diff --git a/web/sections/PageBuilderPanel.tsx b/web/sections/PageBuilderPanel.tsx
index a90b8b6..d4601aa 100644
--- a/web/sections/PageBuilderPanel.tsx
+++ b/web/sections/PageBuilderPanel.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
 import { useClient } from 'hooks/useClient';
 import { readableError } from '../errors';
 import { SitePreview, useDevPort } from '../SitePreview';
+import { usePreviewable, useViewMode } from '../ViewMode';
 import { paintCanvas, type CanvasSection } from '../canvas';
 import { AddSectionDialog, type SectionLayout } from './AddSectionDialog';
 import { usePages, type Page } from '../usePages';
@@ -33,6 +34,11 @@ export const PageBuilderPanel = () => {
   const devPort = useDevPort();
   const { pages, announce } = usePages();
 
+  // This section has a preview, so the bar offers Edit/View and the three widths — the same opt-in
+  // Layout makes. Pages, the list, does not: there is nothing there to view at tablet width.
+  usePreviewable();
+  const { mode } = useViewMode();
+
   const [error, setError] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [sections, setSections] = useState<CanvasSection[]>([]);
 
@@ -62,14 +68,29 @@ export const PageBuilderPanel = () => {
     Stable, because SitePreview holds it and re-runs it on every load. A new function each render would
     be a new injection each render.
   */
+  /*
+    In VIEW, nothing is painted at all.
+
+    Not the chrome dimmed or the buttons hidden — no injection, so the frame holds exactly the document
+    the site served. That is what View has to mean here: outlines, labels and a drop zone are the
+    editor's, and a preview that keeps any of them is not showing you the page.
+
+    The check is INSIDE the callback and `mode` is a dependency, so switching to View hands SitePreview
+    a new function: its effect runs the previous paint's cleanup and then paints nothing. That is what
+    takes the chrome away, with no reload and no second code path.
+  */
   const onDocument = useCallback(
-    (frameDocument: Document) =>
-      paintCanvas(frameDocument, {
+    (frameDocument: Document) => {
+      if (mode === 'view') return;
+      return paintCanvas(frameDocument, {
         sections,
         onAddSection: () => handlersRef.current.add(),
         onDeleteSection: (section) => handlersRef.current.remove(section.id),
-      }),
-    [sections],
+      });
+    },
+    // `mode` is in here so switching to View gives SitePreview a NEW function, which runs the previous
+    // paint's cleanup and then paints nothing. That is what removes the chrome without a reload.
+    [sections, mode],
   );
 
   /*