I would like for the menu bar to be hidden until I want to use it, i.e. mouse over it to make it appear. Can this be done?
MacBook Pro with Retina display
You can't hide menu bar without using other apps. See > http://osxdaily.com/2011/02/24/hide-mac-menu-bar/ Note that when you are using a full-screen application, menu bar is hidden and it appears when you move the cursor to the top of your screen
Yes, but not using OS X tools. You will need a third-party utility for that.
Here's an article that describes how to get the menu bar behaviour that the OP wanted (i.e., hiding until mouse-over) on an application-by-application basis. It requires nothing more than Xcode to be installed (which is free from Apple in the App Store) and a bit of Property List editing (which is what you need Xcode for).
http://lifehacker.com/5280456/hide-your-mac-menu-bar-and-dock-for-a-cleaner-desk top
The article's a little old, but I just tested it with TeXShop in Mavericks and the method worked perfectly.
Explains everything: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/06/22/hide-menu-bar-os-x-el-capitan/
>System Preferences>General
Can the desktop menu bar be hidden?
