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Related question for Mac users: Don't you ever view windows in fullscreen? It seems there's no easy way to get windows to fullscreen, except for laboriously res

by mixmax 17y ago

Related question for Mac users: Don't you ever view windows in fullscreen? It seems there's no easy way to get windows to fullscreen, except for laboriously resizing and dragging to make it fit with the screen. This is one of the things that threw me off Mac (I bought one that I used as my main OS for about half a year, but I just never really liked it) So do Mac users simply not like fullscreen windows, do they all have some utility that does this, or am I just missing something? To me it seems like an extreme shortcoming, but I'm sure there's a reason for the limitation.

bayareaguy 17y ago
Although it does me little good at the moment since HN's text area is a mere 6 lines, I'm posting this from Opera's fullscreen mode which I use quite frequently. While few applications on any platform seem to support this kind of true fullscreen mode, I use "almost fullscreen" windows all the time: on OSX the green orb in the upper left corner of every window acts as a toggle which maximizes the window or returns it to its original size. I say "almost fullscreen" because the omnipresent menu bar and window decorations remain visible when you work this way.
zimbabwe 17y ago
The reason: Apple designed OS X to focus on using multiple windows at once, and they didn't want developers making single-window apps that ate at the screen. It's why, of their own applications, the only ones that allow full-screen are their video players, the iWork suite, and the pro apps. Those are the only applications Apple thinks ought to be maximized. There's an application called Mega Zoomer that gives all Cocoa apps a sexy fullscreen view. But mostly, the answer's that Mac users don't like fullscreen.
- kashif 17y ago
  Nah, Its not that Mac users don't like full screen - they dont have a choice!
  - zimbabwe 17y ago
    But they do have a choice, thanks to the aforementioned app. I have it, yet I'm still using only half my screen for Safari, despite no other apps being open. I like not being forced into this maxed-or-not mentality; on Windows, it was too easy to make every app take up the whole screen, and tab over. On the Mac, I've never gotten into that mindset, which I love.
    - mixmax 17y ago
      Actually this kind of reasoning was the primary reason I turned away from Mac. It's pretty obvious that you don't have a choice and that Apple, right or wrong, has mandated that you don't need to have your windows in fullscreen mode. Instead of openly discussing the shortcomings of the OS you come up with this sort of reasoning: I really don't like being forced into maxing my windows, much better not to have the choice. You don't need it. Besides if you really want it it's easy - you just go to site xyz and download the app that makes it possible. To me that just a semi-circular argument, and not a very good solution to a problem that I'm sure a lot of people have. There are many examples like this, and the reasoning is always the same: You don't need that, it's much better to do it the Mac way. We know much better than you what you want.... Sorry to be harsh, and it's not picking at you Zimbabwe, it's picking at the Mac cult.
      - zimbabwe 17y ago
        Don't apologize for harshness: Your view's completely valid. I prefer a system that's that locked in, because it means I can figure out the computer's philosophy once and then everything gets easier. (The Mac's incredible dragging and spring-loading systems are the best instance of lack of choice making things supereasy.) But that's a personal choice, and one that definitely turns some people away.
    - kashif 17y ago
      If I may say so, you fail to see the forest for the trees. Windows and Mac are both in the same boat. They decide what is good for the user, they are closed source, and then you have to write software to do trivial stuff. I prefer GNU/Linux, it allows me to change what I need to.
chewbranca 17y ago
You can definitely get some windows in full screen. There is a program called megazoomer which will allow you get fullscreen for a lot of OSX apps. I use it all the time to have a full screen terminal. I also use full screen in Mac Vim which I believe is a built in feature, not added in by megazoomer. Edit: typo

by mixmax 17y ago

bayareaguy 17y ago

Although it does me little good at the moment since HN's text area is a mere 6 lines, I'm posting this from Opera's fullscreen mode which I use quite frequently. While few applications on any platform seem to support this kind of true fullscreen mode, I use "almost fullscreen" windows all the time: on OSX the green orb in the upper left corner of every window acts as a toggle which maximizes the window or returns it to its original size. I say "almost fullscreen" because the omnipresent menu bar and window decorations remain visible when you work this way.

zimbabwe 17y ago

The reason: Apple designed OS X to focus on using multiple windows at once, and they didn't want developers making single-window apps that ate at the screen. It's why, of their own applications, the only ones that allow full-screen are their video players, the iWork suite, and the pro apps. Those are the only applications Apple thinks ought to be maximized. There's an application called Mega Zoomer that gives all Cocoa apps a sexy fullscreen view. But mostly, the answer's that Mac users don't like fullscreen.

kashif 17y ago
Nah, Its not that Mac users don't like full screen - they dont have a choice!
- zimbabwe 17y ago
  But they do have a choice, thanks to the aforementioned app. I have it, yet I'm still using only half my screen for Safari, despite no other apps being open. I like not being forced into this maxed-or-not mentality; on Windows, it was too easy to make every app take up the whole screen, and tab over. On the Mac, I've never gotten into that mindset, which I love.
  - mixmax 17y ago
    Actually this kind of reasoning was the primary reason I turned away from Mac. It's pretty obvious that you don't have a choice and that Apple, right or wrong, has mandated that you don't need to have your windows in fullscreen mode. Instead of openly discussing the shortcomings of the OS you come up with this sort of reasoning: I really don't like being forced into maxing my windows, much better not to have the choice. You don't need it. Besides if you really want it it's easy - you just go to site xyz and download the app that makes it possible. To me that just a semi-circular argument, and not a very good solution to a problem that I'm sure a lot of people have. There are many examples like this, and the reasoning is always the same: You don't need that, it's much better to do it the Mac way. We know much better than you what you want.... Sorry to be harsh, and it's not picking at you Zimbabwe, it's picking at the Mac cult.
    - zimbabwe 17y ago
      Don't apologize for harshness: Your view's completely valid. I prefer a system that's that locked in, because it means I can figure out the computer's philosophy once and then everything gets easier. (The Mac's incredible dragging and spring-loading systems are the best instance of lack of choice making things supereasy.) But that's a personal choice, and one that definitely turns some people away.
  - kashif 17y ago
    If I may say so, you fail to see the forest for the trees. Windows and Mac are both in the same boat. They decide what is good for the user, they are closed source, and then you have to write software to do trivial stuff. I prefer GNU/Linux, it allows me to change what I need to.

chewbranca 17y ago

You can definitely get some windows in full screen. There is a program called megazoomer which will allow you get fullscreen for a lot of OSX apps. I use it all the time to have a full screen terminal. I also use full screen in Mac Vim which I believe is a built in feature, not added in by megazoomer. Edit: typo