MacOS – OS X browsers option maximize\zoom

google-chromemacossafari

I know that how to maximize windows has been discussed in several places. I have a more specific question here:

Why, when I hit option + maximize\zoom (green button in the top left) do browsers not work the same as other windows? e.g. they don't fully maximize.

Other desktop native apps that I've tried (Spotify, Slack, Terminal\iTerm are examples) go fullscreen when I hit option+maximize. However, Google Chrome and Safari do not. Interestingly, Firefox does.

I really would prefer to not switch back to Firefox, but this has annoyed me for years. Does anyone know how to change the option maximize in Google Chrome?

Versions:

  • Google Chrome 52.0.2743.116 (64-bit)
  • Safari 9.1.2 (10601.7.7)
  • OS X 10.10.5

Best Answer

I think you are mixing up keys.

This is in El Capitan - earlier versions behaved differently - I forget when it changed

I have tried this on Firefox, Safari, Numbers and iTerm2

  1. Cmd + green button makes the window full screen with no menubar
  2. Alt + green button keeps the menu bar and makes the window fill the rest of the screen

these are documented in this Apple knowledgebase article

but

  1. Alt + Shift+ green button seems to do different things.

Safari Nothing
Firefox same as 2
Numbers same as 2
iTerm Keeps the menubar makes the window full screen height but keep the same width as before.

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