Browser window ungrabbable at the very top by its title bar when maximized

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1

Issue description:
When I have my window maximized (tabs in sidebar) and try to grab the window with the mouse, it doesn’t react to my actions. I do this by moving the mouse to the very top of the screen and clicking-and-holding, then attempting to drag.

Steps to reproduce:

  • set tabs to be in a sidebar (this makes the title bar appear on top of the window)
  • maximize the window
  • slam the cursor to the very top of the screen
  • attempt to grab and move the window

Expected result:

  • window is grabbed and can be moved

Actual result:

  • I get a weird half-arrow cursor (I suspect it’s the “resize” arrow, but the other half is obscured by going outside the active display area)
  • window cannot be grabbed and does not react in any way

Brave version:

  • Version 1.73.104
  • Chromium: 131.0.6778.204
  • (Official Build) (64-bit)

OS in use:

  • Windows 10 (up-to-date as of 2024-12-26)

Reproduces how often:
Always.

Additional notes:

  • I didn’t have the bug report template preloaded into my “new post” editor, as the website claimed I would, so I made my own. Not sure if this is user error or not.

Additional thoughts: (aka “why I think this is a bug”)

One of the key UI/UX design considerations, is that there are a few places on the display that are the easiest to get to without having to be precise with your pointer movement.

These are, customarily and in order of importance (ease of getting to):

  1. wherever the cursor happens to be at the moment
  2. the four corners
  3. the four sides

In Windows, the UX custom is that you can just hit the top of the screen when you have a window maximized, and you can then grab and drag it around - as long as you didn’t hit a special area (left corner where the icon/context menu is, and right corner where the window interaction buttons are).

By making me have to move a few pixels down, you require me to be precise in my movement, which defeats the purpose of having that functionality as standard in the first place. You also prevent me from moving the window (with my mouse) off of a display that is switched off. This means I cannot easily organise my maximized browser windows as I would any other Windows applicaton’s windows.

I am aware of Win+Shift+Arrows to move things between displays, but this functionality is new; over the past two decades I’ve learned to rely on the slam-mouse-up-and-drag-window-over functionality that Brave Browser seems to ignore.

The only other app I’m aware that breaks this Windows UX principle, is Discord.

ALSO: I am aware that there’s a thread about grabbing and resizing the window from the top, and that it’s being “worked on”. I would strongly urge you to consider making it either an ALT-click/SHIFT-click option, or to only work when the window is not maximized. Otherwise you will be not just breaking existing expected functionality (which, yes, is currently broken), but also adding an unexpected one in its place.

2

I also suspect it’s the “resize” arrow.

Is not “expected behavior,” that you must, first exit “Full Screen” before grabbing?

3

Maximisation. It’s not full-screen, I claim nothing about any full-screen modes, especially since they tend to behave slightly differently between operating systems already.

And yes - the expectation should be that it must be a non-maximised window before its shape may be altered (trying to alter the shape of the screen in this context doesn’t make sense). But I just wanted to, should I say… nip that in the bud? Just in case?

I’m fully aware that if you’re doing your own custom window handling (and if you can outright hide and/or alter the top bar, you are), both are a real possibility, and certainly technically achievable.

[EDIT]

Oh, you meant grabbing and dragging? Then no. “Maximised window” is not a “full-screen window” - the latter takes over the entire Desktop area, while the former works within the constraints (most notably: respects the Taskbar, if present).

Open an Explorer window, maximize it, and grab it by its very top line of pixels, then try dragging it around. This should work for any non-fullscreen Windows application, with the exception of Brave and Discord.

Maybe I should clarify that this distinction comes from a point in time when “fullscreen” actually meant an application that took exclusive control of the display, which isn’t necessarily true today (the usual “full-screen” as understood today is essentially “borderless window”).