Maximize your browser window on a Mac
There are very few things I don’t like on a Mac. One of them is the ability to maximize your application windows like the way you can on Microsoft Windows (Yes, the irony (no, actually that’s not irony, it makes complete sense)). What a Mac will do when you hit the green “+” maximize button is size your application window to the contents that your window contains. Not helpful. What MS Windows will do is actually size your window to the size of your screen blocking out all other applications. To me this is helpful since I don’t like these distractions in the background, and I enjoy the full realestate that I’m working in. Others seem to disagree saying that this Mac version of maximized space allows users to multi-task better. The fact is, I don’t want to think about multi-tasking when I don’t have to. Furthermore, there is no keyboard shortcut on a Mac to trigger this maximization. On Windows you can hit “alt + space + x”.
Fixing it
Actually, there is no real fix (unless Apple builds it into the OS), but I’ve come up with a hack (work around) for my browser. First thing to do is to create a text file and call it “maximize.html” (you can call it what ever you want, it’s only temporary). Then populate it with the following contents.
Maximize code
<html>
<head>
<title>maximize</title>
</head>
<body>
<a href="javascript:moveTo(0,0);resizeTo(3000,3000);">
Maximize
</a>
</body>
</html>It should look like this:
Next you want to open up this page in Firefox:
You should see a simple page with a link. What you want to do now is bookmark it. You can do this by control + clicking the link to bring up your context menu. Then choose “Bookmark This Link…”
Add a keyword shortcut
Obviously, this has been discussed before. If you’re using Firefox, you can add a keyword shortcut to make it even easier to use this functionality. Since afterall, this is usually the kind of setting you just want to trigger on the fly without having to use your mouse. To do this, simply track down your bookmark, load up the context menu by control + clicking the bookmark, then choose “Properties”
Then type in a short letter into the keyword input box… like “m” (the actual keyword is up to you).
That’s it
Try it out. It’s not optimal, but it does what I need when browsing the web in full maximum real estate.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Sorry, why would you want to do this? Mac is all based on drag and dropping, when you maximize you lose this ability.
Also, switching applications is much easier when you don’t maximize. Peeping your buddy list requires 0 clicks.
Even on Windows I never maximize. About distraction, you can only focus in one thing at once anyway, so that shouldn’t really be a problem.
Also interaction with the middle of the screen is much easier. When you maximize, content get to the edges, making eye and mouse tracking more difficult (unless it’s on the very edge, which is why apple menu is on the upper edge)
So, just don’t maximize.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Couldn’t agree more about this annoyance in OS X. I like your hack, but here’s an alternative:
http://lifehacker.com/software/distraction/download-of-the-day-isolator-mac-239746.php
Isolator throws a solid-color shim behind the currently active application window. The effect is very much like the Windows maximize command. You see only one application window at a time. You can set the program to launch at startup and set a keyboard command to toggle it on and off. I find this enormously helpful in programs such as Photoshop where the workspace lets background windows show through.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I have also been frustrated with Mac’s ability to maximize windows - it was the first thing I noticed when getting my mac. That said, thanks for the tip.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I’m not sure about other browsers, but I use a variety of javascript bookmarks in Firefox. Instead of actually creating a file with a link, create a bookmark titled ‘Maximize’ with the following as its URL:
javascript:moveTo(0,0);resizeTo(3000,3000);
April 16th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
At least with Firefox 3, it seems to maximize to full screen for me.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Cool little trick…I’d also think that it should be possible via an AppleScript, thus making it work for any application?
April 16th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Mm I did a search, and it seems there is one: http://bbs.macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=14236
April 16th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
You could also put that same raw javascript [ie, without html] into a bookmark on the toolbar, which is the approach google takes to add a feed to google reader
April 17th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Well, if it’s because you don’t need distractions from other applications, you always have the shortcut cmd+alt+H, which hides all applications other than the active one (as opposed to just hitting cmd+H).
Other than that, I guess it’s a lot up to taste and what you’re used to. Myself, I almost feel claustrophobic if an application takes up the whole screen. Even more so in Photoshop on Windows where it’s not even content taking up the space.
And regarding Photoshop, @Brian Dillard: You can get Photoshop to cover the whole screen by hitting F - although I know that’s more for working on one photo at a time.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Dustin,
Once again we prove to be much alike. While I love having my large screen able to be filled with multiple apps for the sake of multitasking, I often want one window to fill the screen. And even when I do that, having my Mighty Mouse side buttons set to launch Exposé keeps multitasking a mouse squeeze away. :)
Jim
April 18th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
well, it is rather simple to write a *.scpt script that will maximize current window (via emulating green button click)
April 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I used to use the simbl plugin called megazoomer for this same thing before Leopard killed it: http://ianhenderson.org/megazoomer.html
If you’re not on Leopard, give it a shot, its awesome.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:49 am
You might appreciate a firefox extension / toolbar button that makes it easy to stack two firefox windows side by side for full screen coverage:
http://surfmind.com/lab/mozilla/bigscreen
April 19th, 2008 at 8:25 am
There is a “real” fix for this and it’s called Stoplight (http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/download-of-the-day-stoplight-mac-202621.php)
It let’s you define the behavior of the buttons and I’ve mine configured as “maximize”.
Should work in ALL Cocoa apps.
Greetings
April 21st, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I wrote myself a bookmarklet for this same thing a while back. Works quite well for my purposes:
javascript:window.moveTo(0,0);window.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight)I keep it in a folder on the bookmarks bar with some others.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I’ve just read some “disagreement” comment: some people seems to be enthusiast of multitasking.
I think that an O.S. don’t have to decide what’s better for the user but leave the user the freedom to choose.
It’s the same matter about developing web pages :)
If the user wants a bigger/smaller font or wants to reduce the dimension of web browser we should develop webpages that fits with it!
I hope to have been understandable :D
April 30th, 2008 at 3:32 am
I have found that using Safari 3.1 on the mac, once I manually maximize my window, and open a new window with COMMAND-N, Safari “remembers” this and creates fully maximized windows from then on. If I shrink the size of the window, Safari also “remembers” this.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 am
cmd+alt+H doesn’t hide my desktop full of big colourful icons or my beautifully distracting background image.
… makes using photoshop a bit uncomfortable.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Two things that shut out the background noise of working in a busy OS X work space:
Writeroom - all black screen and text. Write to your heart’s content.
Backdrop - color wash your background behind whatever you’re focused on.
I personally like the noise and jumble of the system, but for those who don’t, these are both good system wide options (as opposed to limiting the blockout function to your web browser). Great JS solution tho!
May 28th, 2008 at 7:09 am
borta’s (first responder) response is ridiculous. If he wants to full-screen let him full-screen. I was giving a presentation through the web the other day on my mac and also could have used this feature. When I’m showing off just one application, I want to show just that application to my audience, full-screened - it’s not big deal.
Additionally, my regular working environment consists of one mac and 2-screens - eclipse full-screened on one and firefox or another browser full-screened on the other. Anything else on the screen is wasting space and I can easily call another app (already open or not) in active state by using Quicksilver, so no multitasking ability is lost whatsoever.