Profile README badges render vertically when logged out or in Incognito mode

[AhmadJeddi]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Profile

Body

Hello GitHub Team and Community,

I would like to report a rendering issue with GitHub Profile README files.

My Profile README displays correctly when I am logged into my GitHub account. However, when viewing the same profile while logged out or in Incognito mode, images from shields.io are rendered differently.

Specifically, badge images that should appear horizontally are displayed vertically instead.

Affected sections include:

• Social/profile badges
• Technology stack badges
• Tools and workflow badges
• Research/documentation badges

I tested multiple approaches, including:

• Markdown image badges
• HTML tags inside
• wrappers around images
• Different image sizes and badge styles
• HTML tables as a workaround

The issue only appears in the public/logged-out view. The same README content renders correctly while logged in.

Example behavior:

• Logged-in view: badges appear horizontally as expected.
• Logged-out / Incognito view: the same badges are stacked vertically.

GitHub profile:
https://github.com/AhmadJeddi

Profile README:
https://github.com/AhmadJeddi/AhmadJeddi/blob/main/README.md

This issue can be reproduced by comparing the profile in logged-in and logged-out views.

Could this be related to differences in the public Markdown/HTML rendering system or CSS sanitization?

Thank you for looking into this.

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[AhmadJeddi]

I found the root cause of this rendering issue.

The problem is related to the CSS applied in the logged-out/incognito public view. GitHub's public Markdown renderer applies the following style:

img, picture {
    max-width: 100%;
    display: block;
}

The display: block; rule changes the default inline behavior of images. Since shields.io badges are designed to be displayed inline, this causes each badge image to start on a new line, making them stack vertically.

When logged in, this CSS behavior appears to be different, which is why the same Profile README renders correctly.

Removing or overriding display: block; for inline badge images (or providing a more targeted selector for standalone images vs. inline badges) would preserve the expected horizontal badge layout.

Thanks for looking into this.

[ebndev]

Hi! We appreciate you reaching out to report this issue.

We have provided details about the incident in this discussion.

To keep conversations all in one place and to ensure you receive timely updates, we’ll be closing this post and recommend you comment on or subscribe to the discussion linked above.

We appreciate your patience as we work toward a solution.