser alternative to meet my needs?”

I tried several browsers, but none of them met my expectations

So what happened to Sidekick? Perplexity acquired it, and the team pivoted to working on the Comet browser. As a Sidekick user, I got free access to the Comet browser. But I wasn’t excited by the AI focus. I’m pretty sure I downloaded it and gave it a try, but it didn’t impress me. That’s the impression (or lack of one) it made on me.

I do remember it had a sidebar, but not a persistent app sidebar, like in Sidekick. Since the sidebar was the main thing I liked, I looked elsewhere.

I turned to ChatGPT to ask which browsers I should try. “What is the best browser alternative that is similar in functionality to Sidekick?”

It suggested

• Arc Browser
• Wavebox
• Comet
• Stack
• Opera

When trying to install the Arc browser, I got errors. Upon doing some research, it appeared to be discontinued. I asked ChatGPT why it would recommend Arc if it was being discontinued. In typical fashion, ChatGPT “lied” and said it wasn’t being discontinued.

 It only relented when I pushed back. 😔

So, I returned to ChatGPT. I asked, “What is the best browser that offers a vertical sidebar and horizontal tabs?” That’s what I was really after. Though not part of its original recommendations, it suggested Vivaldi. I’d never heard of it, but it sounded promising, so I gave it a try.

What is the best browser? We may have a winner…

It didn’t take me long to realize I had possibly found my new browser. It didn’t have the exact same functionality I was used to in Sidekick, but it was closer than anything I’d seen or tried. And I was soon to learn it was even better. It’s also got a mobile app.

Vivaldi is billed as a highly customizable browser, and I’ve found that to be true. For example, on Sidekick, I liked that Ctrl + Tab would cycle through tabs in reverse order visited. So, if you’re jumping between two tabs, Ctrl + Tab makes it easy. Or if you’re looking for a tab you were recently working on, it’s easy to get back there. Vivaldi let me change the default cycle through all tabs to that setting. Win.

It also has the ability to customize keyboard shortcuts. One shortcut I got used to in Sidekick was Alt + s. That brought up a search dialogue where I could search tabs, history and bookmarks. I set this up in Vivaldi with ease.  Now I can search tabs, closed tabs, history, bookmarks, notes, and more from one search box—another win.

One of the reasons Sidekick got its name was from its sidebar, where you could pin several tabs. I used this for my most often used tabs (think Grammarly, mail, social media, Asana—which I’ve written about here). The sidebar in Vivaldi was one of the reasons I was convinced I could make it work for me. At first, I was frustrated that the sidebar functioned quite differently from Sidekick. But I soon realized that in many ways, it was much better.

When is a sidebar more than just a sidebar?

The sidebar in Vivaldi isn’t just a collection of pinned tabs. Clicking on an icon opens up a small (resizable) window with that app. You can choose to view the desktop or mobile version. This threw me for a loop at first. But I soon realized that a middle-click would open that app in a new tab. That’s how I used Sidekick (albeit with a regular click). 

For example, it became apparent that viewing Gmail in this minitab wasn’t a great option because of display issues. Vivaldi has a mail option you can connect your account to, but I prefer Gmail’s interface. It was easier to middle-click the Gmail icon and have it open in a new tab. So, I’ve got a few icons in my sidebar that are essentially pinned bookmarks.

However…

For other apps, that sidebar is gold. I used Grammarly (affiliate link) countless times a day. Grammarly integrates well with Vivaldi and other platforms. But I prefer to copy and paste text into Grammarly to check it. Viewing text in a different context helps me see mistakes I might otherwise miss. I now have access to a mini Grammarly window whenever I need it. Magic. 

Earlier, I mentioned Asana. I use the desktop app for work, but I use it in my browser for my personal stuff. That now opens in the sidebar so I can see what outstanding tasks I have for the day. The sidebar isn’t suitable for all pages. But it works great for the internet radio station I often listen to in the evening. I don’t use Spotify, but I bet it would work with that too.

What is the best browser? The one that can do this.

My favorite new use of the sidebar is with my AI platforms. I have both ChatGPT and Claude in my sidebar. Thus, when I’m working on a doc in my main browser window, it’s super easy to access both of those platforms. I can tweak the copy, ask a quick question, or have one of them analyze something for me. So much better than jumping back and forth between tabs. It’s also easy to toggle back and forth between Claude and ChatGPT to compare things.

