Firefox problem

[french frank]

I have a 'pregnant' browser. The window fills the entire screen and the location bar disappears before I can enter anything in it. Do I have to uninstall Firefox and reinstall it? Will that cure the problem?

(Currently in Safari with Mac)

[Bryn]

I have a 'pregnant' browser. The window fills the entire screen and the location bar disappears before I can enter anything in it. Do I have to uninstall Firefox and reinstall it? Will that cure the problem?

(Currently in Safari with Mac)

Sorry frenchie, while this has also happened to me on occasion, I forget how I resolved it, but it did not require re-installing Firefox. I feel sure that someone will offer a solution fairly soon.

[french frank]

Okay - it's back. Trying to remember what I did... :-)

[Richard Tarleton]

Happened to me. I think I just tried some right clicking :-)

[Don Petter]

Pseudocyesis?

[french frank]

Pseudocyesis?

It would appear so.

Really irritating was that when I opened the browser, the location bar was there, but before I could scuttle up to enter that magic javascript formula it rolled up to the top of the screen and disappeared. I should have placed the Firefox icon just below it.

[Dave2002]

Okay - it's back. Trying to remember what I did... :-)

I tried to replicate this, as I have seen this before. However, I think it may be version dependent, so which version of Safari (** see PS) and OS X do you have? Causing it may be something to do with gestures, which differ depending on settings in each version. Are you using a Trackpad or a Magic Mouse? I think you can also get the effect if you are using a mouse with a scroll wheel. If you've used the wheel to scroll up or down a page, but you're in the wrong mode, it'll zoom in or out instead - in some applications. Thinking back, that's probably how I first met this problem.

Maybe you have been using Full Screen mode - either deliberately or accidentally. If that is/has been the case, move your cursor to the top of the screen, and leave it there for a second or so. A blue square with two diagonal arrows should appear at the top right. Click on that to regain "normal' desktop mode. In Full Screen mode, it is possible to zoom in or out using gestures, and that might lose you the bar at the top of the browser.

Often just pressing the ESC key will get you out of most problem situations, though I can't remember if it does in this one.

PS: I notice the original problem was with Firefox, so presumably you switched browsers in order to post. I think the general principles are the same, but the details will be different.

[Old Grumpy]

Okay - it's back. Trying to remember what I did... :-)

Did you hit F11 by mistake - this makes the browser window fill the screen. Pressing F11 again brings it back to normal.

OG

(Not a techie - just found out by trial and error!)

[french frank]

Did you hit F11 by mistake - this makes the browser window fill the screen. Pressing F11 again brings it back to normal.

I think it was probably a combination of keys: I meant to press Shift+Cmd+4 which brings up the cursor to select a bit of the window for a screenshot. This was odd, though, because it didn't simply maximise in the usual way, it lost the location bar at the top and the Add-on bar at the bottom. The menu bar at the very top was still visible and I tried to alter the Firefox preferences from there. And I did try esc too! f11 decreases the volume on a Mac with the fn key.

Cor, just discovered. f11 on its own sends the window almost out of sight top right of the screen. Fortunately it also brings it back again!

[Dave2002]

>>>>I meant to press Shift+Cmd+4 which brings up the cursor to select a bit of the window for a screenshot.

I didn't know that - but it does work on mine. Might be useful to know.

F11 clears the desktop, then brings things back again if pressed again. In my case the windows seem to fly off to the left, rather than the top.

[french frank]

>>>>I meant to press Shift+Cmd+4 which brings up the cursor to select a bit of the window for a screenshot.

I didn't know that - but it does work on mine. Might be useful to know.

It's amazing. Choose anything that you have up on screen, select the bit you want and it dumps a png file on your desktop. Shift+Cmd+3 gives you the entire screen.