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Red Button, Yellow Button, Green, Button

D

daddyrobyn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
This has stumped me for a few years. What I'm referring to are the three coloured buttons top left on application windows. Why is it that hitting the red button in iPhoto for example quits the app but only hides the app when hit in iTunes?
Thanks
Robyn
 
Different apps choose different behaviors. Some people, like myself, close the iTunes window when playing music, but when you close iPhoto Apple determined that most people do it to close the app (you can't look at pictures with the window closed).

Windows does this too. Most apps are effectively closed when the window is, but some apps (like AIM) stay open in the system tray at the bottom right.
 
The rule of thumb seems to be:
* If the program uses or allows multiple windows, the red button closes the window but doesn't quit the application. Safari, Numbers, Finder, etc. follow this rule.

* If the program only has one main window, the red button quits the application. This applies to Calculator and iPhoto.
 
When in doubt..

Command + Q will quit the application highlighted, and make sure it's not taking up any resources you might be needing. 🙂
 
I think the green button is far more unfathomable. For example, right now I have Safari open fully lengthwise (1050) and a couple of inches wider than this text area. When I press the green button I get the attached. How's that for a discussion theme? 😀
 

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missing green button

sometimes green button just disappears from the window. like right now I have
an oversized firefox window without green button (it became grey and doesn't do anything) with lower right corner outside of visible area. can I do anything with this window except of closing it? it's too big to move up. that's type of behavior, which is so annoying that makes me mad ...😡
 
It's been discussed too much about the inconsistency of the green button. Contrary to popular belief it is not designed to work the same way that the Window's maximize button does. Instead, it will usually switch from user defined size and a size that is the correct size for the current content in the window. Depending on the app it may also make the window what has been determined as the minimum usable size.
 
kap91 said:
It's been discussed too much about the inconsistency of the green button. Contrary to popular belief it is not designed to work the same way that the Window's maximize button does. Instead, it will usually switch from user defined size and a size that is the correct size for the current content in the window. Depending on the app it may also make the window what has been determined as the minimum usable size.
Click to expand...

the particular problem I have with it is that sometimes I have this button in the same application (firefox) and sometimes I don't. wouldn't it be nice to have another button (blue? purple? cyan? orange?) which would always work, for example, to make the window fit on the screen? 😕
 
Kondor said:
...wouldn't it be nice to have another button ... to make the window fit on the screen?
Click to expand...
You can always put a bookmark on your Bookmarks Bar with the address:

javascript:self.moveTo(0,0);self.resizeTo(1680,screen.availHeight);

Change 1680 to your screen width.
 
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