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

Is there a way to make windows full screen?

Just drag the window (using the thing on the bottom right hand corner) out to full screen.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 1.png
    Picture 1.png
    254.1 KB · Views: 132
Just about every program maximizes to full screen on a Mac when you press the green button except for Safari and iTunes. There's reasons for that. You can use Firefox if you absolutely have to have this functionality. Apple's method is done that way out of a system of logic whereas in Windows it's not.
 
HLdan said:
Just about every program maximizes to full screen on a Mac when you press the green button except for Safari and iTunes. There's reasons for that. You can use Firefox if you absolutely have to have this functionality. Apple's method is done that way out of a system of logic whereas in Windows it's not.
Click to expand...

what are these reasons and can you elaborate more about the 'system of logic'? and wouldn't it be inaccurate to say 'in Windows' as it contradicts your first sentence mentioning that this 'system of logic' only applies to Safari and iTunes even in Macs?
 
It's not logic that comes into play. It's different GUI. In Windows you have the taskbar that you can drag and drop and change windows with. Drag some text from word with the mouse, go down to the taskbar to another open application, that one flips up and you can drop you selection there. You also have keyboard shortcuts to work with.

I say this again and again. Often users who complain about full screen windows on Windows don't know how to do a work-flow on that system.
 
newcronos said:
what are these reasons and can you elaborate more about the 'system of logic'? and wouldn't it be inaccurate to say 'in Windows' as it contradicts your first sentence mentioning that this 'system of logic' only applies to Safari and iTunes even in Macs?
Click to expand...

Sorry, in regards to Safari and iTunes I was referring to the Mac. Yes, Apple's Mac OS system is based off a system of logic. The Mac OS is document based and Windows is application based. In Mac OS, using Safari, if the content on the web page fills up the entire screen real estate, Safari will maximize to full screen to cover as much content as possible without producing the horizontal scroll bar.
If the content on the web is minimal say like in Yahoo.com which never takes advantage of the entire screen real estate then Safari will maximize only enough to cover what's on the screen. It makes no sense to fully maximize the screen if the content leaves wasted space on the left and right sides of the page. Some web pages just show the content on the left side, leaving the right side with wasted space. That's why Apple builds Safari that that way.

In Windows, everything maximizes when pressing the expand button even if the content won't fill up the screen. It's not logical that way, but because it's application based the Windows OS is designed to truly run one application at a time which is why everything will maximize to cover the whole desktop.
Personally I don't maximize my web browsing to full screen, even when I'm using Windows. I feel claustrophobic when I have no access to the desktop.

iCal, iMovie, Garageband and everything else that comes on a Mac will maximize because the content involved will will up the screen.
 
It is just a difference in philosophy between Windows and OS X that has been discussed, debated, rehashed, bashed, defended and otherwise beat to death on the board, along with copy/paste/delete in the Finder, restore from the Trash and delete certain items in the Trash, et. al.

if you want to look around, you can use
MRoogle and you will find multiple (recent) threads on this issue, and they will all contain the same responses, arguments and shots at the other OS.

Edit: What HLdan said ^^^

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
Frosties said:
It's not logic that comes into play. It's different GUI. In Windows you have the taskbar that you can drag and drop and change windows with. Drag some text from word with the mouse, go down to the taskbar to another open application, that one flips up and you can drop you selection there. You also have keybord shortcuts to work with.

I say this again and again. Often users who complain about full screen windows on Windows don't know how to do a work-flow on that system.
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100%. As soon as new Mac users get used to using keyboard shortcuts and hot corners for Spaces and Expose, not to mention multi-touch trackpad tricks, they would forget why they need full screen in the first place.

Edit: just read the above response after I posted, thanks HLdan for the explanation :)

More edits: just to mention that I am a new Mac user myself and ever since they invented wide screen monitors a couple of years back I don't use 'maximize to full screen' button on Windows anymore because it doesn't make much sense. I'd rather use my extra space for widgets (I can never remember which one calls it widget and which one calls it gadget. lol) or chat windows as such.
 
I struggled with this as a switcher, and encourage you to NOT take my advice, and rather learn why OS X does it the way it does and try to adapt to it. You'll find that once you stop believing that every window has to be full screen, you can get more done at once by having multiple windows being only as big as they need to be.

If this doesn't work for you, do this:
http://www.switchingtomac.com/tutorials/make-the-os-x-maximize-button-work-like-windows/
 
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