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Addictive Tips
Fullscreen view was introduced with Lion OS X, At first, switching between fullscreen and normal screen seemed a bit complicated, and some apps, like web browsers with tabbed browsing, were a bit tricky to get the hang off. Another noteworthy feature in Lion is that windows can now be resized from any corner. It isn’t exactly a groundbreaking feature but it adds to a user’s convenience. With all these window sizing features available, one might wonder why the maximize button in Mac works in an unorthodox way. In truth, it works in three ways, and here is how to use each one.
Maximize Window To View All Content
Normally when you click the green plus button at the top left of any window, the window maximizes such that the entire contents of the window are visible. Lets say you had shrunk your browser so you had to scroll horizontally to view a web page. Clicking the green plus button will maximize the window, such that everything is visible without the use of the horizontal scrollbar.
Maximize The Vertical Length Of The Window
By default, the green plus sign maximizes a window horizontally, but in the event that it is already the appropriate size to negate the use of horizontal scrollbars but does not cover the full vertical length of the screen, clicking this button will maximize it so that it fills the entre screen area from menu bar to the Dock.
Maximize To Fill Entire Screen Without Entering Fullscreen Mode
Windows users might understand this behavior best, as it is the default maximize window behavior in Windows.
If you hold down the Shift key and click the green plus button, the app’s window will fill the entire horizontal and vertical length of the screen. It will appear as though you dragged the window from either of the edges until it filled the screen from one side to the other. The Menu bar and the Dock remain visible, as do any other toolbars that the app itself supports. This trick works in most apps, but not on a Finder window.