How do I get rid of the top menu bar and how do I *maximise* windows and other things

om2om2
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I've got a few more questions I was hoping someone could answer:



1.

Can someone tell me how to get rid of the menu bar at the top?

Is it not possible to auto hide it kike you can in windows with the task bar?



I've tried right clicking and have looked around in the menus... but can't find a way to hide it.



There must be a way!





2.

How do I *maximise* windows?

What I mean is maximise and take up the whole screen.

I can't figure out how.

It's frustrating using Safari.

Firefox is better... but it still doesn't take up the whole screen.





3.

Where's the delete key?

I can't find it anywhere!





Thanks!





OM
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 70
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OM2


    I've got a few more questions I was hoping someone could answer:



    1.

    Can someone tell me how to get rid of the menu bar at the top?

    Is it not possible to auto hide it kike you can in windows with the task bar?



    I've tried right clicking and have looked around in the menus... but can't find a way to hide it.



    There must be a way!



    Sorry, there is no way





    Quote:

    2.

    How do I *maximise* windows?

    What I mean is maximise and take up the whole screen.

    I can't figure out how.

    It's frustrating using Safari.

    Firefox is better... but it still doesn't take up the whole screen.



    Shift click the Zoom button.



    Others will be along with the philosophical objections to this. Personally I can't stand to maximise things, 'cos it's just wasted space, but that's how to do it if you absolutely must.





    Quote:

    3.

    Where's the delete key?

    I can't find it anywhere!





    Thanks!





    OM



    Are you on a laptop? If so, hold Fn and press the Backspace key. If you're on a desktop mac there should be a dedicated Forwards Delete key.



    Amorya
  • Reply 2 of 70
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OM2


    I've got a few more questions I was hoping someone could answer:



    1.

    Can someone tell me how to get rid of the menu bar at the top?

    Is it not possible to auto hide it kike you can in windows with the task bar?



    I've tried right clicking and have looked around in the menus... but can't find a way to hide it.



    There must be a way!



    There is, you must install MegaZoomer. You may have to install SIMBL too first.
  • Reply 3 of 70
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Hi OM2. Recent switcher? If so, stop trying to make OS X work like Windows, and you'll be more productive. Trust me.
  • Reply 4 of 70
    mydomydo Posts: 1,888member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Amorya




    Shift click the Zoom button.



    Others will be along with the philosophical objections to this. Personally I can't stand to maximise things, 'cos it's just wasted space, but that's how to do it if you absolutely must.






    I had no idea. The only thing I like to blow up that big is my many dozen column spreadsheets.
  • Reply 5 of 70
    om2om2 Posts: 67member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H


    Hi OM2. Recent switcher? If so, stop trying to make OS X work like Windows, and you'll be more productive. Trust me.



    recent switcher...? heck no... well... actually... erm... urm... yes i am. \

    how did u guess?



    zoom button?

    erm... i looked into it... but can't figure out where this is.

    i tried the apple help... and there was something about turning the zoom feature on...

    but i couldn't figure out how it worked after launching it.

    sorry for being dumb: can someone tell me where it is?





    AND about the top menu bar... sorry guys... i don't care what anyone says: i don't like a piece of the screen stolen from me!

    i have a 13.3" screen on my macbook - not a 13" one.



    in windows you can hide the taskbar.

    BUT: more than 75% of users choose to have it fixed and onscreen all the time.

    i've always found this to be bizaare!

    same goes with the mac OS in my opinion.



    i looked up megazoomer and simbl.

    from what i read... i think i would be right in saying that it's more of a hack than a proper fix as it says it doesn't work with all programs.

    there must be another way without installing a 3rd party program?



    the apple interface i love. it's soo well thought out. all those subtle touches to the usability... the even more subtle things like shadow outlines... all go toward making the OS be really easy and pleasant to use.



    i'm baffled why the designers of the OS would leave the top menu bar unhidable!
  • Reply 6 of 70
    Get used to it, Mac OS X is different in many ways from Windows. You can't make OS X behave like Windows because they are entirely different!



    There is NO way you can remove the top menu bar because it has been there since the first Mac operating system dating all the way back to 1984, whereas the stupid taskbar in Windows that is usually using up too much space was "invented" in 1995 by Microsoft to have a more or less adequate thing (just at the opposite end of the screen to prevent from someone thinking: oh, they just copied it from Mac OS) to the Mac menu bar that hat already existed for more than 10 years...



    The top menu bar is crucial to Mac OS's window management system: in every application, there is only ONE menu bar and you can have different windows open (e.g. different Word files), whereas in Windows, EVERY open file has the complete menu structure in EVERY window, taking up A LOT of space. That is a waste of screen estate, if you ask me! (and yes, I'm using both Mac OS and Windows since 1989 - and all sorts of wannabe-like-Windows Linux distributions (SuSE, RedHat, Fedora, Ubuntu et al.) since 1997).



    The "zoom" button is the green button top left on every window. There have been multiple lenghty discussions here on this board whether this is a good thing or not, please use the search function.
  • Reply 7 of 70
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    I think this is the first time ever I have seen anyone want to hide the main menu bar on a Mac.
  • Reply 8 of 70
    Ditto on lundy's comment.



    The menu bar != task bar.



    In fact, the menu bar might just darn be the most important GUI object on the screen. Without it, I'd be surprised if people could get anything done (unless that person has memorized every key-combo for every app used).



