Apple Menu Bar: Mouse-over auto hide and show

[zdlyons]

So if anyone has used the "Glims" plug-in for Safari, you know that upon going into full-screen mode, the menubar will auto-hide, and then come back out like a drawer on mouse-over (the same as the dock when you "Turn Hiding On").
(See Photo's)
Image 1: Regular
Image 2: Fullscreen (hides menu-bar)
Image 3: Fullscreen (shows menu-bar on mouse-over)

I cannot find an answer for this anywhere else that actually works:
Does anyone know of a stand-alone app that i can run on start-up that will allow for this menubar function all the time? No matter what app i am using, or even when i'm using no apps at all? I'm running OS X 10.6.6 right now on a 13" MBP.

I'll keep looking and post more if i find anything useful, but I've been out of luck so far.

Thanks!
Z

Edit:
Oh, also, does anyone know how to uninstall the Glims Plugin, since it wasn't what i was looking for? Thx.

 

[karsten]

you can use nocturne to dim the bar to invisible, but you wont get your desktop real-estate back

 

[zdlyons]

you can use nocturne to dim the bar to invisible, but you wont get your desktop real-estate back

Thanks, but nocturne screwed over my computer one time... i've been trying to avoid that app at all costs.

 

[Sergeant Pepper]

I use MagicMenu. Free and works fantastically. However, it'll take a bit of work to get that effect for every application, because MagicMenu comes as a set of AppleScripts and you'll have to drag-and-drop every application you use onto the AppleScript that enables the effect.

 

[zdlyons]

I use MagicMenu. Free and works fantastically. However, it'll take a bit of work to get that effect for every application, because MagicMenu comes as a set of AppleScripts and you'll have to drag-and-drop every application you use onto the AppleScript that enables the effect.

i was looking at that, but didn't really want the hassle... i also found menufela which was exactly what i was looking for, but wasn't free. Something like that though would be perfect.

 

[karsten]

or wait until lion from the way it looks there wont even be a menu bar

 

[zdlyons]

or wait until lion from the way it looks there wont even be a menu bar

haha, no, they are not getting rid of the menubar. Fullscreen is only optional for applications, and the menubar is necessary for every one of them. I do read a lot about the possibilities of a black menubar option in lion though. that will be cool.

 

[samh]

i was looking at that, but didn't really want the hassle... i also found menufela which was exactly what i was looking for, but wasn't free. Something like that though would be perfect.

You realize that with the effort you are using to find the PERFECT no-hassle solution, you probably could have just done the job with MagicMenu?

 

[echolalian]

I use MagicMenu. Free and works fantastically. However, it'll take a bit of work to get that effect for every application, because MagicMenu comes as a set of AppleScripts and you'll have to drag-and-drop every application you use onto the AppleScript that enables the effect.

You can also select multiple applications at once and then drop them on the script icon

It appears that for the time being MagicMenu is the only way to get this seemingly simple feat done, and it has been ever since menufela stopped working under Leopard. There are some drawbacks though. I found that it messes with the keychain, it won't automatically retrieve stored passwords. In iTunes for example, or Adium or Safari, you'll have to enter your password every time you start the app.

It's also not very consistent, for lack of a better term. When in Safari, the menubar reappears after watching a youtube clip in fullscreen mode. It doesn't disappear again until you restart the application.

Another thing I found this week after playing around with the Lion pre-release, is that Apple stopped supporting powerpc code. The current version of MagicMenu therefor no longer works under Lion.

Edit/
I found a little app called MenuLess that apparently has been out till march last year. Does the job perfectly, for free without side-effects, and works for Lion too.

There's another app called MenuAndDockless that I haven't tried, but does the same and more.