Mac OS X tip: maximize viewing area with toolbar button

I use Firefox all day every day and on the Windows platform I constantly hit the F11 key to enter full-screen mode.  This mode collapses all of my useful toolbars at the top of the screen and gives me maximum screen devoted to the web page display.  I have missed this on the Mac side of things as the F11 key does specific things in OS X and there is no Firefox full-screen equivalent to the Windows version.  The fact is there is no need for one as OS X provides a great utility that works not only in Firefox but in many programs and windows.

The magic button is the Toolbar button that is resident on the titlebar at the far right.  When you click this button it flashes blue and then collapses the toolbar(s) of the window if the program supports it.  This works really well in Firefox as you can see below:

Firefox_normal

Firefox with all toolbars exposed (click to enlarge)

Firefix_toolbar_collapsed

Same Firefox window with toolbars collapsed via right titlebar button

This method works well in many places, not the least of which is the Finder.  Sometimes it’s nice to see just the folder window and while you can permanently change the preferences to do this I prefer to leave them available and just collapse them with the Toolbar button as below:

Finder_normal

Finder window normal with toolbars/ sidebar exposed

Finder_toolbar_collapsed_3

Finder window toolbars collapsed with Toolbar button

I have seen Mac users ignore this button as it’s easy to forget it’s there but it provides so much utility, especially on Macs with smaller screens like my MacBook that it’s a great tool to have.  Don’t forget it’s there and you’ll get good use out of it too.  To get your toolbars and sidebars back just click the button again and there they are.  Note that in Firefox if you click a link while the button has all toolbars collapsed the link will automatically open in a totally new Firefox window.

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