Vivaldi 1.4, the upcoming next version of the popular web browser, will ship with a new theme scheduling feature among other things.
If you run development releases of Vivaldi, you may have noticed the new “scheduled themes” option already in the options of the web browser.
Basically, what it enables you to do is link themes to time periods, and have the browser switch between them automatically.
A simple example where this may be useful is a darker theme for night and morning hours, and a lighter theme for the rest of the day.
Vivaldi does not limit you to two different themes though. You can go all in and pick a different theme for every hour of the day for instance.
Theme Scheduling
The theme scheduling feature is available in the latest development version of Vivaldi. That’s Vivaldi 1.4 RC1 at the time of writing.
You may download that version of the browser from the Vivaldi website, or use the browser’s automatic update feature if you have a previous development version installed already on your computer.
Select Vivaldi > Tools > Settings or use the keyboard shortcut Alt-P to open the Settings application. Switch to themes when it opens, and locate the new Scheduled Themes option on the page.
You need to check “change theme on schedule” to activate the feature. Vivaldi will switch between a light and dark theme automatically without you having to to anything.
You may use sliders to change the time of the day themes get switched, or add new starting points with a click on the add button.
Any theme available can be selected as a scheduled theme.
You are probably wondering what happens when a starting point is reached. Vivaldi will switch to the new theme based on your configuration automatically.
This happens in the background and is an instant switching. This may be confusing at first, as you have probably never seen a web browser switch a theme automatically.
Closing Words
Theme scheduling is an interesting feature. While I cannot see myself using it for more than switching to a dark theme at night, and a lighter theme at day, others may enjoy switching themes more often than that.
As far as improvements are concerned, it would be useful if the start and end date of each theme would be displayed next to it as well. Also, maybe an option to input the time directly would be nice.
Last but not least, for the chaotic kind, a randomize option could improve things further in the theme input field.
Now You: What’s your take on theme scheduling? Interesting feature?