Menu Hiding Anyone?

[Meadowfield]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I prefer as much desktop as possible and one of the first toggles I make after a fresh install is to hide the dock.

Recently it occured to me that I have never seen a utility that hides the menu bar. How cool would that be?! Move the cursor up to the top of the screen and down it slides.

Maybe, just maybe, if we garnish enough demand someone like Uninsanity will write one!

[voodoo]

No way man! The menu bar is an anchor of consistancy in the Finder. It would be awful to make it built into the system for it to hide! Eeeww. A shareware app, however would be much more reasonable. I like the Menubar. The dock however... ;)

[godzookie2k]

I've wanted something like this for a long time...

[mishap]

Desktop space is nice, but the menu bar does not take up enough screen real estate to make it anymore usefull if it wasnt there. If you dont want to look at it...that's another thing. I personally like it, especially with all my little menu extras (and being able to just glance up to those is nice without having to move my mouse up there).

[::maroma::]

I too would like a haxie to be able to hide the menu bar. I don't mind the space it takes up, but sometimes I find that I'd like an app to take up the ENTIRE screen (or as much as possible). And sometimes having that menu bar there gets in the way. For almost every app, we end up having 2 bars...one menu bar and one app/window bar. Too many bars for my taste.

[Meadowfield]

Don't get me wrong - I too like the Menu and think the consistancy is very important. In fact, I love the Dock, especially the magnification feature. Makes my Windows colleagues green with envy (Why it's a separate item in the Apple menu is beyond me - but that's another thread) But, like ::maroma:: I'd like to keep it simple.

Suppose this hiding Menu could also be translucent with different font colors? Or included an optional auto drop feature?! Yes, I like the menu extra's too but maybe they could be made to float.

Remember, you don't have to use it. I'm just looking for some shareware!

[Brass]

If only the Dock were the same size as the menubar, and we could still clearly see it's contents. If it stretched right across the bottom of the screen and reserved that space for itself the same way the menubar does, it would remove all the problems of having things stuck underneath it, and it wouldn't take up so much space to make it readable.

Don't know how that could be done though.

[CharlesS]

Just tried experimenting with HideMenuBar() to hide the menu bar. Unfortunately, it also hides the Dock and any NSUIElement() apps, so it's probably not going to do what you want...

[Meadowfield]

You jest, yes? HideMenuBar? Link, por fa vor...

[Ibson]

Originally posted by Meadowfield:
You jest, yes? HideMenuBar? Link, por fa vor...
Apple's documentation: http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/macosx/Carbon/HumanInterfaceToolbox/MenuManager/Menu_Manager/Functions/Controlling__r_Visibility.html#//apple_ref/c/func/HideMenuBar

There's nothing to it; for example, to toggle the menu bar's visiblity, just do:

IsMenuBarVisible() ? HideMenuBar() : ShowMenuBar();

[mrtew]

Originally posted by Ibson:
There's nothing to it; for example, to toggle the menu bar's visiblity, just do:
IsMenuBarVisible() ? HideMenuBar() : ShowMenuBar();

I don't understand this, but it sounds very promising. Can you make us all a little app or script with a hotkey or something that will toggle the menubar on and off? I have to admit that would be cool. Even if it make everything unusable until it was toggled it would be almost like a screenlock function fir while you are away or listening to iTunes or whatever!

[Ibson]

Originally posted by mrtew:


I don't understand this, but it sounds very promising. Can you make us all a little app or script with a hotkey or something that will toggle the menubar on and off? I have to admit that would be cool. Even if it make everything unusable until it was toggled it would be almost like a screenlock function fir while you are away or listening to iTunes or whatever!
What I posted was code calling C functions in the Carbon framework. Show/HideMenuBar() only changes the visibility of the menu bar in the current application. It really wouldn't be too useful.

[Brass]

Here's an application that kind of demonstrates what you're after:

http://nixanz.com/products/HideMenus.sit

NB: This uses Cocoa calls (completely different to the Carbon calls in other's posts above). However, like the Carbon calls, it only applies to the current application, which makes it completely useless. It also hides the Dock... don't ask why!

