All browsers include a reading mode, a mode that is responsible for eliminating any type of content that may distract users’ attention. This mode is perfect for concentrating on the text, searching more easily and accessing content as if it were a book, however, not all browsers implement this function in the same way.
But it has a drawback since it completely changes the format of the website by eliminating some components that can be part of the text, such as tables, and it does not always adapt correctly to all the available content. The implementation of reading mode in Chrome is very different than, for example, Edge. While Edge completely changes the visual appearance of the web content and shows all images, like Firefox, Chrome, shows only the text of the web in a panel that is displayed to the right of the browser, thus hiding all the images.
It seems that the guys at Google are happy with how this mode works, despite it being a much worse option than Edge and, instead of using the same design as the Microsoft browser, it has been implementing new features in its operation for several months. At the end of 2023, it added support for PDF files and is now working on a mode that will allow images to be displayed that, by default, are hidden in this mode.
Chrome will allow images to be displayed in reading mode
Google has been testing for a few months through the Canary version of Chrome a new function that allows images to be displayed in reading mode, a decision that clearly goes against its functionality, since it distracts attention while reading.
Fortunately, it seems that Google engineers have changed their mind in the latest available version of Chrome Canary, since it allows not only to show images, but also to hide them so that the operation of Google’s reading mode is more personalized as we can see in the X (Twitter) publication of user Leopeva64.
Leopeva64
@Leopeva64
A few months ago, Google decided to include images of articles in Chrome’s reading mode, but this can be distracting for some users, so they will add an option to disable those images:
https://t.co/xiDRVQx4rU
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https://t.co/Z4AcrtMEER https://t.co/oCfNT5Fc0tJune 12, 2024 • 14:02
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It seems that Google is implementing this new functionality in a controlled manner, since not all users have this function available. With version 127.0.6533.0 of Chrome Canary, the latest version currently available, I have not been able to access this functionality, neither the one that shows the images nor the one that allows them to be hidden.
Within the flags of this version of Chrome, there is also no one that allows you to activate or deactivate this functionality, so, if we want to be among the first to start using this new Chrome reading mode, we must install the latest version of Chrome Canary and wait for the update to arrive.
The first news about this new reading mode functionality is from February of this year. We are in June and it has not yet been launched on the market. It is possible that the reason for this delay is related to the possibility of implementing a mode that allows hiding the images that are displayed when activating the button.