    Maximize a window and remove the menu bar (and Dock) and you've got yourself a single-tasking OS. Why have an OS at all?
  • Reply 9 of 70
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    I have never seen that you could remove the menu bar from any window in Windows. Word, IE, FIrefox, Windows Explorer, everything has a menu bar and no preference to hide it. On OS X it just happens to be at the top of the screen instead of the window. If you have one window open, nothing lost compared to Windows. If you have two windows open, you are saving space.
  • Reply 10 of 70
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OM2


    I've got a few more questions I was hoping someone could answer:



    1.

    Can someone tell me how to get rid of the menu bar at the top?

    Is it not possible to auto hide it kike you can in windows with the task bar?



    I've tried right clicking and have looked around in the menus... but can't find a way to hide it.



    There must be a way!



    Why hide the most important UI element in the entire OS?



    Quote:

    2.

    How do I *maximise* windows?

    What I mean is maximise and take up the whole screen.



    Why have windows take up space that they then don't end up actually using?



    Quote:

    3.

    Where's the delete key?

    I can't find it anywhere!



    fn-backspace
  • Reply 11 of 70
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OM2


    recent switcher...? heck no... well... actually... erm... urm... yes i am. \

    how did u guess?



    zoom button?

    erm... i looked into it... but can't figure out where this is.

    i tried the apple help... and there was something about turning the zoom feature on...

    but i couldn't figure out how it worked after launching it.

    sorry for being dumb: can someone tell me where it is?







    Right hand one of these.





    Quote:

    AND about the top menu bar... sorry guys... i don't care what anyone says: i don't like a piece of the screen stolen from me!

    i have a 13.3" screen on my macbook - not a 13" one.



    in windows you can hide the taskbar.

    BUT: more than 75% of users choose to have it fixed and onscreen all the time.

    i've always found this to be bizaare!

    same goes with the mac OS in my opinion.



    Of course, don't forget that you can't hide the menubar on Windows either!



    The taskbar corresponds to the Dock, which you can hide.



    Quote:

    i'm baffled why the designers of the OS would leave the top menu bar unhidable!



    I would wager because it's so consistently usable. It tells you what app you're in. It displays things like wireless network status. It gives you a place to go to get common commands that is consistent between apps.



    Amorya
  • Reply 12 of 70
    glossgloss Posts: 506member
    Try this.
  • Reply 13 of 70
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kim kap sol


    Ditto on lundy's comment.



    The menu bar != task bar.



    In fact, the menu bar might just darn be the most important GUI object on the screen. Without it, I'd be surprised if people could get anything done (unless that person has memorized every key-combo for every app used).



    Maximize a window and remove the menu bar (and Dock) and you've got yourself a single-tasking OS. Why have an OS at all?



    I think by "hiding" it, he doesn't mean removing it forever, but having it have similar behavior to a hidden Dock or hidden Taskbar, so it'll pop out when you mouse to the edge of the screen.



    The menubar personally pisses me off a bit since I never use it since I'm an intense keyboard shortcut man (and hate the thought of burning in my 20" widescreen). So I think he has a reason. It's not like he doesn't get what it does, it's that he doesn't want to see it when he isn't using it.
  • Reply 14 of 70
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Placebo


    It's not like he doesn't get what it does, it's that he doesn't want to see it when he isn't using it.



    Seeing as he compared it to the Windows taskbar, I think he does have a slight misunderstanding of its purpose.
  • Reply 15 of 70
    We need to have a switchers info page at Apple Insider with some basic info, and info about how to use a Mac like a Mac, not like a Windows.
  • Reply 16 of 70
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icfireball


    We need to have a switchers info page at Apple Insider with some basic info, and info about how to use a Mac like a Mac, not like a Windows.



    Actually, I would say that this is Apple's failing, not AppleInsider's. Apple should provide much more information with their machines for both new computer users (yes, there still are some out there) and for Switchers.



    Anyway, yes, I second your suggestion.
  • Reply 17 of 70
    keshkesh Posts: 621member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OM2


    I've got a few more questions I was hoping someone could answer:



    1.

    Can someone tell me how to get rid of the menu bar at the top?

    Is it not possible to auto hide it kike you can in windows with the task bar?



    You can set the Dock (along the bottom) to auto-hide, just like the Taskbar in Windows does. Look in the Preferences for the Finder and you should have that option. You can also hide it and bring it back by pressing Command-Shift-D.



    Quote:

    2.

    How do I *maximise* windows?



    Most apps won't do it that way. However, most Mac apps will remember what size you set the window to. In Safari, once you drag the window to the size you want, it'll remember that from now on. You use the Resize button (Green by default, has the + in it when you hover over the three buttons in the upper left of your window) to switch between the last two sizes you've had your window set to.



    Quote:

    3.

    Where's the delete key?

    I can't find it anywhere!



    If you're on a laptop, hold the Fn key and hit the Backspace button to forward-delete.
  • Reply 18 of 70
    gdoggdog Posts: 224member
    just drag the bottom right corner of page and make it take the whole screen. it will be the same size when you re open.
  • Reply 19 of 70
    I downloaded that menufela lil program to try - It doesnt work very wel... Now I can unintall it... How do I uninstall it?!
  • Reply 20 of 70
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    You delete programs by dragging them to the trash ...
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