There are dozens of ways to make your Vivaldi browser look, feel, and behave more uniquely. From basic theme changes to using mouse gestures as a means to navigate the internet in a more efficient manner, Vivaldi offers plenty of customization options.

You can even customize Vivaldi in ways that allow it to improve your workflow, such as through custom key shortcuts, or by turning commonly visited websites into custom search engines. Here are 13 different ways to customize Vivaldi and turn it into the perfect web browser for you.

1. Customize the Color Scheme

Your web browser’s color scheme will have the biggest impact on its overall appearance, even when that’s the only visual customization you’re interested in.

Vivaldi comes with a red-and-white color scheme by default, but you can change the colors of your brows to fit any taste. Here’s how to access the Themes menu:

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Click on the Vivaldi icon in the top-left corner of the interface.
3. Click on Settings.

4. Click on the Themes sub-menu.

You now have two options:

Those of you who choose the latter, know that the sheer amount of customization options is almost overwhelming. From manually positioning each icon to choosing custom colors using their respective hexadecimal color codes, the possibilities are almost limitless.

There are even separate settings for your private windows, and you can even set a schedule so that certain themes activate between certain hours of the day. This is especially useful for those who would like to transition from a light to a darker theme during evening hours.

2. Third-Party Theme Integration

Another theme-related customization feature that users, especially gamers, will love is Vivaldi’s third-party theme integration. More precisely, Vivaldi supports Razer Chroma theme integration, as well as Philips Hue theme integration. Here’s how to enable this feature:

1. Press Ctrl + F12 to access Vivaldi’s Settings menu.
2. Click on the Themes sub-menu.
3. Scroll down until you reach the two third-party theme integration sub-menus.

4. Press on the checkbox next to Enable Razer Chroma Integration, or the box next to Enable Hue, depending on what hardware you own.

This feature only works if you have a Razer Chroma-enabled device connected to your computer or a Philips Hue lighting system connected to your local network. For Razer Chroma Integration, you’ll also need to have Razer Synapse installed on your computer.

3. Adaptive Website Color Schemes

This next tweak is also theme-related, but instead of providing Vivaldi with a static theme, it’ll allow the browser to adapt to whatever website you visit.

It does this by matching the browser’s color scheme to that of the most used colors on the website, allowing for a much more immersive experience. Here’s how to activate this feature:

1. Press Ctrl + F12 to access Vivaldi’s Settings menu.
2. Click on the Themes sub-menu.
3. Access the Editor menu.
4. From the Colors sub-menu, check the box next to Accent from Page.

The theme will now automatically adapt based on the colors of whatever website you’re visiting, and it will also update automatically when switching between tabs.

4. Use Custom Icons

Those of you who love customizing the look of your web browsers down to the smallest details will be happy to hear that Vivaldi supports the use of custom icons. Here’s how to do it:

1. Press Ctrl + F12 to access Vivaldi’s Settings menu.
2. Click on the Themes sub-menu.

Similarly to Vivaldi’s theme library, you now have two options:

• Click Get more themes to visit Vivaldi’s theme library, create a search filter, and check the box next to Custom icons to see all available themes that have custom icons.

• Access the Theme Editor and go to the Icons sub-menu to import custom icons and use them within Vivaldi.

You can either create your own icons to import, or download a third-party icon pack.

5. Customize Your Start Page

Once you’ve customized the theme, the second most noticeable feature of your Vivaldi browsing experience is how the start page looks.

By default, your Vivaldi’s Start Page will feature a handful of websites available for quick launch, including a few of Vivaldi’s partner sites. For the context of this guide, Vivaldi refers to the websites displayed on the Start Page as Speed Dials. Here’s how you can change the look of your Vivaldi Start Page:

​​Create a New Speed Dial

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. In the Start Page, click on the big plus labeled Add New Speed Dial.

3. Enter the desired webpage URL in the field labeled Add Bookmark to Speed Dial.

Use Custom Icons on Your Speed Dials

This allows you to use a custom thumbnail as your Speed Dial’s icon. For the context of our guide, we changed the thumbnail for our MUO Speed Dial. Here’s how to do it:

1. Hover your cursor over your desired Speed Dial, and press the + icon.

2. Browse your computer for the location of your custom thumbnail, and apply the thumbnail.

For best results, we recommend an image size of 440×360 pixels, and as for the image format, all the most popular ones are supported, including animated GIFs.

Vivaldi’s toolbar is not only feature-packed and handy, but it’s also highly customizable, allowing you to add, rearrange, and remove any tool and shortcut from the toolbar as you see fit. Here’s how to do it:

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Right-click on either the left or the bottom toolbar.
3. Click on Edit, and select Customize Toolbar from the drop-down menu.

4. From the top-left corner of the Toolbar Editor, select which toolbar you want to customize.

5. Start customizing your toolbars.

To add new elements to a toolbar, simply drag them from the Toolbar Editor onto the actual toolbar within the browser. To rearrange toolbar components, just drag and drop them, like you would a regular icon. Finally, to remove a toolbar component, just drag it and drop it somewhere in the background, outside the actual toolbar.

7. Rearrange the UI Elements

Most web browsers follow a similar visual style when it comes to the location of UI elements. For example, the address bar and opened tabs are always situated in the upper part of the screen.

However, those of you looking to change this traditional layout can do so effortlessly, with the ability to move multiple key elements.

Change the Tab Bar Position

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Press Ctrl + F12 to open the Settings menu.
3. Go to the Tabs sub-menu, and scroll down to Tab Bar Position.

