Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Hide the menu bar

T

trainguy77

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 13, 2003
3,567
1
I am looking for a way to hide the menu bar like the way the Dock hides. So when I put my mouse to the top it comes back. Any ideas?
 
the closest i've found is "menushade" - try googling it. it doesn't hide like the dock, but dims the bar from fully on to black - i use my laptop for showing dvds on a projection screen through a data projector, so i set the bar to go black when the cursor isn't on it and set the desktop to be black, so that there's not too much extraneous detail projected.

most of the other posts on these forums about this talk about the importance of keeping the menu bar at the top for usability reasons, but to me that doen't hold water if you can call it instantly back and also turn off that behaviour easily...
 
Yeah I have seen that program as I was goggling. The reason I want this is the computer it will be on will be sort of like a kiosk. Except at home just for music. I guess I can live with the menu bar but it would be nice not to have it there.
 
adriantoll said:
most of the other posts on these forums about this talk about the importance of keeping the menu bar at the top for usability reasons, but to me that doen't hold water if you can call it instantly back and also turn off that behaviour easily...
Click to expand...
The menu bar is pretty deep in the system...making it appear and disappear via a 3rd party app makes it seem just a bit haxie for my tastes...
 
There are ways to do it...here's a discussion of some of it. There's a demo application you can download to try out that will allow you to auto-hide the menu bar, but it only works for that demo app, not systemwide. Not sure how you could implement that...
 
WildCowboy said:
There are ways to do it...here's a discussion of some of it. There's a demo application you can download to try out that will allow you to auto-hide the menu bar, but it only works for that demo app, not systemwide. Not sure how you could implement that...
Click to expand...
hmmm Since itunes will always be running maybe the way to do it would be to some how add that to itunes then quit finder.
 
I REALLY wish this feature was enabled for the pro Apps. I want them to take up every pixel of my screen, except if I mouse way up high.

That's about the only thing I miss about Windows. Though I'd prefer it if it was only in use when the pro App was being used; theyre the only apps I full screen really.
 
Okay, I did a little more digging and found a post in this thread.

Note that it is also trivial to modify an existing app (if it is a "package") to have an auto-hiding menu bar. Just add a 'LSUIPresentationMode' property with an integer value of "4" to its "Info.plist" file. It may be doable for some non-package apps as well, if it has a 'plst' resource.

Windows belonging to the modified programme may resist being moved into the space where the menubar usually is, but clicking the green "zoom" button will often expand the window to its full height. The setting will also put the "Dock" in "auto-hide" mode - it can be manually set to "turn hiding off", but it may be necessary to do this each time the app is brought to the front or else it goes back to "auto-hide" mode.

So if you wanted to, I suppose you could modify the "Finder" and a few of your favourite programmes (the effect will of course apply to all users), but because apps in OS X do use the "common menubar" as opposed to having menus on individual windows, it is somewhat inconvenient and I found the novelty wore off fairly quickly.
Click to expand...

Again, note that it's on an application-by-application basis, and you have to modify the package contents for each one. I duplicated Safari and gave it a shot, and it seemed to work just fine. So, if you're really desperate, you could try something like this for your favorite apps, but it's generally not a good idea to go digging around inside the packages of apps.
 
WildCowboy said:
Okay, I did a little more digging and found a post in this thread.



Again, note that it's on an application-by-application basis, and you have to modify the package contents for each one. I duplicated Safari and gave it a shot, and it seemed to work just fine. So, if you're really desperate, you could try something like this for your favorite apps, but it's generally not a good idea to go digging around inside the packages of apps.
Click to expand...
That perfect. Just what I wanted! As I will only need to do it to itunes, and maybe finder! Thanks! Now how would I make the dock not show(even with the mouse over it). Would I change that number to a different number?

EDIT:When you enter 3 it makes it so the menu does not show at all, neither does the dock. Other numbers of I have tried do nothing.
 
ham_man said:
The menu bar is pretty deep in the system...making it appear and disappear via a 3rd party app makes it seem just a bit haxie for my tastes...
Click to expand...

Hmm.. applications like the DVD player or VLC can make it dissappear in Fullscreen mode, so it can't be buried that deep in the Systems code..
 
weg said:
Hmm.. applications like the DVD player or VLC can make it dissappear in Fullscreen mode, so it can't be buried that deep in the Systems code..
Click to expand...

Its quite easy to remove when writing a application but i dont think it has any effect if you switch applications

here's how to (AppleScript Studio only of course ...)

hide:

call method "setMenuBarVisible:" of class "NSMenu" with parameter 0
show:

call method "setMenuBarVisible:" of class "NSMenu" with parameter 1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back