[How To] Enable Full Screen Apps in Most Mac Applications (OS X Lion Only)

[Anthony Bouchard]

Do you want to enable Lion's native full screen app feature on most Mac applications? Follow this guide.

You will need:

1. Mac OS X Lion
2. Maximizer 1.0 Beta 3
3. SIMBL 0.9.9

Thanks to Grant Paul (chpwn), you can have most (or more specifically, all Cocoa) applications run in full screen mode. This little hack is useful for when you want to have less distractions from the pixels around your currently opened window, or if you have one of the smaller MacBooks and want to make better use of the pixels on the screen. I repeat this to emphasize it; this will only work with Cocoa-based applications. Some Cocoa-based applications include Skype, Mozilla Firefox, Mac App Store, and Twitter. But there are numerous more. It should be noted that it will not work with Carbon-based applications.

The hack, made by Grant Paul, is called Maximizer. It's simple to install and makes the computer experience even more fun to use. Here is a guide on how you can get Maximizer to work on your Lion-based-Mac.

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The first step is to download SIMBL. When you navigate to the website that I linked, click on the, "SIMBL-0.9.9.zip (Snow Leopard and Leopard)" link on the right side of the page so that you have the latest version. Even though it says Snow Leopard and Leopard, it will still run fine on Lion. Next download Maximizer; you may need to scroll down to where it says, "Download Version: 1.0 beta 3", just click download. Now move both zip files to your desktop for easy reference:



Since Maximizer depends on SIMBL, the law of common sense states that SIMBL should be installed first. To do this, unzip the SIMBL folder by double clicking it, then open the folder. The contents should appear like this:



Double-click the SIMBL installer to run it. Follow the prompts to install it like any other application that you would install and enter your password for the installer to go through with the install:



Now that SIMBL is installed on your Mac, you can go through with installing Maximizer; Grant Paul's hack. The first step to do this involves unzipping the folder you downloaded from Maximizer's website. To do this just double click it, and you will get a new file called, "Maximizer.bundle" which you need to implement into SIMBL:



Now for the fun part. To actually implement Maxmizer into SIMBL, you need to navigate to, "~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins" without the quotes. A fast way to do this is to click, "Go" on the finder menu bar, then click on, "Go to folder":



In the prompt that pops up paste in, "/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins" without the quotes to navigate to the folder where you need to go:



Once you hit Enter, you will be welcomed by a Plugins folder. Take the Maximizer.bundle file that you downloaded and drag it into that folder:



Now I recommend that you restart your Mac. When you boot back up you will notice the full-screen button in all of your Cocoa-based applications in Mac OS X Lion. You can click it to enter full screen, and hover your mouse at the top of the screen to pull up the menu bar to exit full screen just as you would with a native full screen app in Mac OS X Lion.

Grant Paul warns that because Maximizer is a Beta build that it comes with bugs. You do this at your own risk. Sometimes you can get a nasty little full screen bug; these little bugs can be fixed by restarting the computer but they are very rare to come across. If you want to get full screen on all of your apps then I recommend this little hack; it's for the most part very stable.

Note: Maximizer beta software, and likely has compatibility issues with many apps. Some apps that work perfectly in full-screen without Maximizer might break with it, and some might not work at all. If you have issues, I'd appreciate an email with the last few hundred Console.app lines to help me debug. (Hopefully soon, I'll be able to move Maximizer over to CydiaSubstrate, which will fix a number of issues. I'm not sure what the status is of CydiaSubstrate on the Mac (and Lion), but once it is available I'll update Maximizer to use it.)

Will you be trying out Maximizer? Share in the comments below!

[dwkkwd]

I'm gonna try this right now

[FinalBillybong]

I'm gonna try this right now

I've had something like this for a while. Can't for the life of me remember what its called though.

[dwkkwd]

Loads of my programs wouldn't run after i tried this.

[ChSchuldiner]

Awesome!

[tom28]

I got all excited cuz I needed this for a particular program (and yes it's Cocoa). It crashes every time! I suggest you pass on this hack... not what it is reported to be

I got all excited cuz I needed this for a particular program (and yes it's Cocoa). It crashes every time! I suggest you pass on this hack... not what it is reported to be DISAPPOINTED

I'm gonna try this right now

I got all excited cuz I needed this for a particular program (and yes it's Cocoa). It crashes every time! I suggest you pass on this hack... not what it is reported to be

[raduga]

I got all excited cuz I needed this for a particular program (and yes it's Cocoa). It crashes every time! I suggest you pass on this hack... not what it is reported to be


I got all excited cuz I needed this for a particular program (and yes it's Cocoa). It crashes every time! I suggest you pass on this hack... not what it is reported to be DISAPPOINTED



I got all excited cuz I needed this for a particular program (and yes it's Cocoa). It crashes every time! I suggest you pass on this hack... not what it is reported to be

How is it different from what's reported?

[taxbax]

He cam eout with this almost right after lion was released. I've had it since then and it is invaluable. I have never had a problem with the crashes.

[Anthony Bouchard]

He cam eout with this almost right after lion was released. I've had it since then and it is invaluable. I have never had a problem with the crashes.

I haven't had problems with crashes either. But for those having problems, just uninstall SIMBL and you'll be back to normal.

[yohu123]

I installed simbl first but i can't find the SIMBL folder under /Library/Application SupportI have even restarted the machine but still i can't see the folder.Any help here plz?

[s0ulp1xel]

I installed simbl first but i can't find the SIMBL folder under /Library/Application SupportI have even restarted the machine but still i can't see the folder.Any help here plz?

It is hidden.