Full screen applications for OSX
This post was published 3 years 8 months 15 days ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.Ok, I must admit one of the downsides of OSX is the inability to force windows into full screen mode. This functionality is something the Windows users will realize that they’ve taken for granted once a great deal of time is spent in front of an Apple computer.
Megazoomer makes windows full-screen. Just press Command-Enter, and the front-most window grows to fill your entire monitor. Press the same keys, and it shrinks again.
Thankfully, until full screen mode functionality is added to OSX by default, Apple users can make use of the functionality offered by megazoomer. Make sure to read through the requirements as there is a SIMBL dependancy. Now at one point, I could have sworn I knew of the reason as to why Apple lacked the functionality of full screen. Maybe someone can shed some light on the matter?
look at all that blank, white space. THAT’S why mac osx windows are never bigger than they need to be. osx can also handle the multiple layered windows at one time. windows can’t, so full-screen is a popular way of just avoiding it.
I have not used that feature on Windows once in my Life.
The only real app that I have used the feature with is Photoshop.
I browse on the windows machine at my desk most of the day and do alot of other crap on it, and NEVER use full screen viewing.
I dont know why i use it in the first place, its just taking up space. i have 6 computers including my MBP and a Dual G5 at work here but just use the garbage PC for web browsing.
why do you pay multiple of hunderads of dollars for a 21 inch flat pannel screen, if you’re not gonna use all of it?
i can understand if certain things like, iTunes, or im windows only take up small portions, but word, photoshop, firefox, those were meant to use the whole screen.
i dont understand why some people have a decent to huge screen and open up ie/firefox in a tiny little corner, and then have their aim windows taking up the other 35%.
for well designed websites, having your browser set to use your full screen will make your broswing experience much better (at least i think)
and i cant begin to figure out how anyone would function with photoshop using less then 50% of your screen (unless you have a 30 in screen anyway).
personally, every program i use is set up for full screen use (except windows explorer sometimes).
the only things that rarely -never take up full screen are iTunes, trillian, google talk, minesweeper.
I’m not sure I understand the point of having any one window open that large. Don’t hold your breath for Apple to add a feature like that anytime soon as it’s not a very useful feature. As far as large monitors, in my experience such precioius screen real estate is much more beneficial to organizing palettes and tool bars in certain programs than ridiculously large browsers and such. And when it comes to programs that I prefer a large working space (e.g. modo, maya, logic, shake, etc), each is stocked with plenty of features for switching to full screen displays. It sounds to me like this Megazoomer is more for enabling worthless habits than accomplishing anything essential.
Ultimately I’m a bit confused by the application seeing as I’ve never experience a problem regarding not being able to enlarge any window in any application to a large enough size. Are we talking about taking back what little area the menu bar owns? Like using the Opera browser to surf the net in “full screen” mode?
Of course in the end it’s always a subjective matter, and if one prefers this sort of feature, then by all means it can’t be “wrong”. We can be thankful for the beauty of Xcode and all the savvy Mac developers out there who bring us neat little tools like this!
Think Different!
Steve, you just answered your own question. Having lots of screen real estate isn’t about wasting it all on one app that doesn’t need it. It’s about having enough screen to show several apps at the same time. On the mac especially, you want to be able to work with an manipulate several apps at the same time.
The Zoom button is in perfect working order, you hit it and the window will be resized to the proportion that best fit the shown content. For webpages, that is rarely your entire screen. Only site I’ve seen that zoom fills the screen with is google maps, and that’s correct since that map area is as large as you want it to be.
Word should not be full screen, the printed page is in neither proportions nor size of what you see on the screen so why would it be full screen? Photoshop takes up the space necessary for the document you’re editing when you hit it’s zoom button, and on Windows, Photoshop is a fullscreen application anyway.
The problem here is people that have become used to the awful way that windows and linux systems treat that button as maximize. That is not what it does, that is not it’s job. Maximize is useless as is evidenced by the screencap on this very page.
Derek, you don’t need this app to make PS full screen. Just push “F” when you have a document open it will toogle between a full screen w/menu bar and one w/o
Otherwise I am with haleonearth, if it makes you productive use it, if not, don’t.
One big reason for no full window mode is that novice users get confused if they loose their desktop icons.
I get asked a lot “how to I get back to the desktop”, or worse “where are my files”
They don’t know to close the window.
They don’t know to hide the application.
They don’t know to click the Finder icon in the dock.
I have a 13″ Macbook and YES, it would be nice to go full screen at times.
What’s the problem with letting people have a choice?
Oh, poor macdonalds users. Gnome desktop and KDE desktop (GNU/linux, freeBSD, etc etc…) are doing all this Maximize, full screen and a loooooooooooot more. Just take a look, don’t be afrraid of freedom.
;-)