Add a new blog post

This article will show you how to add a new blog post to your blog on blogs.vivaldi.net.

Write a new blog post

You can start writing a new blog post in a few different ways:

  • On blogs.vivaldi.net, click on Write a New Post below your avatar near the top right corner of the page.
  • On your blog’s Dashboard, select Posts > Add New from the menu on the right side.
    Top left corner of a Vivaldi blog's Dashboard with Posts category's menu open and "Add New" menu item selected.
  • On the Posts’ page, click Add New above the list of posts.
    Vivaldi blog's Posts page with "Add New" button zoomed in on.
  • From the horizontal menu on top of your blog and blog’s dashboard, select New > Post.

Content Blocks

WordPress’ Gutenberg editor uses blocks for building posts and pages. The selection is wide, from basic text paragraphs and images to embeds from other sites. Occasionally new blocks are added too.

There are many ways to add new blocks. Use an option you prefer:

Option 1

Next to the WordPress logo in the top left corner, click on Toggle block inserter and select the type of block you want to add: paragraph, heading, image, list, table, etc. When hovering over a block option, you can see a preview of the block on the right from the blocks menu. To close the menu, click on Toggle blocks inserter or focus elsewhere on the page.

Option 2

Add a new line to the content section in the editor and click on the Add Block button that appears on the right side.

Option 3

Add a new line to the content and type / to choose a block.

Option 4

Hover your mouse between two blocks and when a blue line appears, click the Add Block button.

You can reorder blocks by using the arrows on the menu in the top left corner of each block or by dragging them to the desired location from the Drag button.

You can find some block-specific settings in the menu above the selected block as well. Additional block customization options can be found in the Settings menu on the right (see image below).

From the same panel, where the block editor is located, you can also adjust settings for the whole post.

For more advanced blogging, you can add or remove fields from Options > Preferences in the top right corner.

Block Patterns

Patterns are a collection of blocks you can reuse in your Vivaldi blog’s posts and pages. If you regularly add the same things to your blog posts that require lots of setting changes, Patterns can help you save time and maintain consistency across your posts. For example, you might want to create a cover that is shown at the top of each post which includes headings with edited typography and an image with specific color overlay settings. Instead of creating one from scratch in each post, you can set it up once and save it as a Pattern. That way, in future posts you just need to find the pattern and insert it.

To create a Pattern:

  1. Create the blocks you want to save as a Pattern.
  2. Select them all.
  3. Click on Options in the block’s menu.
  4. Select “Create pattern”.
  5. Give the new pattern a name, add it to a category, and decide, whether any changes made to the pattern should be synced.
  6. Finish by clicking “Create”.
Vivaldi Community Blogs post editor. Block's menu is open with the option to create a new pattern highlighted.

To use a saved Pattern:

  1. Click on Toggle block inserter and go to the Patterns tab.
  2. Find your patterns and click on the one you want to add to your post/page.

Add media

To include media files in the post, add an Image or Gallery block to the post and choose whether you want to add the media by:

  • uploading the file(s);
  • choosing from already uploaded files in the Media Library;
  • adding high-quality and free images from Instant Images;
  • inserting an image from a URL.

Attachment details can be edited prior to inserting the media file into the post:

  • Select the image;
  • Click Edit Image in the Attachment details section on the right;
  • Make the changes and click Save.

Instant Images

We’ve added a plugin that lets you easily browse through and use thousands of high-quality images from Unsplash, Openverse, Pixabay, and Pexels. To add images from Instant Images to your Media Library:

  1. Go to your blog’s Dashboard > Media > Instant Images;
  2. Once you’ve found an image you want to use in your blog, click on it and it will be added to your Media Library.

To add a photo to your blog from Instant Images while editing a post or a page:

  1. In the post or page editor, add a new image or gallery block.
  2. Select Media Library and go to Instant Images tab.
  3. Search through the files from Unsplash, Openverse, Pixabay, and Pexels.
  4. When you’ve found one you like, click on the image.
  5. After it has been added to your library, click Select in the bottom right corner of the Media Library window to add it to the post/page.

