Semi Fullscreen mode in OS X
Computers are a constant source of distraction. Staring at your screen, there are lots of little icons, time, menus and others windows, just begging for your attention. On OS X this is thankfully a bit less than on Windows (apps don’t just grab focus when they need your attention, and Growl is also a very unintrusive way to stay updated). But sometimes that still is not enough.
Enter the Semi Fullscreen mode, as suggested by Merlin Mann. Install the following apps:
- MenuShade - dims the menubar, until you put your mouse over it.
- Spirited Away - hides inactive applications after a specified amount of inactivity.
- Backdrop - displays a full screen image or color as a layer between the front applications and the applications beneath it (and the desktop).
Then:
- Turn on dock hiding.
- Launch Backdrop and Spirited Away and put Backdrop in Spirited Away’s exception list.
- Set Backdrop to display a completely black background color.
- Launch MenuShade and make the hidden menubar completely black.
- Start working on the app that you want.
The neat thing is that there are no more distractions. Once you start working on something else, your original work will disappear, triggering you to get back to work again.
I have also created two small scripts to quickly launch and quit these applications, put them somewhere where Quicksilver will find it and you can quickly start and stop the mode.
My Applescripting skills are limited, but I haven’t been able to get the script to automatically close Spirited Away’s startup dialog. Any suggestions?