Firefox 12 to Bring Full Screen to Mac OS X Lion?

[Anthony Bouchard]

It's finally here.... er, coming.

Mozilla Firefox is likely one of the greatest Internet browsers that can be installed on a modern computer today. It's open source, has a large add-on library, and has powerful rendering engines. Windows, Mac, and Linux users can all gracefully use Firefox and be very happy with their browsing results. There is of course great competition from other Internet browsers such as Google Chrome and Internet Explorer, however Google Chrome doesn't have nearly as many add-on capabilities and Internet Explorer isn't exactly the fastest tool for Web surfing.

Perhaps one of the biggest complaints about Firefox comes from Mac OS X Lion users who want to see support for full-screen applications built into it. It looks like Firefox 12 will finally bring that request to life without requiring any buggy hacks such as Grant Paul (chpwn)'s Maximizer option which adds full-screen support to many Cocoa applications. Below is how the Firefox 12 window will appear for Mac OS X Lion users, finally displaying that double-arrow button that we have been waiting ages for:



While many people prefer Firefox because of the broad range of options that it has over some other browsers, many Mac users have reverted to using Apple's Safari browser or Google's Chome browser because they both support not only full-screen browsing on Mac OS X Lion, but they also support swipe navigation if you're using one of the Apple multi-touch trackpads or Magic Mouse pointing devices. The recent Firefox 9 update brought those multi-touch navigation features to Firefox as well.

Firefox 12 is still a long way away, being that we are currently on Firefox 9 as the current stable release. However when Mozilla finally launches a build of Firefox with Mac OS X Lion's full-screen application support, will you be downloading it on your Mac? Share in the comments what you expect to see out of Firefox 12 and why.

Sources: Mac Stories

[cockyjeremy]

I don't think i'll ever use Firefox again. I much prefer Safari, Rockmelt, and Chrome to it. All are faster. All but Safari have better extensions and look more Mac-like.

[Phillip Swanson]

And I thought Rockmelt was my dirty little browsing secret

[c0dy]

I rocked Firefox for years and years, but it's #2 now behind Chrome for me

[bigbaba]

Firefox used to be my browser of choice until I got used to using safari on the iPhone

[dynamiks]

I must be the only person who cannot switch browsers till ad block fully works and I do not get video advertisements. I will be using firefox until other browsers are capable of blocking video ads.

[s0ulp1xel]

I personally like google chrome better. But if I ever switch to fire fox this will be a great new feature.

[2k1]

Looking forward to this

[politicalslug]

I'm more interested in smooth zooming in Lion. Safari's fluid page zooming is what firefox really needs to keep me interested.

[Maxime Caudebec]

I used to use Firefox but now I believe Chrome is better. But my second option would be firefox

[TOT_tomdora]

I must be the only person who cannot switch browsers till ad block fully works and I do not get video advertisements. I will be using firefox until other browsers are capable of blocking video ads.

Really? I found FireFox's adblock did not work at all, whereas Chrome's blocks everything!

[Maxime Caudebec]

Chrome can block video ads just download Adblock at the google chrome web store it's all free

[rickuk]

I don't think i'll ever use Firefox again. I much prefer Safari, Rockmelt, and Chrome to it. All are faster. All but Safari have better extensions and look more Mac-like.

I'm the opposite, tried to use Safari on my Mac, but after two days of frustration went back to Firefox and have never looked back

[GooseG]

I must be the only person who cannot switch browsers till ad block fully works and I do not get video advertisements. I will be using firefox until other browsers are capable of blocking video ads.

Adblock is in safari... Works perfect for me.

[celeron]

Chrome FTW

[teej1410]

I don't care what browser I use. I haven't used Chrome before but Safari and Firefox seem the same to me.

[szr]

While many people prefer Firefox because of the broad range of options that it has over some other browsers, many Mac users have reverted to using Apple's Safari browser or Google's Chome browser because they both support not only full-screen browsing on Mac OS X Lion, but they also support swipe navigation if you're using one of the Apple multi-touch trackpads or Magic Mouse pointing devices. The recent Firefox 9 update brought those multi-touch navigation features to Firefox as well.

Just for the record, Firefox can go full-screen under Lion (and Snow Leopard for that matter) via the View menu, or pressing Command+Shift+F, since at least version 3.6, if not earlier (just like pressing F11 under Windows or Linux for nearly any browser.) So I must ask, what need is there for explicit Lion-full-screen support? What would it give over the full-screen mode that Firefox and other browsers have had long before Lion came out with it's full-screen mode?

Frankly, I'm a little bewildered that there isn't some sort of default Lion-full-screen behavior for applications that lack explicit support themselves. This should be a global standard trait of any re-sizable application window, with default behavior if the developer didn't choose to do something special when in full screen. Not unlike how in Windows and other such GUI systems, where any re-sizable application window can be "maximized", without requiring anything special of the developer. So why does Lion?

[Anthony Bouchard]

Just for the record, Firefox can go full-screen under Lion (and Snow Leopard for that matter) via the View menu, or pressing Command+Shift+F, since at least version 3.6, if not earlier (just like pressing F11 under Windows or Linux for nearly any browser.) So I must ask, what need is there for explicit Lion-full-screen support? What would it give over the full-screen mode that Firefox and other browsers have had long before Lion came out with it's full-screen mode?

Frankly, I'm a little bewildered that there isn't some sort of default Lion-full-screen behavior for applications that lack explicit support themselves. This should be a global standard trait of any re-sizable application window, with default behavior if the developer didn't choose to do something special when in full screen. Not unlike how in Windows and other such GUI systems, where any re-sizable application window can be "maximized", without requiring anything special of the developer. So why does Lion?

It's a Mac, so we want the beauty of Mac animations. Thanks for pointing out that full screen feature; I didn't know about it. But I think I want the Lion-based feature more.

[szr]

It's a Mac, so we want the beauty of Mac animations. Thanks for pointing out that full screen feature; I didn't know about it. But I think I want the Lion-based feature more.

What I would like to know is, how exactly do they really differ? From my testing, they both go into full-screen. In the end, we're talking about re-sizing an application window to encompass the whole screen and hide the menu-bar and dock. I'm just not sure why this is being treated like a ground breaking feature, especially since browsers have had this on most platforms for the better part of a decade now (even longer if you count IE, which I believe introduced it back in IE 4 in the late 1990's.)

[Anthony Bouchard]

What I would like to know is, how exactly do they really differ? From my testing, they both go into full-screen. In the end, we're talking about re-sizing an application window to encompass the whole screen and hide the menu-bar and dock. I'm just not sure why this is being treated like a ground breaking feature, especially since browsers have had this on most platforms for the better part of a decade now (even longer if you count IE, which I believe introduced it back in IE 4 in the late 1990's.)

The difference has to do with animations and how it is implemented. It is kind of a big deal. Can I give you a flat out answer why? Not necessarily, and you will probably disagree with my logic, however I want it to look as nice as it works. Full Screen mode in Lion leaves that utility bar at the top that feels Apple-esque.