Classic Editor

If you don’t like to write posts by using blocks, you can switch to the older version of the editor.

To switch to the Classic Editor:

  1. Go to your blog’s Dashboard > Settings > Writing.
  2. For “Default editor for all users” select Classic Editor.
  3. Click Save Changes.

Edit a blog post

You can easily make changes to the blog post by:

  • clicking Edit next to the post information (date, category)
  • while on the blog post’s link click Edit Post on the top horizontal menu
  • while on Dashboard > Posts > click Edit under the post title (becomes visible when hovering the mouse over the post)

Once finished with the changes, click Update.


Add a new page to the blog

In addition to blog posts, it’s also possible to add pages to the blog. The difference between posts and pages is that posts are blog entries that will show up in the Reader and RSS feeds and are organized in chronological order. They can be found in Recent Posts, Categories, Archives, etc. Pages, on the other hand, are static and don’t have a time stamp. If you’re using the Pages widget, they will be visible in the blog’s widget section on the side or bottom of the page (depending on the theme) or you can add a link to them to the blog menu. A good example of a page is the About page with information about the blog’s author(s).

To add a page to the blog:

  1. Go to Dashboard > Pages > New post.
  2. Go to Pages > Add New.
  3. From the top horizontal menu select New > Page.

Customize the blog

You can make your Vivaldi blog truly personal by customising it. The Customise page gives you a live preview of all the changes you make to the look and feel of your blog.

To access the personalisation options, go to the blog’s Dashboard > Appearance > Customise. When you’re viewing your own blog, you can go to the Customisation page directly from the top menu as well. Themes, Widgets, and Menus can also be customised on their respective pages.

To edit a section on your blog, either go to the respective item in the menu or click on the pencil icon in the preview.

In addition to the desktop view, you can also get a preview of what the blog will look like on smaller screens – on tablets and smart phones. For a better preview, you can temporarily hide the controls.

Make sure to click Save and Publish to save all the changes that you made, or X to cancel.

Save and Publish button

Customisation options

Themes

Choose between 3 different layouts for your blog:

  • Classic (on the left) – A classic single column blog layout with a sidebar on the right. Add buttons for social media profiles. Choose from a selection of fonts and colour schemes.
  • Simple (in the middle) – A straightforward, single-column layout with the option to add widgets to the footer. Add buttons for social media profiles. Choose from a selection of fonts and colour schemes.
  • Magazine (on the right) – A straightforward, single-column layout with the option to add widgets to the footer. Add buttons for social media profiles. Choose from a selection of fonts and colour schemes.
Blog themes preview

Site Identity

Blog title is required when first creating the blog, but here you can change it. You can also add a logo and a tagline or hide everything altogether.

Fonts

There are 9 different fonts available to choose from. Different fonts can be used for text and headlines.

Social links

Let readers know on which Social Media platforms they can find you. Social links can be displayed in the blog header or together with the widgets.

Colours

Once you’ve picked a theme for your blog, you can customise it further by changing the colour scheme. You can choose between light, dark and colourful themes.

In addition, you can change the blog title’s colour here, as well as in the Header Image section.

Header Image

You can add an image to the top of the blog as a background image for the title, logo, tagline and social media links, if you’ve chosen to display them.

Pick from the selection of soft gradients or upload your own image.

Widgets in the classic theme

Menus

To directly link to pages, posts, categories, tags, and URLs add a menu to your blog. The menu will be displayed between the page title/header image and blog content.

Widgets

Customise your blog by adding widgets that add content and features to your blog. With the Classic theme, widgets will be displayed on the side (see image below). With the Simple and Magazine themes, widgets will be at the bottom of the page.

Homepage Settings

Select whether the front page features your latest posts in reverse chronological order or a static page you’ve created.

