14 DAY TRIAL // While for many the browsing world comes down to only Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox, there are several other apps out there that are worth a shot.
And without a doubt, Vivaldi is one of them, as it comes with innovations you don’t find elsewhere.
You don’t have to trust me on this, and you can always give it a try to see what this is all about.
But the living proof in this regard is an update Vivaldi has received recently in the testing channel and which once again comes with an innovative feature for the browser world.
It’s support for YouTube RSS, which means you would be able to follow your favorite channels even without having a Google account and using the subscribe button on the platform.
At this point, if you want to be notified whenever one YouTuber publishes a new video, the only way to do it is to create a Google account and then subscribe to their channel, thus making sure you receive a notification when a new clip is posted.
But Vivaldi comes with a new option, and the latest snapshot build introduces support for YouTube RSS. In other words, you’d be able to be notified of new YouTube videos just like you’re getting alerts for updates on a standard page with built-in RSS support.
The whole thing works as straightforward as it can: just load the YouTube channel you want to follow and look in the address bar for an RSS icon. Click it and you’ll immediately subscribe to that channel, even if you’re not logged in with a Google account.
You should then get updates right in Vivaldi’s RSS reader, and what’s more, the video is embedded right in the feedback, which means you won’t have to open YouTube to view it.
“It is not widely known but YouTube provides content via RSS. However they have implemented this in a slightly odd way. The changes we are making to accommodate YouTube are work in progress but they are now test-able. To try them out, go to one of your favorite channels and you should see the RSS icon in the address bar (if not, try re-loading, as reliable detection is one of the issues we are working on). Once the RSS icon displays, you will have the option to preview or subscribe. For now, you should preview first and then subscribe from the preview page, as this ensures you get the correct title (another issue we aim to resolve),” the Vivaldi team explained.
“Once subscribed, you will see the real benefits of using our RSS client. You will now be notified of content from the channel but unlike other RSS clients we will also embed the video directly in the feed, without all the fuss and distractions of the main YouTube website. Not only is this a nice way to watch videos, it avoids you needing a Google login to “subscribe” to your favorite channels.”
While this is something that comes in very handy to those who want a new way to keep track of their favorite YouTube channels, I can’t help but wonder what happens if Google itself blocks browsers from accessing the YouTube RSS. At this point, there’s obviously no intention to do this, but let’s not forget such a method allows users to actually sidestep the Google account requirement and watch YouTube videos without having to load the page at all.