Better fullscreen support on touch screen devices (including Surface!)

Brass Contributor

Edge says "Press F11 to exit fullscreen" when I don't have a keyboard attached. I read in fullscreen a lot without a keyboard. Please make the little popup tell us how to actually exit fullscreen when a keyboard isn't attached - I always just sort of flail around doing random things until the little X appears.

 

Also, in old Edge swiping down while in full screen showed the app chrome (address bar, tabs, etc) without exiting full screen. That was an awesome feature. Please bring that back. I am constantly entering and exit full screen to switch tabs and stuff.

25 Replies

Hi @adamrdrew, I find that if I tap and hold near the top of the screen, the 'X' button pops up and I can exit full-screen mode.  I agree that this is hard to discover, though (and may not be the intended way, just the way I get it to show).  I will talk with the developers and see if there is a way to discern if a keyboard is attached, or if the device supports touch, and change the string.  Thanks - Elliot

@Elliot Kirk 

 

Thanks for this! It does at least make Edge Chromium Full screen usable in tablet mode, but only just. 

 

As far as I can see it is still not possible to expose the task bar by swiping up from the bottom, and of course the full functionality of swiping down from the top to switch tabs or exit full screen is sorely missed. 

 

I use Edge for reading on multiple surface devices including a Surface Go. On that device full screen is indispensable due to the small screen size so I'm still using the original version of Edge unless I encounter a compatibility issue. But at least I no longer have to use Chrome. :) 

 

Please prioritize feature parity with the old Edge. I'm kind of shocked to read that Edge Chromium is going GA soon without some critical feature of the original Edge.  

I totlly agree with you@stevecu. Classic Edge features and the awesome support for touch and how smooth touch controlling was made it so unique. 

@Faris-Jayyousi, @stevecu@Elliot Kirk 

So do I.

 

Releasing the new browser without having at least 95% of Edge classics feature and GUI is a major misstake on the scale of Vista and Windows (M)issed (E)dition.

1. Users will test it and see that it simply doesn't work for them. That establishes the "fact" that the browser is even worse than Edge and IE

 

2. Enterprises will not deploy it until it actually works. Since you are killing of IE and Edge it means they will have to roll out something that works, AKA Chrome.

 

3. IF the GUI isn't featurecomplete at release all gudielines, videos, helpdesk instructions and so on will have to be redone for every release you actuallly do fix something that should have been there from the first day. Thats wery expensive and the gain for the enterprises is exactly Zero compared to remain on edge classic or Chrome


4. We as powerusers gets feed up by a company that promises to listen and then Completly refuses to do that. We will then simply tell everyone that asks that No - so far it's not worth spending your time on the new edge

 

To summarize, there are about no gain for any group to upgrade. There are downsides of missing features (that has been requested for six months now), costs and change management

 

For MS there is a major risk that it will be "known" as another Failed browser that doesn't work and an even lover marketshare,

In my Eyes MS needs at least 6 more months and a focus on porting 100% of Edge HTML Gui and Features. When that is done and proven stable - it can be released and work on a feature enhanced version can start

@HotCakeX Thanks. I responded in greater depth on the discussion but this is unfortunately not complete and doesn't fulfill my request. The core of my request was better support on touchscreen devices. This isn't that. This seems like a good step, but it is only good on mouse and keyboard. When I detach my keyboard it is actually even more confusing! I now have to click a menu item that says "Press F11 to exit" though there is no F11.

 

If I can be of any help please let me know. Getting little stuff like this right is really important to me. I don't need an iPad using relative pointing out that the browser on my Surface can't even do fullscreen right. 

 

<3 Thanks for your hard work.

You're welcome, oh absolutely, i just wanted to give you a heads up that the feature is implemented as a flag which is experimental, i think once it supports touch screens it will come out of the flag and become the default behavior :)

@HotCakeX Awesome, thanks again. I really, really appreciate you guys taking the feedback and working on it. You are all doing a great job.

 

It sounds like you know what I am talking about but just in case I've been unclear at all (text can be ambiguous when dealing with UI stuff) I made a quick video to try and show what I mean. Even if it isn't helpful you can at least get a laugh out of me trying to use a computer with one hand and a phone with another. https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ans0By3xg-0wmZkY4b-cM1VNsM_x3g?e=dxz2XP

 

Thanks again. Have a great weekend.

Oh i'm sorry but I'm not working on Edge, I'm just a normal user like you sharing what i found out. Microsoft employees and developers have a blue circle around their names :))

Thanks for the clarifying video @adamrdrew . Looks like I'll be stuck using 2 browsers for the foreseeable future. This does not look encouraging at all.

 

Now I'm worrying, will the real Edge browser continue to be supported after the Edge Chromium is "released"...?

 

As it stands Edge Chromium is a good replacement for Chrome, but not a substitute for Edge. 

 

You'd think the makers of the Surface line would take this more seriously.

@stevecu 

Unfortunately, the new Edge will be replacing the classic Edge once the official version of Chromium Edge is released. I don't know how to feel about that. I just hope that we will have the option to download classic Edge by itself from the Microsoft Store, at least until they have all its features moved to the new Edge. 

@Faris-Jayyousi 

 

I find this very disturbing, as it seems obvious that MS are planning the release of Edge Chromium without some of the critical features of real Edge (I with the would have chosen a different name). 