Blog Settings and Tools

Settings

You can change a number of settings from  “Your blog title” > Dashboard > Settings:

  • General – change the blog’s title and tagline, as well as language and time formatting of the blog.
  • Writing – change the default category for blog posts and the default post type (Gallery, Chat, Quote, Video, etc). Switch between the Classic editor and Gutenberg’s block editor.
  • Reading –  edit what is displayed on your front page and how many posts are shown per page and in feeds. Here, you can also decide whether you want the feeds to display a full article or only a snippet. Another option you can decide in here is whether or not you want your blog to be indexed by search engines. Your posts will not be visible on Vivaldi.net‘s home page or categories if you disable this option.
  • Discussion – change article and comment settings including how comments are moderated.
    • If you notice that your blog posts are getting spam comments, we suggest you enable the option: “Users must be registered and logged in to comment“. That way only logged in Vivaldi Community members can comment.
  • Media –  determine the maximum dimensions of images used in the blog.
  • Permalinks – alter the way blog links are generated for new posts and pages.
  • Akismet Anti-spam – For additional spam filtering, you can set up an Akismet account and obtain an API key to activate the anti-spam plugin for your blog.
  • Code Syntax Block Settings – If you use code blocks in your posts, you can choose a color scheme for the code block and define your default programming language.

Tools

From “Your blog title” > Dashboard > Tools you can:

  • Import and Export content to and from your other blogs.
  • Delete your blog.
Important!
If you delete your blog, it cannot be restored and you won’t be able to create another blog with that account or URL.

Full screen view

If you’d like to take advantage of as much screen real estate as possible, you can browse Vivaldi in fullscreen mode.

To enter fullscreen mode on Windows:

To exit fullscreen mode:

  • Use the Keyboard Shortcut F11;
  • Press Alt to open the Vivaldi menu button Vivaldi menu, go to Window > Fullscreen. Make sure opening the Main Menu with Alt key is enabled in Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard shortcuts;
  • Type “Fullscreen Mode” in Quick Commands;
  • Use the Mouse Gesture you created for going into fullscreen mode.

Hide browser’s user interface

To hide all user interface toolbars at once:

To show the user interface again, follow the same steps as for hiding it.

Furthermore, you can toggle the user interface visibility by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F11 / ⌘ F10. It’s also possible to hide individual UI elements like the Panel or Address bar with Keyboard Shortcuts. You can set and edit shortcuts for each toolbar in Settings > Keyboard > View.

Vivaldi in Android Automotive OS

The Android version of Vivaldi is available in many of the cars that have the Android Automotive OS (AAOS). For example, Polestar, Renault, Volvo, Wolksvagen, Mercedes, Audi and more.

Install Vivaldi

To install Vivaldi in your car:

  1. Open the Google Play app in the car’s center console.
  2. Search for “Vivaldi Browser”.
  3. Tap on Install.
  4. Launch the app and start exploring.

Using Vivaldi in your car

To ensure the safety of the drivers and passengers, the browser can be used only when the car is parked. Streaming content may continue audio-only if driving commences.

In addition, some functional restrictions may apply, for example, files cannot be downloaded. Other than that, the browser in AAOS has the same features and works the same way as Vivaldi on Android on phones and tablets.


Need help?

In case you have questions for which you haven’t found an answer from the Android section of the Help Pages start a discussion in the Automotive category of the Vivaldi Forum, where the Vivaldi Team and expert users in the Community will answer any of your questions. In case you’ve encountered a bug, please report it on vivaldi.com/bugreport and select the relevant car brand for the affected product.

Private Windows

Private browsing mode is intended to protect your privacy from other users of your computer. When you browse using a Private Window, Vivaldi will minimize what is stored locally on your computer so that very few traces are left of what you were browsing once you close all private browsing windows.

Vivaldi browser's Private Window open with the introduction page.

To open a Private Window:

  • Go to the Vivaldi menu button Vivaldi menu (Windows and Linux) > File  > New Private Window;
  • Type ‘New Private Window‘ in Quick Commands;
  • Use the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl Shift N / ⌘ Shift N;
  • Create a new Mouse Gesture for opening a new private window.