Finally, Vivaldi has several built-in features like a calendar, notes, bookmarks, and more that you can access from the sidebar. I love having a calendar available that stays visible when you navigate away (thanks for getting rid of that, Windows). Easy access to reference notes is also super handy. There are so many ways for you to use the sidebar to boost convenience and productivity.

You get a browser, and you get a browser

I’ve always set up different instances of my browsers for work and for personal use. It just keeps things cleaner. I’ve done that with Vivaldi, but I learned that it can help me even more. One of the things I sometimes do for work is monitor our social media channels and groups. Previously, I had them all bookmarked in a folder and would open that folder in a new window. I could check what I needed and close it when I was done. But Vivaldi goes one step further.

Introducing Workspaces. I now have a social media workspace set up. The advantages?

1. I can still open it in a new window or flip between my current workspace and the new one.
2. The workspace saves each time I access it, so I always pick up where I left off.

That last part matters because bookmarks always take you back to the “start.” But if I’ve got a Workspace open and I’m looking at social media stats, rather than the main page, it’ll open up to that page when I open the workspace. But if I hit the back button, it’ll remember the previous page. Fantastic!

I’ve also written about how I use subject line analyzers and headline checkers. In that post, I explained how I’ve set up those pages in a separate workspace, with the four tabs tiled. If I’d had them bookmarked, I’d have to arrange things every time. But with workspaces, they’re always just the way I left them. So much better.

Speaking of tiling, you can quickly tile multiple tabs vertically or horizontally. You just select them with your mouse and use the appropriate keyboard shortcut.

• Ctrl + F7 tile to grid
• Ctrl + F8 tile horizontally
• Ctrl + F9 tile vertically

You can also quickly untile them with another keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + F6. Great for comparing two tabs or copying and pasting between them.

All that glitters is not gold…

I’ve found Vivaldi relatively stable, but it has crashed on me a few times (the reason is coming soon). I like to leave a number of frequently-used tabs open when I close my browser. That way, when I start it again, I pick up right where I left off. The few times Vivaldi crashed on me, I lost that session because it wasn’t saved. I’ve since saved that “main” session as my “Startup Session”, so it always saves. And if Vivaldi crashes, I can just open that Workspace to retrieve it easily. 

I’m often guilty of having far too many tabs open. That “may” have caused the very infrequent crashes I mentioned above. As I write this, I’ve got close to 50 tabs open. I keep tabs that I often access open all the time (i.e., email, social media, my website). 

You may be wondering about memory usage and browser slowdowns with so many tabs open. Vivaldi’s got that covered, and perhaps if I’d used this initially, I wouldn’t have had those crashes I experienced. It has a “hibernate” feature that lets you hibernate the current tab, stack, or background tabs. Super quick and simple, and once you access those tabs again, they spring back to life.

There are downsides to having that many tabs open

One downside of having so many open tabs is that they’re hard to identify because they’re so small. To help with that clutter, you can stack tabs together by dragging one tab onto another. When you click on the main tab, you’ll see the other tabs in that stack in a row underneath. 

When working, I often have multiple marketing emails open. Sometimes I’m editing them or monitoring sent email stats. Instead of having them take up real estate, they’re all stacked under one tab. That makes them easy to access when I want them, but without the clutter.  Just hover over that tab stack to see which tabs are neatly organized beneath it.

What makes Vivaldi the best browser is about more than layouts and customization

Vivaldi has decent privacy protection as well. It comes with its own built-in tracking and content blocker. It’s pretty good, and in some cases, I’ve found it to be too good. Occasionally, when I visit sites, a page won’t load. But once I lower the level of blocking (or, in some cases, where I know it’s safe), turn it off completely for a particular site or page, everything works fine. Finally, Vivaldi comes with Proton VPN, which you can use for free by signing up. I don’t need it often, but when I do, it comes in very handy.

So, there you have it. If Sidekick hadn’t gone under, I’d still be using it. But because it did and was forced to examine other options, I discovered Vivaldi. It does most of what I loved about Sidekick, and so much more. I’m sure there’s more I could be doing with it. But for now, I’ve figured out several features and tricks that allow me to be as productive as I like.

So, what’s your answer to the question, “What is the best browser?” Think your choice is better than the Vivaldi browser? Fair warning, if there’s no sidebar, I’m not interested. 😉 Let me know in the comments.

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