Ubuntu maximize like OS X zoom

**adelgado** · December 6th, 2008

I've been using Linux for quite a few years now, and recently I became aware of an implementation difference of windows' behavior on GNOME/KDE/Windows and OS X.

The point is that when you maximize a window in Ubuntu, the window resizes itself to take up the whole screen space. But in OS X when you click on what they call the "Zoom" button (which strangely has a + sign even though it actually shrinks the windows some times) the window doesn't fills the screen, it only maximizes itself to the largest *useful* size.

That is, let's say you are reading a blog entry on a fixed-width layout, as this[1] one. if you are on any reasonably large resolution (e.g. I'm on 1280x1024), you'll end up with two large columns of emptiness that could be displaying another window.

I find the OS X manners way more intelligent.

Is there some way I could get this kind of behavior on Ubuntu?

[1] http://blog.nixternal.com/2008.12.05...fsf-referrers/

**dyous87** · December 6th, 2008

This is a very intuitive feature and I would also be very interested of learning a way of accomplishing something like this in Ubuntu.

**benerivo** · December 6th, 2008

That sounds like a useful feature. Does this work on all Mac programs? Does it alter the window height as well as width?

**adelgado** · December 9th, 2008

Originally Posted by dyous87

This is a very intuitive feature and I would also be very interested of learning a way of accomplishing something like this in Ubuntu.

Indeed... (bump)

Originally Posted by benerivo

That sounds like a useful feature. Does this work on all Mac programs? Does it alter the window height as well as width?

AFAIK yes, but I don't have any access to Mac OS X right now, this is from memory.

Does anyone knows if this has been discussed already?

**El Chupacabras** · December 9th, 2008

AFAIK, It hasn't been implemented in Gnome, but compiz has a plugin called "maximumize" in either the compiz-plugin-extras or compiz-plugins-unsupported packages. I use this if I need to see the system manager I have set up on conky.

It doesn't work through the buttons window buttons, but you can set keybindings. Perhaps someone should ask on the compiz forums to integrate maximumize with the regular fullscreen functionality?

**pocketdrummer** · March 14th, 2013

I hate to bring a post back from the dead like this, but I would really like to know if this is possible.

**overdrank** · March 14th, 2013

From the Ubuntu Forums Code of Conduct.

If a post is older than a year or so and hasn't had a new reply in that time, instead of replying to it, create a new thread. In the software world, a lot can change in a very short time, and doing things this way makes it more likely that you will find the best information. You may link to the original discussion in the new thread if you think it may be helpful.

Thread closed.