 

As much as I appreciate what they've accomplished in a short time with chromium (I've uninstalled chrome from my Surface), it is in no way ready to replace the current version of Edge - especially on Surface. 

 

Microsoft can be so brilliant ... and so dumb. 

The new Edge is not ready now, there is 1.5 months remaining until first stable version is released.
Edge classic will not go anywhere, it will stay as some sort of optional feature to enable if user wants to.
also I can't find any official info or article that says Microsoft is going to force install the First version of new Edge on people's computers.

@HotCakeX 

 

I'm a pretty casual user, so I haven't researched this exhaustively. I agree with you that there is no indication that Microsoft is going to suddenly force everyone to switch over, or that Edge will be pulled in favor of Edge (isn't it nice that they both have the same name). 

 

However, when I got my "Welcome Back" page after updating to the latest stable build (79.0.309.18) it said that this is the build that the GA release will be based on. I take that to meant that it is feature complete and will only get stability improvements between now and GA. 

 

As a Surface user, I find this disturbing. I've been looking to Edge Chromium as the single browser that will replace both Chrome and Edge on my Surface devices. I have to use two browsers; one for reading / and general surfing (Edge) and another (that does not work well in tablet mode) for all the web apps I need for work which are not compatible with Edge. 

 

Edge Chromium looks like a great alternative to Chrome, but it is not even close to being an alternative to Edge. I fear we end up in a similar place to where we are with OneNote 2016 v. OneNote UWP (another pair of apps that require gymnastics to distinguish by name). 

 

They released OneNote UWP with a subset of the features of OneNote 2016 and then declared OneNote 2016 more or less dead - without substantial feature parity. 

 

It would be nice if they would at least declare their intentions. 

Oh it's okay, since you said you're a casual user then please only get your Edge insider browsers from the official site:
https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/download

if you want to test anything other than official software, not talking about Edge but anything else, please consider installing and running it on Windows sandbox first, it's primarily built for that.

https://community.windows.com/en-us/stories/protect-your-device-from-malware-with-windows-sandbox

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Windows-Kernel-Internals/Windows-Sandbox/ba-p/301849

there is also a long time remaining before the stable or GA is released so anything can change by then.
one thing is for sure, Microsoft is actively and quickly developing the new Edge, i wouldn't be disappointed at them now, just give it more time and optimizations and features will come.
I'm on Canary and I see a new feature on a weekly basis.

about OneNote, I never used it before honestly, I only started using it when it started to become a UWP and was preinstalled on my OS. I really enjoy using it now, mostly because of the modern UI.
when I install Office365 business apps, it says I have OneNote in my subscription license but it's not fortunately installed so I only got 1 app and it's the UWP version.

though I think ProPlus subscription would install OneNote 2016 anyway.

@adamrdrew It's very gratifying to see how much progress has been made on this issue.

 

Thanks for starting this thread.

Progress? What progress? I only hope "Real Edge" continues to get updates.

I've been looking at replacing my aging Surface Book with a Surface Pro X. After seeing virtually no progress making "Edge Chromium" Surface friendly I'm seriously considering whether an iPad Pro might be a smarter choice.

I don't mean to rant, but I do feel somewhat abandoned.

@stevecu 


@stevecu wrote:
Progress? What progress? I only hope "Real Edge" continues to get updates.

I've been looking at replacing my aging Surface Book with a Surface Pro X. After seeing virtually no progress making "Edge Chromium" Surface friendly I'm seriously considering whether an iPad Pro might be a smarter choice.

I don't mean to rant, but I do feel somewhat abandoned.

 

Looks like there are some confusions here, Ipad and Surface are devices, Edge and Safari are browsers.

 

  • The new Edge is "new", meaning it still needs more time to be complete, one of the areas that need work is the touch experience.
  • the classic/legacy Edge is still here, it's not removed, but it will not receive any more updates either.
  • my suggestion is to uninstall Edge stable (version 79), restart your device and then legacy Edge will come again. then install Edge canary (version 81) and use it side by side with Edge legacy until the new Edge is ready and has all the features you need. the reason I said to use canary is that it has the most recent features and it also has the quickest update cycle.
  • There are lots of browsers for Windows, if one doesn't work, you always have other options.

Thanks for your reply @HotCakeX 

 

Your suggestion is what I've been doing for the last few months.

 

To be clear what my concern is that Microsoft is NOT showing any love for customers, like myself, who have sent quite a lot of money to Microsoft in the form of purchasing premium hybrid devices. The browser is an integral feature of those devices and Microsoft has more or less abandoned the only browser "Real Edge" that fully supports these devices. 

 

Now that they're no longer improving "Real Edge" (which needs compatibility improvements). The features that made Edge so great on Surface should be at the top of the list when prioritizing work on "New Edge" (and seriously, what's up with all this name recycling? first onenote, now this).

 

And let's be clear the issues with touch and swipe gestures where raised months ago and have gotten near zero attention while features are being added constantly. 

 

Feeling lack of support from Microsoft, I'm sure I'm not alone in contemplating whether I might get a better long term experience from another vendor. Apple probably does not address my needs , but I have delayed the purchase of a new device because of this.