I don't use Mac OS X Lion but maybe there is something in this article that will help, when you view it for Mac and Firefox 14:

• Use Firefox in Full Screen mode

Link: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-make-firefox-and-websites-go-full-screen#os=mac&browser=fx14

Unfortunately that is exactly the steps used to produce the problem. The problem isn't I don't know how to go into full screen. The problem is the fact that the tool bars no longer hide when in full screen.

Maybe check this pref on the about:config page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/browser.fullscreen.autohide

I've tried it. Switched the pref to true and false. It was true by default. Doesn't do anything.

Agreed that this functionality that was present in Firefox 13 should really be restored.

I can confirm that changing browser.fullscreen.animateUp and browser.fullscreen.autohide doesn't help, and at the moment the extension FF Fullscreen 7 also does not work for me.

I waited for years to Firefox to offer a true fullscreen with completely hidden tabs and toolbars that worked with a Mac. Now you have taken it away!!!! I'm going back to version 13, if I can. I don't understand why you would want to copy Safari's non-fullscreen set up.

Related bugzilla reports:

• Bug 774677 - Auto hide toolbars in full-screen is broken on OSX LION]

...which is marked a duplicate of:

• Bug 740148 - [10.7] Allow hiding toolbars for presentations].

The browser.fullscreen.autohide preference which controlled the previous full-screen behavior, is now ignored in Firefox 14.0.1 on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.

Does this mean it will be fixed? Soon?

I have this fear that the goal is to make Firefox work as Safari does with Lion, which it a terrible goal to have since Safari offers no fullscreen toolbar/tab free browsing experience. I don't understand why Safari would not offer true fullscreen....

Bill from Missouri, you asked, "Does this mean it will be fixed? Soon?.

I have no idea. Some Mozilla bugs are unassigned for years; others get fixed right away. What you can do is set up a bugzilla.mozilla.org account and vote for bug 740148. At least that way, you will get e-mails when any new information gets added to the bug.

There is a temporary patch in Bug 740148 that fixes the problem. Hopefully it will be implemented in the next upgrade, so everyone will have true full screen again.

If you want Firefox to work like Safari, why not just use Safari?

Thank you Perdicus. I will look into the patch. I'm glad to hear you recognize the fullscreen function to be inadequate. I will be switching to Chrome for the short term until I get fullscreen once again in Firefox.

It's hard to write clearly about things. When I mentioned Safari it was only to say that I was worried that Firefox might be using Safari as their model for Mac users, as if all Mac users love Safari, which I don't, simply because it does not offer true full screen. Thank you and I'll check out that patch.

Fixed in Mountain Lion, I think! After upgrading to OS X 10.8, Firefox 14.0.1 has for whatever reason reverted back to the (good & desired) behavior of Firefox 13. Not sure why that makes any sense, but I recommend upgrading to those who dislike the Firefox 14+OS X 10.7 behavior.

Ack. Following your description of a happy experience I've upgrade to Mountain Lion, but the auto-hide/fullscreen in Firefox still doesn't revert to the behaviors it had in 13. I hope the problem isn't that I've now got Firefox 15.

billfrommissouri2,

The patch in Bug 740148 replaces Firefox 14.0.1 with Nightly 17.0a1, which works fine with OS X 10.7.x Lion. I have not upgraded to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (it is not free like Mac OS updates were in the day, and I have three Macs). I was not aware of Firefox 15 until you mentioned it, having stayed with Nightly 17 since downloading it. If I have a problem, I'll check out Firefox 15; otherwise I plan to stick with what I have, since it works for me.

Bill from Missouri, you wrote: Ack. Following your description of a happy experience I've upgrade to Mountain Lion, but the auto-hide/fullscreen in Firefox still doesn't revert to the behaviors it had in 13. I hope the problem isn't that I've now got Firefox 15.

You have to read bug 740148 carefully and click through to the links. It turns out that the reason Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) has the desired full-screen mode behavior in Firefox 14.0.1, is because of a "bug" that's been "fixed" in Firefox 15.

From bug 740148 Comment 29 Andre Bach 2012-07-27 09:37:47 PDT

Upgrading to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion makes Firefox 14.0.1 revert to the (good & desired) behavior of Firefox 13. Not sure why that makes any sense, but I'm happy. However, comment 135 of bug 639705 seems to imply that this is unintended, which is too bad.

From bug 639705, Comment 135 Steven Michaud 2012-07-18 14:17:17 PDT

Thanks to a stupid little bug, the Bookmarks Toolbar and Add-on Toolbar *aren't* visible on OS X 10.8: On Mountain Lion we use an odd combination of the Lion fullscreen mode and the "old" fullscreen mode (aka presentation mode). Neither toolbar is visible in the "old" fullscreen mode, even when you make them visible in View : Toolbars.

From bug 639705, Comment 137 Steven Michaud 2012-07-18 15:41:24 PDT

(Following up comment #135) This is bug 775325, which is already fixed in current trunk code, and will be fixed in FF 15, but isn't yet fixed in FF 14.0.1.

I just stumbled upon add-on "Old Lion Fullscreen". It fixed this problem for me (OS X 10.7.5, Firefox 15.0.1). There are several bugs mentioned in the discussions, so probably the only way to find out it it works for any one user is to install it and see.

THANK YOU! This finally did the trick! I'm a bit bummed that apple's fullscreen is so flawed and hope it gets better but this seriously just....... THANK YOU!

Here is a link to the "Old Lion Fullscreen" add-on, for any other Mac OS Lion users who have this problem

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/old-lion-fullscreen/