Private Window Theme

Vivaldi has a separate theme for Private Windows to make it easier to differentiate them from regular Windows. To change the Private Window Theme:

  1. Go to Settings > Themes > Private Window Theme.
  2. Select a theme from the drop down menu.

Private Window Search Engine

The default Search Engines can be different in regular and private windows. To select a search engine for Private Window:

  1. Go to Settings > Search > Private Window Search Engine.
  2. Select a Search Engine from the drop down menu.

A few things to keep in mind about using Private Windows

  • Using a Private Window does not encrypt or otherwise modify your connection.
  • All private windows share the same session while they are open, so you need to close all of them to cause the session data to be deleted.
  • A Private Window in Vivaldi does not use the same cookie store or cache as for regular browsing.
  • Third-party cookies are blocked by default. To change it, go to Settings > Privacy > Cookies > Third-party cookies.
  • It does not store the history of addresses that you visit.
  • It tries – as much as possible – to only store website cache files in memory instead of on disk, so that disk scanning tools will not find residual traces of the files.
  • If you intentionally download something, that content cannot be protected. Downloads are downloads, whether they start in private browsing mode or not.

If you have forgotten to use private browsing mode, you can select Delete Browsing Data from the Tools menu to either delete all your browsing history, or just the history for a selected amount of time. Of course, this cannot remove traces from the disk so disk scanning tools may be able to find traces.


Always open Vivaldi in a Private Window

To open a Private Window without opening a normal window first, follow these instructions.

Option 1

  • Right click on Vivaldi in the Start Menu or Task Bar;
  • Select New Private Window.

Option 2

  • Open Windows’ Run Command Win + R;
  • Paste Vivaldi’s Executable Path (from vivaldi://about);
  • Add --incognito;
  • Click OK.

Option 3

  • Make a Desktop shortcut of vivaldi.exe.
  • Right click on the shortcut and select Properties.
  • In the Target field add --incognito after the Executable Path.

Obtain official builds and check their signatures

Securely Downloading official Vivaldi packages

To ensure you have an official version of Vivaldi, type “https://vivaldi.com/download/” and press “Enter”. On visiting this website, you should expect to see a padlocked badge in the URL field stating, “Vivaldi Technologies [NO]”. In almost all browsers, you can click the badge to view more details about the certificate.

Checking signatures

All official installation packages from Vivaldi are signed. You can check the signatures of these packages via the following methods:

Windows

Right-click on the installer package, then choose “Properties → Digital Signatures”. Here, “Vivaldi Technologies AS” should be listed. Selecting this and clicking “Details” should result in a new window that states, “This digital signature is OK”. For even more details, click on “View Certificate”.

macOS

Extract Vivaldi from the .dmg installation package and place it in “Applications”.

Open the “Terminal” application and enter the following:

codesign -dv --verbose=2 /Applications/Vivaldi.app

In the results there should be no errors about lack of signing and the “Authority” lines must include “Apple Root CA”, “Developer ID Certification Authority” and “Developer ID Application: Vivaldi Technologies AS (4XF3XNRN6Y)”.

You can also check if the application bundle is trusted by your system via the following command:

spctl --assess -vv /Applications/Vivaldi.app

For more information on examining macOS code signatures see the Apple developer documentation.

Linux

Unlike Windows and macOS, our Linux packages are self-signed. The public signing key is included within the packages and configured automatically during first install, meaning that your system will check it when you attempt to upgrade the application (via our official repositories), and will only proceed it if it is valid. If however, you want to manually check the package signatures, you first need to download and install the public key yourself.

Debian/Ubuntu

Open a terminal window and issue the following to fetch a copy of our public key, securely over https:

wget https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/linux_signing_key.pub

Import the key into the GPG keyring of your local user:

gpg --import linux_signing_key.pub

You can now verify that the signature is valid, like so (adjust the file name to account for the current version and architecture):

dpkg-sig --verify vivaldi-stable_5.4.2753.47-1_amd64.deb

If everything is ok, it should return a result that includes “GOODSIG” and a 41 character, key ID that should end with “C27AA466”.

