How can I open my Safari or IE to fullscreen?

amy_ranee · January 13, 2003 8:08PM

Hello,

I'm new to the Mac OS. I'm used to Windows. I'm having trouble opening the new Safari browser or even Internet Explorer to full screen.

The iMac has a 17" widescreen. But the browser windows start up in a small box, then I can expand it using the "+" icon on the top left...but it only maximizes to the size of a square covering about half the screen!

Sure, I can stretch the box the entire width of the screen, though it is a real pain to do.

Can anyone help me here? I'm used to the Windows system of maximizing every window to full screen with the web page filling the entire box. Is there something I'm doing wrong here? Or is this just the way Macs are and nobody minds like I do?

Thanks,

A frustrated Mac user.

vandewaals · January 13, 2003 8:31PM

Hmmm...I noticed the same thing with IE. Haven't touched Safari yet (waiting for the official 1.0 release).

Chimera seems to do it though (when you click the green widget in the title bar, which I assume is what you are doing). It even respects the dock (i.e. it expands to the dock if the dock is open and all the way to the edge of the dock is hidden).

I assume the problem with IE is that is does not conform completely to the Aqua guidlines. Why Safari doesn't is a good question (you'd assume Apple would follow its own guidlines).

If it bothers you that much, I would suggest using a cocoa based browser like <a href="http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/"; target="_blank">OmniWeb</a> or <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/chimera/"; target="_blank">Chimera</a> I myself used Chimera and find it very fast and it works with every website I visit (including stores and banking). You could also try sending feedback to Microsoft about their lazy programming, but I think that will be a futile gesture

. Hope that helps.

ghost_user_name · January 13, 2003 8:37PM

[quote]Originally posted by amy_ranee:

Or is this just the way Macs are and nobody minds like I do?<hr></blockquote>Bingo.

Ironically, Mac OS is more window-centric than Windows is. By not letting a single app or window completely dominate the screen, the Mac OS encourages better multitasking from both the end user and its apps.

Since the very first Mac OS in the early 80's, the resize widget (note that it is *not* called a maximize button) has done what is called "size to fit". It (usually) looks at the content of the window and resizes the window to fit the content as closely as possible. Since OSX was released, some developers have been slack about the "size to fit" rules, but the apps like Finder and Safari are finally reinforcing this method of windowing.

So, in short, this is just a different behavior on the Mac. When you think about it, though, doesn't filling up that entire screen with a browser seem wasteful? I mean, you'll either have a LOT of blank whitespace in your browser or you will have REALLY long lines to have to read (which in itself is usually uncomfortable for most people).

Apps like Chimera that fill the screen entirely *by default* are the apps that are breaking the UI rules!! Encouraging developers to let their widows size to fit the WHOLE SCREEN is bad design on any Mac OS and is breaking Apple's HUI Guidelines.

By the way, IE seems to use a completely arbitrary size. It breaks Apple's design rules and Microsoft's rules too. This is one of the many reasons that so many people are right-out disgusted with IE's interface.

[ 01-13-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]

amy_ranee · January 13, 2003 9:21PM

Thanks for both of your responses.

I haven't tried Chimera. I guess I'll see if how that goes.

Brad mentioned that quote: "Encouraging developers to let their widows size to fit the WHOLE SCREEN is bad design on any Mac OS and is breaking Apple's HUI Guidelines." end quote.

Yet, I find that, yes, there are blank areas on the size of your screen on many web pages. But there are some that I'm always side scrolling to read back and forth. Also, many people have difficulty reading small type in small boxes and would prepfer to use their entire screen. After all, you really can only read one page at a time.

Plus, for us that still have 56k modems with several loading pages...it is nice to open pages from the dock or taskbar, instead of managing several windows on the screen.

Since I am new to Macs I guess I'm probably just used to the Windows method of managing multiple pages. Experienced Mac users claim everything is better with the MacOS. I'm just having a hard time adjusting to it. If anyone can offer suggestions or a default configuration to Safari of Internet Explorer I would welcome it.

Thanks.

mcq · January 13, 2003 9:31PM

With multiple windows in IE you can just cycle through them with keyboard commands, and I assume the same holds true for Safari. If you haven't tried Chimera, then you may want to try it out, and see if you like tabbed browsing. Some people find it extremely useful, while others prefer cycling through windows.

Also, if the text seems to small on a page for you to read, you can always use a menu or keyboard shortcut (usually cmd-plus or cmd-minus) to increase/decrease text size as you see fit.

burningwheel · January 13, 2003 10:31PM

[quote]Originally posted by Brad:



Apps like Chimera that fill the screen entirely *by default* are the apps that are breaking the UI rules!! Encouraging developers to let their widows size to fit the WHOLE SCREEN is bad design on any Mac OS and is breaking Apple's HUI Guidelines.

<hr></blockquote>

here, here.

i personaly feel claustrophobic if a browser window fills the whole screen. i don't see how windows users can stand that

How can I open my Safari or IE to fullscreen?

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