The Unwanted Layout Shift
Google Chrome includes a “Reading Mode” feature designed to strip away ads, sidebars, and complex formatting from articles, leaving only clean text for easier consumption. In some configurations or upon clicking specific hidden triggers, Chrome might automatically enable Reading Mode (often forcing the text into a massive Side Panel) when it detects you have navigated to a text-heavy news site or blog. While this is excellent for accessibility, it completely destroys the original design, layout, and intended visual hierarchy of the webpage, which is frustrating if you actually want to see the site exactly as the developer designed it.
Disabling the Reading Mode Side Panel
To ensure you always see the full, original webpage design and stop Google Chrome from automatically enabling Reading Mode or shifting text into the side panel, you must adjust the browser’s appearance settings or use experimental flags.
First, ensure you haven’t accidentally pinned the Reading Mode panel. Look at the top right of your Chrome window, next to your profile icon. If you see a square icon with a shaded sidebar (the Side Panel icon), click it. Ensure the dropdown at the top of the panel is not set to “Reading Mode.” If the automatic behavior persists, you can forcefully disable the feature at the core level. Open a new tab, type chrome://flags into the address bar, and press Enter. In the search box at the top of the Flags page, type Reading Mode. Look for the specific flag labeled “Reading Mode” (it governs the side panel feature). Click the dropdown menu next to it, change it from “Default” to Disabled, and click the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen to restart Chrome. The feature is now completely deactivated.