Detect Browser Bars Visibility with JavaScript

By  on  

It's one thing to know about what's in the browser document, it's another to have insight as to the user's browser itself. We've gotten past detecting which browser the user is using, and we're now into knowing what pieces of the browser UI users are seeing.

Browsers provide window.personalbar, window.locationbar, and window.menubar properties, with the shape of { visible : /*boolean*/} as its value:

if(window.personalbar.visible || window.locationbar.visible || window.menubar.visible) {
  console.log("Please hide your personal, location, and menubar for maximum screen space");
}

What would you use these properties for? Maybe providing a warning to users when your web app required maximum browser space. Outside of that, these properties seem invasive. What do you think?

Recent Features

  • By
    Conquering Impostor Syndrome

    Two years ago I documented my struggles with Imposter Syndrome and the response was immense.  I received messages of support and commiseration from new web developers, veteran engineers, and even persons of all experience levels in other professions.  I've even caught myself reading the post...

  • By
    Responsive and Infinitely Scalable JS Animations

    Back in late 2012 it was not easy to find open source projects using requestAnimationFrame() - this is the hook that allows Javascript code to synchronize with a web browser's native paint loop. Animations using this method can run at 60 fps and deliver fantastic...

Incredible Demos

Discussion

  1. Daniel

    I remember testing these out recently, and from memory, they don’t really do anything in most browsers (always set to true).

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!