RPM-based

Import the key into the RPM database:

sudo rpm --import https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/linux_signing_key.pub

You can now verify that the signature is valid, like so (adjust the file name to account for the current version and architecture):

rpm -Kv vivaldi-stable-5.4.2753.47-1.x86_64.rpm

The signature checks should return “OK” and key ID should be “c27aa466”.

Request a new feature

We build Vivaldi with the needs of our sizeable community in mind. If you have an idea for a feature you’d like to see in the browser, let us know on the Forum!

Searching for existing feature requests

To collect all votes under one post and limit the number of duplicate requests, please look for other feature requests, before posting your own. You can browse through already requested feature topics by logging in to the Forum and going to the relevant feature request category:

To search for a feature request:

Option 1

  1. Click on the Search for feature requests button in the top right of the feature requests page.
  2. Enter a search term in the search field.
  3. Press Enter or click Search below advanced search options.
Advanced Search settings on the Vivaldi Forum.

Option 2

  1. Enter the search term in the Search filed near the top right corner of the forum.
  2. Select the category or categories you want to search in. Hold down Ctrl or Shift to select multiple categories or tick the box for Search child categories.
  3. Press Enter or click Search below advanced search options.

When you’ve found a feature that you’d like to see implemented, click on the thumps up button below the first post.

Forum upvoting button

Leave a comment if you have anything to add to the feature request.


Posting a new feature request

  • If the feature hasn’t been requested, start a new topic. Post only one feature request per topic.
  • If possible, post in the relevant subcategory. Admins and moderators may move your post, if they feel there’s a better location for your request. You can see all your posts on your profile.
  • Choose a clear and concise title for the topic and describe the feature in more detail in the body of the post.
  • Duplicate feature requests will be tagged as such and moved to Archive.
  • Discuss requested features under each post.
  • Check tags such as “Done”, “In progress“, “Pipeline”, “Duplicate” and “Will not do” for the status of requested features.
  • Feature requests can be sorted by “Newest to Oldest”, “Oldest to newest”, “Most posts (most discussed)” and “Most votes”.
  • Offensive language and ALL CAPS posts will be edited or even deleted.

Don’t have a Vivaldi.net account? Find out here how to create one

Thank you all for being part of our journey and for helping us make Vivaldi the browser you need it to be!

Report crashes on Windows

A “crash” occurs when Vivaldi encounters an unrecoverable error and shuts down unexpectedly or a tab’s contents disappear and are replaced with a “dead bird” image. Information pertaining to the crash is logged by Vivaldi.

Locating Crash Logs

  1. Open the “Run” dialog—[Windows Key]+R
  2. Copy—triple click to select—then paste in the following text, followed by pressing “OK”
    "%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\Crashpad\reports"
  3. Look for a crash log that was created around the time you witnessed the crash—sort by “Date”

As an alternative, use the Windows batch file contained within this archive to automate all of the above. Extract the batch file from the archive, run it and it will create a compressed archive for you, containing crash logs from your most recently installed Vivaldi version.


Submitting Vivaldi crash logs

Crash logs are not sent back to us automatically. However, you can create a bug report and let us know about your issue.

After logging a bug report you will then be sent an confirmation email. Simply reply to this with your crash log(s) as an attachment—compressed in a .zip archive if possible. Such logs are greatly appreciated; they provide us with information as to exactly where in the code things went wrong.

Make sure the crash happens on the latest version of Vivaldi. If you’re not on the latest version, please update the browser and test the issue again.

HTML5 Proprietary Media on Linux

HTML5 “proprietary” audio and video includes all media types that are patented, such H.264 (video) and AAC (audio).

Testing support

To test proprietary media support, try and play the following test video.


Installing proprietary media support

If the test video didn’t play, restart Vivaldi once. This will cause a reinstall of the appropriate support files, in cases where they did not get installed alongside Vivaldi with the initial install or upgrade .


Troubleshooting

If the test video above will still not play, file a bug report stating that you run Linux and cannot play proprietary media. Mention your Linux distribution and distribution version.

Most audio/video streaming services also require Encrypted Media Extensions to function. If you are able to play the test video above but continue to have issues with streaming services, you should also check out our guide to Widevine CDM (for EME/DRM support).