Zen has been my default browser for a while now. I like it, but lately it's been getting flaky. Pages would seize up or otherwise behave badly. Tabs and bookmarks stopped syncing properly. Little stuff, mostly, but annoying just the same.

I installed Vivaldi a while back, launched it, fumbled around a bit, and left. It just seemed like too much. After reading JTR's Trying out Vivaldi on Linux, I decided I'd give it another go.

First thing, Settings->Appearance->Use native window. Apps should stop doing clever things with windows and controls, imho. I chose the "Vertical Left" preset, because Zen convinced me of the idea, but that put the search bar and controls in a weird spot. The "V" menu was nowhere to be found. I hated it, so I went back to "Classic" and just changed the tab setting so they are on the left.

Now that I've gotten the basics in place, I can give Vivaldi a fair shake. It might have too many settings for me, since I'll be tempted to tweak it to within an inch of its life. But that's what I do, so maybe it's OK.