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Screen Mode on Mac - Consolidate Traffic Light and Application name to save vertical space

Forum|Forum|28 days ago
September 11, 2026
9 replies
66 views

I’ve just purchased a small Cintiq 16 and I’ve noticed that on my Mac I am loosing quite a bit of vertical space to an unnecessary bar of information. The PS application name is duplicated here along with the Mac traffic light system window buttons. I have attached a visual of what I propose, which in my opinion is far more focussed. I would be most grateful if the Photoshop development team (wider team) could look at this as either an update or an alternative Screen Mode.

jane-e

Community Expert

@richardw58268709

As you are aware, macOS has a shared title bar that changes when a different application is activated, unlike Windows where each application has its own title bar. The applications each run in their own frame.

For me personally, I can’t see how it would function to move the traffic lights to a shared title bar, but that might be just me.

Do you want all macOS apps to have the traffic lights in the shared title bar or only Photoshop?

Jane

R

richardw58268709Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Jane-e, Maybe it is just me but when I look at the example I have shown, I just see wasted space. And it maybe only for Photoshop, the yellow bar isn’t context sensitive is it? My particular use case is for my new smaller 16 inch Wacom Cintiq where space is at a premium. The same issue would have course be true for a Mac laptop. And I certainly recognise that not everyone is bothered by this issue. I have simply looked at the shortcomings of Photoshop’s user interface design and made a suggestion. I also feel that having used Photoshop since version 2.0 (before layers), that I occasionally want to offer my thoughts and suggestions, even if none of them have ever been implemented.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Use the Application frame as suggested. I’m not sure if there is anything the Adobe team can do, because I think this is a MacOS feature. The traffic lights belong to an individual window, and therefore cannot be in the menu bar.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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richardw58268709Author

Participating Frequently

From what I can observe, Adobe has control over the placement of interface items. Menus and Palettes. All I am asking is for the Adobe team to move the Traffic lights next to the Apple System Icon on the menu top row and remove the unnecessary duplicate ‘Adobe Photoshop 2026’ name. Surely this request cannot be beyond the wit of man or woman to make it happen. Or company, even if Adobe and Apple have to work together to make it happen. And hopefully they will see this and think the same. 👍🏼😊

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

And from what I can observe, this is a MacOS dictated feature that individual apps cannot change. I have never seen a Mac app where the traffic lights that control an individual window are located in the menu bar which is unified. I’m not a developer myself, but I have done some programming using XCode, and you won’t find this option anywhere in this official Apple development app. I agree that anything can be done if you try hard enough, but it would certainly not be trivial and almost certainly not be worth the effort, so don’t hold your breath.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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richardw58268709Author

Participating Frequently

Open for voting - This would seem to be a relatively simple change for the Adobe team to make. The Yellow bar can easily be omitted as it doesn’t offer much functionality.

jane-e

Community Expert

Open for voting

Yes, others can upvote your feature request, but keep in mind that the Adobe developers cannot change things that are part of the operating system.

Jane

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

You could try turning off the Photoshop Application Frame by going to Window>Application Frame.

R

richardw58268709Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks very much Jeff, I will certainly look at your suggestion tomorrow. I did contacted Adobe directly earlier and I hope this will be addressed by the development team. By consolidating the traffic light and Application logo (as I suggested), it will retain the same functionality and get rid of an underused bar. 3 rather than 4 bars Menu Bar > Context Bar and Tabs Bar

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