Full Screen Firefox and Safari on OS X

Filed Under Apple on 2008-04-11, 20:51

Anyone that has talked to me about what I don’t like about OS X has heard me complain about the inability to maximize an application to take up the entire screen in one easy step. Sure you can drag the corner out, but that’s an annoying “work-around” in my opinion. But thanks to Todd Dailey I have a more acceptable work-around for Firefox and Safari at least.

All you do is add a Bookmark to the Bookmark Toolbar (commonly called a Bookmarklet) that has this snippet of JavaScript instead of the URL that normally goes there:
javascript:window.resizeTo(1440,900);

Of course you’ll want to set the values to the same size as your screen resolution. You can check your screen resolution in System Preferences -> Display. And on Safari you can make it even simpler if you make this bookmarklet the first one in the list. Then you can just hit Command+1 and have a full screen web browser instantly.

This is also handy for web developers on all platforms. Want to see what your site looks like at 800×600, 1024×768, etc.? Make a toolbar button for each resolution! Quick and easy site previews while you’re working on pages.

Tagged: Apple, Apple - Solution, Firefox, OS X

Comments

View Comments to “Full Screen Firefox and Safari on OS X”

Aaron on April 11th, 2008 8:56 pm

Well, on a multi-tasking OS, why would you need the window bigger than it needs to be? What are you doing with all the whitespace in the window?

;-)

Safari’s great because when you maximize the window, it goes to a maximum width of the website. Smart, IMHO.
AcidAngel on April 11th, 2008 9:04 pm

safari eats shit why even run that pos browser :)
Ed Hunsinger on April 11th, 2008 9:05 pm

Personally I find myself wanting to block out other stuff when I want to focus on something on the web. For those times when multi-tasking is actually decreasing productivity. Just a different approach to a working environment.

I also don’t like this default behavior as it behaves differently than I feel it should for some sites. For example, on GMail, Firefox only expands to the maximum height but not width, even though GMail will scale itself to the full size of the window.
Todd Dailey on April 11th, 2008 9:22 pm

Aw man, I’M FAMOUS. :)
Aaron on April 11th, 2008 11:56 pm

Well, on a multi-tasking OS, why would you need the window bigger than it needs to be? What are you doing with all the whitespace in the window?

;-)

Safari's great because when you maximize the window, it goes to a maximum width of the website. Smart, IMHO.
AcidAngel on April 12th, 2008 12:04 am

safari eats shit why even run that pos browser :)
Ed Hunsinger on April 12th, 2008 12:05 am

Personally I find myself wanting to block out other stuff when I want to focus on something on the web. For those times when multi-tasking is actually decreasing productivity. Just a different approach to a working environment.

I also don't like this default behavior as it behaves differently than I feel it should for some sites. For example, on GMail, Firefox only expands to the maximum height but not width, even though GMail will scale itself to the full size of the window.
Todd Dailey on April 12th, 2008 12:22 am

Aw man, I'M FAMOUS. :)
Jason on July 15th, 2008 10:15 am

Nice one, I had been looking for a solution like this!!!

Cheers
Jason on July 15th, 2008 1:15 pm

Nice one, I had been looking for a solution like this!!!

Cheers
sikanrong on October 22nd, 2008 12:10 pm

it's alright really. It's no FF, but it trumps the shit out of IE. Also, the webKit engine is probably the cleanest browser engine around. Chew on that dude.
allan on October 22nd, 2008 2:50 pm

it didn't work for me
asasa on October 23rd, 2008 10:20 pm

neither here
hb on February 18th, 2009 1:54 pm

In order to avoid checking screen resolution, try this instead, in the bookmarklet:

javascript:self.moveTo(0,0); self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

Thanks to another page:
http://beyondteck.blogspot.com/2007/12/fullscre...
Pissflaps on July 3rd, 2009 5:31 pm

Doesn't pissing work.
Ivan on February 27th, 2010 4:51 pm

The best + easiest way to get (almost) fullscreen is the autohide addon for firefox.
Ivan on February 27th, 2010 11:51 pm

The best + easiest way to get (almost) fullscreen is the autohide addon for firefox.