Why do apple insist on having that little gap at the bottom of the screen?

[Lordillingworth]

I have been using a mac now for just over 2 years and I have always wandered this.

I have my dock set to autohide and when i try and stretch an application such as safari right to the bottom there is always a small gap maybe a millimetre at the bottom where it won't allow me to cover so i can see the desktop wallpaper in the background.

Why do apple do this, there are some applications, 3rd party, that let you go slightly off the screen as does garageband.

I have always wandered about this, so i thought it was finally time to get answers!


Thanks

 

[spinnerlys]

Because then there is some space left to actually hover over for the Dock to reappear.

If you move the Dock to the sides, you can resize a window til the bottom of the screen, not gap in between.

PS: It's wonder, not wander.

 

[supercooled]

Never noticed this. Other application seems to maximize all the way.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Would the extra millimetre actually make any difference anyway??

If you set the Dock to always be shown, you'll find that many applications won't let you stretch the window below the top of the Dock. Since the Dock is always floating above all other windows, it's a feature to stop you having the bottom of a window hidden behind the Dock. That 1mm gap is most likely an design decision because it looks better that way.

 

[BlueRevolution]

It's not a big deal, but I agree that it makes little sense. Then again, if the app has a button or active surface like a drawing board at the very bottom of the window, the gap allows you to access them without revealing the Dock.

 

[Lordillingworth]

AAhhh I didn't think about the dock thing, I am not saying that it is a problem or anything I just wandered why on earth the gap was there!

Although in relation to having a gap to hover for the dock to appear i normally just move the cursor right to the bottom, of the screen, I just had garageband taking up the entire screen space (except the top menu bar of course) and just moving the cursor to the bottom fetch the dock up fine.

But like i say I am not whining about this, i was just curios!

 

[ravenvii]

I just tried this with Safari (and the Dock hidden) and Safari expands to take up all the space on the bottom.

I hasn't bothered with other apps, but maybe just poor coding?

 

[BlueRevolution]

Actually, it doesn't, at least in Safari 4.0.4 and Mac OS X 10.5.8. The orange is my desktop picture showing through:

 

[Gregg2]

PS: It's wonder, not wander.

I wonder as I wander...

It "leafs" the gap at the bottom, but then I can grab it at the top and push the bottom off the screen. Then there's a gap at the top, and no other way to cover it. It is a curiosity. ???