6 ms·

You want to maximize the window? Just go Fullscreen! You want to see the dock? Just manually resize the window. It will remember the size you left it at! Except

• recursive 5y ago
  I've used osx for maybe 15 minutes in my life, but I distinctly remember this question. So like... I know everyone else probably already knows, but is there actually a way to do it?
  • Grakel 5y ago
    I have been told multiple times, "there's no reason anyone would want to do that." Totally nuts.
  • dfabulich 5y ago
    Hold option (alt) and click the green button in the bar at the top of the window. (As you hover the button, a pop-up will appear, calling the option "Zoom," which means to "maximize.")
    • bhj 5y ago
      It really means "tell the app to size its window to fit the content" so the effect is not always to fill the screen. It's so inconsistently implemented that they might as well just make it work like maximize on Windows.
    • zapzupnz 5y ago
      Or just double click the titlebar, less effort.
  • zapzupnz 5y ago
    You could use an app like BetterSnapTool or Tiles. With both, you can set up Aero Snap-like hot edges to change window size. With BST, you can also set right or middle clicking on the traffic lights to do custom actions, including Windows-style maximise. The odd few times I need Windows-style maximise, usually in non-native apps that don't properly support AppKit/UIKit resizing behaviour (I'm looking at you, Teams, Discord, etc.), I'll use Tiles to do it. Free app. https://folivora.ai/bettersnaptool https://folivora.ai/bettersnaptool https://freemacsoft.net/tiles/ https://freemacsoft.net/tiles/
• zapzupnz 5y ago
  Because not every manager is, nor needs to be, Windows? Prior to the green button gaining the fullscreen functionality, it used to toggle between two sizes: (A) a developer-determined default size and (B) as large as the window needs to be to accommodate the content at the content's current zoom level. This is inherited from macOS' days as NeXTSTEP, since the "global menu bar" was originally a floating palette window whose submenus could be detached and float, too. If windows were allowed to fill the screen, they would have blocked access to the menus. So, windows were made only as large as necessary, no more than that. To me, macOS' behaviour always made more sense. Why should a window need to be bigger than its content? Drives me nuts to see 27" diagonal displays with huge Chrome windows showing a column of text about 6" wide and then the remainder is just white space. It feels like Microsoft cottoned on to that with its Aero Snap feature in Windows 7 that far too few people actually use. So much wasted screen real estate. > Why on earth would the green arrows button do anything except fill the desktop with the window? That's exactly what they do. You click the green button, it fills the screen with a window.
  • skywhopper 5y ago
    Ugh, this has never made sense to me. A “fit to content” button might make sense, but there should also be a maximize button (which is not the same as a full screen button). You might like having distractions everywhere on your screen, but I don’t.
    • zapzupnz 5y ago
      If distractions are the problem, how does full screen mode not fit the bill? It's literally just the window content, nothing else. You can choose to show the menu bar and you can see the Dock by placing your mouse cursor at the edge of the screen. If you really need Windows' behaviour, use something like Better Snap Tool to add maximise behaviour on right or middle click. Or if you prefer Aero Snap-style resizing, Tiles can also do it, and it's free. https://folivora.ai/bettersnaptool https://folivora.ai/bettersnaptool https://freemacsoft.net/tiles/ https://freemacsoft.net/tiles/