Holding Option when you click the green window button will maximise the window - rather than make it full screen - for most, but but not all, applications. For some reason Safari only maximises vertically when you do this.
What you get when you hold Option is the way that was the previous "maximisation" option, before they added the full screen mode which I also abhor.
I'm just trying to be helpful, possibly barely pointing out that things claimed to be impossible are not (and not argumentatively, only because folks may stop at that and have to endure something when there are solutions that would fit their use case)