Toggle fullscreen mode for an element using JavaScript

Modern web APIs are powerful and allow you to interact with the browser in ways that were previously only possible with plugins or extensions. One such API is provided via the Element.requestFullscreen() method, which allows you to display an element in fullscreen mode.

Given a target element, you can use JavaScript to toggle fullscreen mode for that element. In order to toggle fullscreen mode on, you can use the Element.requestFullscreen() method. To exit fullscreen mode, you can use the Document.exitFullscreen() method.

document.body.requestFullscreen(); // Opens `body` in fullscreen mode
document.exitFullscreen(); // Exits fullscreen mode

If you want to further customize the fullscreen behavior, you can use the navigationUI option in the Element.requestFullscreen() method. This option allows you to specify whether the browser should display navigation UI (such as the address bar) while in fullscreen mode.

const toggleFullscreen = (mode = true, el = 'body', ui = 'auto') =>
  mode
    ? document.querySelector(el).requestFullscreen({ navigationUI: ui })
    : document.exitFullscreen();

toggleFullscreen();
// Opens `body` in fullscreen mode
toggleFullscreen(false);
// Exits fullscreen mode
toggleFullscreen(true, '#myElement', 'hide');
// Opens `#myElement` in fullscreen mode without navigation UI

As soon as an element's fullscreen mode changes, it will trigger the fullscreenchange event on the document. You can listen for this event to perform additional actions when the fullscreen mode changes. If the fullscreen mode is rejected, the fullscreenerror event will be triggered instead.

document.addEventListener('fullscreenchange', () => {
  console.log('Fullscreen mode changed!');
});

toggleFullscreen(); // Opens `body` in fullscreen mode
// LOGS: Fullscreen mode changed!
toggleFullscreen(false); // Exits fullscreen mode
// LOGS: Fullscreen mode changed!