So if you like you can download the above useless Application, but it really is pointless.

The functionalitly needs to be built into the application(s) for which you want to have that extra screen space.

[Ibson]

Originally posted by Brass:
Here's an application that kind of demonstrates what you're after:

http://nixanz.com/products/HideMenus.sit

NB: This uses Cocoa calls (completely different to the Carbon calls in other's posts above). However, like the Carbon calls, it only applies to the current application, which makes it completely useless. It also hides the Dock... don't ask why!

So if you like you can download the above useless Application, but it really is pointless.

The functionalitly needs to be built into the application(s) for which you want to have that extra screen space.
What Cocoa calls are they? I couldn't find anything in the NSScreen class. The reason Hide/ShowMenuBar() hide the dock and LSUIElement applications is because those functions are usually called by applications which want to become fullscreen, meaning the dock would obscure the fullscreen window.

[Seamus]

Originally posted by Brass:
If only the Dock were the same size as the menubar, and we could still clearly see it's contents. If it stretched right across the bottom of the screen and reserved that space for itself the same way the menubar does, it would remove all the problems of having things stuck underneath it, and it wouldn't take up so much space to make it readable.

Don't know how that could be done though.

Brass, this is EXACTLY what I want. I don't like the idea of the dock being variable during use. It should be sizable, organizable, etc, but the size should NOT alter when a new application is opened. The space to the left and right of the dock is useless...I don't want to put anything there because if I open enough applications, it ends up covered. The only way I could see this happening is if Apple open-sourced the Dock... :(

[Brass]

Originally posted by Ibson:

What Cocoa calls are they? I couldn't find anything in the NSScreen class.

They're class methods of the NSMenu class:

[NSMenu menuBarVisible]

[NSMenu setMenuBarVisible:Boolean]

The reason Hide/ShowMenuBar() hide the dock and LSUIElement applications is because those functions are usually called by applications which want to become fullscreen, meaning the dock would obscure the fullscreen window.

Yep, that makes sense. But I thought it was unusual that it didn't at least give the option of hiding the menu bar and not the dock. I don't know why you'd ever want to do it, though, so it doesn't worry me.

[Brass]

Originally posted by Seamus:


Brass, this is EXACTLY what I want. I don't like the idea of the dock being variable during use. It should be sizable, organizable, etc, but the size should NOT alter when a new application is opened. The space to the left and right of the dock is useless...I don't want to put anything there because if I open enough applications, it ends up covered. The only way I could see this happening is if Apple open-sourced the Dock... :(

I've been thinking this since OS X PB. It would be better if the Dock were a fixed size (only changed by Dock preferences, not by what's in the Dock). It should take up the entire width of the screen, instead of wasting space at either end.

If this were done, I'd also have the Trash pinned to the right, with folders/documents/minimised windows at the right end, and applications pinned at the left end. So that if there was any empty space in the Dock, it would be between the applications and other items (where the separator bar is).

[Seamus]

Originally posted by Brass:


I've been thinking this since OS X PB. It would be better if the Dock were a fixed size (only changed by Dock preferences, not by what's in the Dock). It should take up the entire width of the screen, instead of wasting space at either end.

If this were done, I'd also have the Trash pinned to the right, with folders/documents/minimised windows at the right end, and applications pinned at the left end. So that if there was any empty space in the Dock, it would be between the applications and other items (where the separator bar is).

Unfortunately, I don't think this could be done without significant help from Apple or a replacement dock written from the ground up. I would *love* to see this though. If any of the shareware devs could manage this somehow, they have my money already... :D

[Ibson]

They're class methods of the NSMenu class:

[NSMenu menuBarVisible]

[NSMenu setMenuBarVisible:Boolean]
Ahh...these are new in 10.2. They'll just be wrappers around the Carbon functions.

[Meadowfield]

Well it's OFFICIAL. Just as I thought 60% of you are certified dopes ;)

[Deal]

Ah, didn't include me. I didn't post.....

DOH!