4. Choose between Top, Left, Right, and Bottom positioning.

Change the Address Bar Position

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Press Ctrl + F12 to open the Settings menu.
3. Go to the Address Bar sub-menu, and scroll down to Address Bar Position.

4. Choose between keeping the address bar on the top or the bottom part of your UI.

8. Change the Shape of UI Elements

Some users like rounded corners, while others prefer sharper edges. Regardless of which type of user you are, Vivaldi allows you to customize the roundness of various UI elements, including tabs, the shape of Speed Dials, menu boxes, and more. Here’s how to do it:

1. Press Ctrl + F12 to access Vivaldi’s Settings menu.
2. Click on the Themes sub-menu.
3. Open the Theme Editor, and go to Settings.

4. Scroll down to Corner Rounding.
5. Move the slider to adjust the corner roundness of your UI elements.

The great thing about this feature is that you can see the changes in corner roundness happening in real-time as you’re using the slider.

9. Use Vivaldi’s Zoom options

Here are a few interesting ways you can use the zooming feature in Vivaldi:

Several Ways of Zooming

Besides just using the mouse wheel for zooming, you can also use the zooming slider located in Vivaldi’s status bar. Additionally, you can also use keyboard shortcuts to zoom in or out, which you can further customize by making your own custom key binds.

Change the Base Zoom Level

Those who’ll need most of the web pages they visit to be zoomed in can change the default zoom level from the browser’s Settings menu. Here’s how to do it:

1. Press Ctrl + F12 to access Vivaldi’s Settings menu.
2. Click on the Webpages sub-menu.
3. Scroll down to Default Webpage Zoom.

4. Move the slider to a level that’s appropriate for your needs.

Zoom UI Elements and Text

Vivaldi allows users to zoom in on Interface elements and text separately. Here’s how to do it:

• Change interface zoom: Go to Settings, select Appearance, and under Window Appearance adjust the slider labeled User Interface Zoom.

• Change text size: Go to Settings, select Webpages, scroll down to Fonts, and change the Minimum Font Size value.

10. Give Your Search Engine Nicknames

By allowing users to give search engines and individual websites their own nicknames, Vivaldi aims at improving workflow and productivity.

For example, frequent MakeUseOf readers may want quicker access to our articles, and as such would benefit from this feature. Here’s how to assign a website as a search engine, and how to give it a nickname for quicker access:

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Launch any website that has a search bar.
3. Right-click on the search bar.
4. Select Add as Search Engine…, and then click on Add.

5. Press Ctrl+F12 to access the Settings menu.
6. Go to the Search sub-menu, and click on the website’s URL from Vivaldi’s list of search engines.

7. Write a short name in the empty field labeled Nickname.

Users will now simply have to write the nickname in Vivaldi’s search bar, followed by a blank space, and then the term that they are trying to research. They’ll be automatically taken to that respective website’s search results, without having to first Google and access the website itself.

11. Use Tab Stacking

When opening over a dozen different tabs, it becomes harder to distinguish between them since they’re all compressed together in a single row.

However, Vivaldi allows you to stack your active tabs in a way that allows you to better access them. You can group them based on the host website, or you can use custom preferences to have them grouped together.

Here’s how to use tab stacking in Vivaldi:

Stack Tabs From the Same Host

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Open several different tabs from the same host website.
3. Right-click on one of the tabs, and select Stack Tabs by Host.

Stack Tabs From Different Hosts

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Open several different tabs from the same host website.
3. While holding down Shift, click on all the desired tabs.
4. Right-click on one of the tabs, and select Stack # Selected Tabs.

In both cases, the stacked tabs should now occupy a separate row, and therefore be easier to access and manage.

12. Create Custom Shortcuts and Key Bindings

Manually browsing and accessing the various features that Vivaldi has to offer is not the fastest, nor is it the most productive way to operate.

However, Vivaldi allows users to assign custom shortcuts to pretty much any feature and function it has to offer, thus allowing an improved workflow. Here’s how to create custom shortcuts in Vivaldi:

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Press Ctrl + F12 to access the Settings menu.
3. Access the Keyboard sub-menu, and scroll down to Window.
4. Assign each task its own unique keyboard shortcut.

Keep in mind that certain actions already have shortcuts assigned to them by default. Also, Vivaldi will give a warning message whenever you want to assign a keyboard shortcut that’s already in use.

13. Custom Mouse Gestures

The last method of customizing and improving your workflow is via Vivaldi’s mouse gesture support. As you can tell from the name, Vivaldi allows users to perform a set of actions based on the movement of their mouse.

For example, you can open a new tab, close an existing tab, reload a page, or stop a page from loading altogether. Here’s how to set up custom mouse gestures:

1. Launch Vivaldi.
2. Press Ctrl + F12 to access the Settings menu.
3. Access the Mouse sub-menu, and check the box next to Allow Gestures.

All you need to do is hold down the right mouse button and perform the gesture assigned in the Gesture Mapping sub-menu. You can also create your own custom gestures that you can use.

Turn Vivaldi Into a Web Browser That’s Truly Unique

There are plenty of ways to customize the look and feel of Vivaldi. You can change the color scheme, the UI layout, and the way the Vivaldi behaves, and you can even customize it to boost your productivity.

Given the sheer number of possibilities, Vivaldi is one of the most desirable web browsers out there–especially for users interested in customization features. But there are plenty of other reasons you might want to switch to Vivaldi.