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Comment by cschep | Hacker News Reader

Also, and please correct me if I'm wrong, when you hit F11 in Firefox or IE7 you can just hit escape and do whatever you want. I think part of the value is that you can "lock" it in full screen, asking for a password to exit that mode. Maybe you could modify Firefox to do that, but I don't think the functionality exists as of 3.0.8, or whatever is current.

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Plainview is a Mac app. By default, F11 is an Expose keyboard shortcut on OS X, it sends all windows to the nearest screen edge and shows the desktop. However, even when you remap the Expose key to be triggered by a separate key, Firefox still doesn't go into full screen on Mac when you hit it. Not without a plugin at least.

And since its a Mac app, IE7 isn't a real option (short of virtualizing, Wine/Darwine or not running OS X on the Mac)

On my Mac, F11 is Volume Down. They keep changing this based on machine model and keyboard model, it seems.

Every F[0-9]+ key is two things on the Mac. It's a function key, with its definition set by a carefully negotiated contract between the OS and the current application, or it's a non-changeable controller with a pretty picture (volume, screen brightness, etc.)

You do one by pressing the key, and the other by pressing it with the Fn modifier key. Which one is default depends on a pref setting in Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts.

Personally, I set it to use the F[0-9]+ keys as function keys, and use the Fn modifier to access the volume etc.

This is a default setting. I believe you should be able to modify it on System Preferences>Keyboard and Mouse>Keyboard : Use F1, F2 as standard keys.

Yes, I know. I was responding to "By default, F11 is an Expose keyboard shortcut on OS X", which is not the case with every released Mac or keyboard.

Sorry about that, I checked the box in the settings that reversed function in relation to F11 being pressed. My primary point, that it doesn't make Firefox go full screen, still stands.

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