Internet browsing full screen

I got fascinated when I discovered full screen browsing with Chrome just last week. I have limited screen space on my 13-in MBP so this is a great feature for internet browsing. I remember Steve Jobs mentioned how good browsing in the iPad is because you have the web at the palm of your hands. Now I have the same feeling browsing the web full screen on my Mac. Aside from Google's Chrome, full screen mode is also available in Mozilla's Firefox 5 and Microsoft's IE9. Apple's Safari does not support full screen at the moment but I have seen it demoed in the recent Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) last June. For this post, I'll just be dealing with Chrome and Firefox and point out their difference. Please note though that these are all performed on a Mac and may have some difference when implementing on a PC.

Chrome

To access full screen mode go to View --> Enter Full Screen.

Full screen view in Chrome

Another thing that I like when in Chrome's full screen is the way how the controls hover on top of the screen when I point my cursor on it. It displays altogether the bookmarks bar, menus, opened tabs and the browser address bar. This is a big difference when going full screen in Firefox. In Firefox, the bookmarks bar and menus do not display when the cursor is hovered on top of the screen. The only parts of the browser displayed are the opened tabs and the browser address bar.

Displayed controls after hovering on top of the Chrome browser

Firefox

To access full screen mode go to View --> Enter Full Screen.

Full screen view in Firefox

Missing menus and bookmarks bar on top of the screen

Between the two, I just love the implementation of full screen mode for Chrome. The clincher for that definitely is the way their controls beautifully display when pointing the cursor on top of the screen. It's more practical since you don't have to exit full screen mode just to access your bookmarked sites, which, you need to perform for Firefox.

I haven't checked on the full screen experience for IE 9 and as mentioned Safari has not implemented it yet. But I'm very excited though over Apple's Safari when OS X Lion comes out this July. Not only does this introduce full screen for Safari but it also integrates finger gestures for a very cool browsing experience. Check out the video below of the recently concluded WWDC 2011 for a demo of the browser.