Chrome Adds Vertical Tabs and New Immersive Reading Mode for Easier Browsing

On Tuesday, Google introduced vertical tabs and a new reading mode to Chrome on desktop.

Vertical tabs move the tab strip to a sidebar on the left, displaying icons, page titles, and close buttons in a list-style format. This option makes it far easier to navigate when dozens of tabs are open. Though the default sidebar takes up a decent chunk of screen real estate, it can be collapsed to show only site icons.

The browser's new immersive reading mode is made for long-form reading. Once opened, Chrome displays the article in a cleaner, full-page view that strips out most ads, sidebars, and other distractions. This mode prioritizes text and links, offering page style options and even a text-to-speech reader.

Google says its immersive reading mode builds on the earlier reading mode, which sat in a side panel.