Vivaldi has updated its productivity-focused web browser to version 5.1 on both Android and desktop devices. For desktop users, the update includes horizontal scrolling for tabs, a reading list feature, and a quick settings panel. Android users can count on new customization options and more speed.

Horizontal tab scrolling, which is a feature you can enable in the browser settings, allows you to keep all your open tabs at their usual size. Instead of shrinking them to fit on the top bar, this feature makes it easy to scroll through your open tabs using your mouse's scrolling wheel or the arrows built into the browser. Horizontal scrolling even works if you're using tab stacks, so you can scroll both levels independently. This should make it easier to find the tabs you want by their title, instead of having to rely on the icon alone when you have a lot of tabs open.

Another new feature in Vivaldi 5.1 on desktop is the reading list. This lets you save articles and ages to read later, and it's a feature you're probably familiar with from other browsers. You can enable it in the browser settings, and it doesn't require any kind of login to work. Vivaldi is a privacy-oriented browser, and the company has even called out marketing strategies companies like Microsoft uses with Edge, so this is another example of going against that trend.

The final big new feature is a quick settings panel on Vivaldi's start page. This should make it easier to customize the appearance of your Start Page whenever you want without heading into the general browser settings.

There are also a lot of smaller changes and fixes in Vivaldi 5.1 for desktop, and if you want to read those, you can find them below.

As for Android users, Vivaldi 5.1 brings along more customization options, starting with new color themes. In addition to preset colors, you can use a custom hex code to choose any color you want for your browser's interface. You can change this in your browser settings, under Appearance -> Theme.

On the topic of customization, if you're choosing to display a desktop-style tab bar, you can now customize the minimum width for each tab. If you have lots of tabs open, this will ensure you can still read the title of your tabs and tap them easily. You can find this option in the tab settings of the browser.

Finally, Vivaldi 5.1 has some under-the-hood performance improvements on Android, particularly if you tend to have lots of tabs open. You should notice better performance after the update, which is always welcome. Aside from that, there's a bunch of smaller changes and fixes, and you can find those below.

If you haven't yet, you can download Vivaldi for desktop here or get the Android version from the Google Play Store. The browser is constantly getting updated with new features, and it's even available on Android Automotive.