I speak for the collective modern and long time userbase of Mac Photoshop users. It is my hope that someone from Adobe actually deeply considers this.
This thread was created 12 years ago. At the time, macOS (or OSX at the time) was fertile, young, and foreign to designers. It is understandable that conflicts of interest arose when Adobe had to consider adding OSX Lion's newly introduced full screen mode.
For 12 long years, I have existed in that thread, trying hard to prove that users wanted this feature. Admittedly, the upvote count and userbase at the time was a lot smaller. An easy answer was provided at the time in 2012, stating this feature would step on the toes of current power users, removing functionality.
It is my concern that since then, although the thread is frequently updated with more and more users still clamouring for this feature, Adobe skips over it because it was marked as "solved" with a "correct answer". Below, I shall demonstrably prove that this feature is an absolute necessity today, needs to be revisited, and why the answers from over 10 years ago don't line up today.
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1. "macOS native full screen prevents the use of multiple displays". Yes, Apple still makes desktops like the Mac Pro and Mac Studio that require providing their own displays, partially validating the claim that Photoshop's built-in full screen mode allows those users to use Photoshop over multiple displays. However, iMacs (Apple's most popular desktop) can't even use a second display, and with the raw power of Apple Silicon, the MacBook Air is Apple's most sold computer, period. These are meant to be used on the go, where you're not lugging about a second display. This means that initial answer from Adobe applies now to the minority, not the majority.
2. "macOS native full screen prevents users from using multiple document windows". Multiple document windows (versus tabs) is counterproductive to any workflow I can possibly think of. Tabs nest into a tiny bar within one window, while multiple windows float about and obscure other windows. Even Photoshop's Window -> Arrange feature works 100% with tabs. This point doesn't even have a beneficial merit to it.
3. "Photoshop's built-in full screen is the best of both worlds". Actually, in real world use, Photoshop's built-in full screen causes many issues with the many of us who use macOS Spaces. For one, "full screen" just hides the outer edges to the window itself. As such, it still has to live on the macOS desktop, and thus shares priorities over Finder, System Settings, and any other applet or app that isn't used full screen. In fact, once you use Photoshop's full screen, you're forced to exit it to peek and use those other apps, because the toolbars disappear when Photoshop loses focus in full screen. If you leave the desktop space into a different Space and return, Photoshop also has to re-render the window, causing flickers from the toolbars, your canvas returning different to how you left it, and sometimes, your entire Photoshop window exiting itself out of full screen and partially tucking itself away from control. It actually breaks a lot of usability for people who utilize Spaces for every single one of their other apps.
4. "It's built on an older framework, it's not easy to add". I acknowledge this remark. It's not just a patch of code you copy/paste in overnight and it's all golden. However, I challenge that it's been 12 years since the feature was first requested. 13 since it was first added. Since then, less popular apps within Adobe's library like Lightroom was "reworked" to add this feature. Meanwhile, Adobe's most popular app Photoshop, remains in the dark ages. This app absolutely feels ancient from this one neglect alone. It continues to suffer from productivity issues that Apple solved 13 years ago with the macOS native full screen functionality. If it requires a year to rework the app and modernize it, I challenge Adobe to acknowledge this deficiency now, and commit to its Mac users to actively work on this with a timelined goal.
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Again, I know this is already a topic on this forum. However, Adobe has continued to ignore it there. I challenge whichever moderator comes across this first to not simply merge this into that thread, because again, that thread is marked as "solved" and is actively abandoned by Adobe staff. Plus, everything I stated here has been said multiple times in that thread.
Instead, I challenge Adobe to keep this thread up independently. I challenge them to revisit this 12+ year old request. If required, I challenge Adobe Staff to reply and at least debate or blueprint their reasons for or against this request. Adobe abandoned its Mac userbase for this too long, this feature is big enough for us to deserve conversation directly with Adobe over this. Someday, Adobe will have to modernize this app like it did Lightroom. Why not now, when more users are switching to Mac than ever, and more members are voicing their need for it? The absolute second Windows 11 comes out, Windows users have immediate native window snapping added, and Mac users are shunned for 12 years.
And for fellow Mac users, please add your input and share with me your voice on the need for this feature. I know Spaces is something most of us use, and I bet Photoshop is one of the only apps that can't do it today, causing major discourse in your clean workflows. Please upvote this, and please add your remarks and experiences here. Adobe needs to acknowledge the necessity to reconsider this feature, especially with the prices they are charging.
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