Steps to reproduce:

1. Launch Firefox (at least version 95.0 stable).
2. Switch to the browser's fullscreen mode by pressing F11 on the keyboard or, alternatively, by using the hamburger menu.
3. Move the cursor to the top of the screen to make sure the main Firefox UI is not hidden.
4. Look at the top right corner of the screen and see what is described in the "Actual results" section.

Actual results:

The window minimize, maximize, and close buttons are no longer displayed (see one of the attached screenshots). It looks as if they don't even try to be displayed because no space has even been reserved for them.

Expected results:

Ideally, the native Windows 8.1 window control buttons should be displayed (as was attempted in bug 1735318). An alternative solution I see here would be to simply revert to the old Windows 10-like buttons (see one of the attached screenshots), as it was in Firefox 94.0 stable and below.

In any case, something should definitely be displayed there because now, for example, it is impossible to minimize Firefox to the taskbar at all without exiting the fullscreen mode first.

Additional context:

Thanks to Mozregression, I was able to find the potential regressor, bug 1735318 (the relevant pushlog from Mozregression).

There is also bug 1800622, but it is for Windows 7 and the Aero theme. Windows 8.1, on the other hand, as far as I know, no longer has this strange distinction between classic, basic, and Aero modes. Here, all themes require DWM to be enabled, at least officially.

:emilio, since you are the author of the regressor, bug 1735318, could you take a look? Also, could you set the severity field?

For more information, please visit auto_nag documentation.

I don't have a win8 testing environment and this has gone unnoticed for a while, so I don't think I'm going to spend cycles on this unless people think it's important.

I noticed this bug in Firefox 96-97 if I remember correctly, but as I personally don't use the fullscreen mode very often, I didn't feel like reporting it earlier. I'm sorry.

Hello,

I could not reproduce the issue on the latest Release (111.0.1/20230321111920) or Nightly (113.0a1/20230402214746) under Windows 10 x64. I’m aware the issue was filed specifically for Windows 8, but checked Windows 10 nonetheless.

I’ll attempt to find a machine with Windows 8 or use a VM and get back with an update on the issue. Thank you !

I was able to reproduce the issue following the steps provided in comment 1. The window control buttons are not displayed if the browser window is maximized using the F11 key and the area is hovered. This is specific to Windows 8, on both the latest Release and Nightly version of Firefox. Chrome shows the same behavior, as using the latest build of Chrome fails to show the window buttons as well when maximizing the browser window using the F11 key.

Tested with:

Browser / Version: Firefox Release 111.0.1 (64-bit)/ Firefox Nightly 113.0a1 (2023-04-03) (64-bit)/Chrome Version 111.0.5563.147 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Operating System: Windows 8.1

Hello,

Since Comment 7 mentions the issue also occurs on Chrome as well, I’m inclined to close the issue as Invalid as it’s not a Firefox specific bug but rather an issue with Windows 8.

Feel free to re-open if you think that anything can be fixed on Firefox side. Thank you !

Could this bug be reopened, please?

Chromium has been using, for as long as I can remember, a completely different implementation of the F11 fullscreen mode than Firefox. The issue I've reported here does NOT occur there, and I'll explain why in more detail.

In Firefox's F11 fullscreen mode, when you move the cursor to the top of the screen, the entire main Firefox UI appears, with the tab bar, address bar, back, forward, and refresh buttons, hamburger menu, and so on. Everything that was there in normal windowed Firefox was also there after switching to the F11 fullscreen mode. Since bug 1735318 landed, the window minimize, maximize, and close buttons have disappeared, but everything else remains. This is clearly a regression.

In Chromium, the F11 fullscreen mode works completely differently. When you move the cursor to the top of the screen, the only thing that shows up on the screen is a horizontally centered X button on a semi-transparent black background (intended for exiting the fullscreen mode, see attached screenshot), and the main Chromium UI (the one with the tab bar, address bar, etc.) is NOT displayed at all. Consequently, since Chromium does not display the tab bar at all in its F11 fullscreen mode, there is no space to display the window minimize, maximize, and close buttons either. In other words, the F11 fullscreen mode in Chromium just works as if I were watching a fullscreen video, for example (you can check this out for yourself by playing any fullscreen video). This is completely different compared to Firefox.

Hello Greg-21,

Further investigations revealed that you are right and the report is valid, the issue being with Firefox. As such I’ll reopen the bug.

In the case of Firefox, the window control buttons are indeed not displayed when moving the cursor to the top of the screen while in F11 fullscreen mode.

In Chrome, moving the cursor to the top of the screen while in F11 fulscreen mode reveals an X centered on a dark semi-transparent circle which is intended for exiting fullscreen. The tab bar or any other menu bars are not shown and as such window controls are also not displayed. This is the correct behavior and a different implementation from Firefox, as per your Comment 9.

Tested on the latest Release (111.0.1/20230321111920), Beta (112.0/20230403163424) and Nightly (113.0a1/20230406092115) under Windows 8.1.

For more details, see the attached screenshots for both Firefox and Chrome fullscreen modes.

Set release status flags based on info from the regressing bug 1735318

Set release status flags based on info from the regressing bug 1735318

Does this bug only happen on Windows 8.1? If so, we can resolve this bug as WONTFIX because Firefox versions >= 116 no longer support Windows versions < 10.

Yes