Ok so I apologize if this is a stupid question. I know that when you use the red x to exit an application it is not the same as quitting the application. What is this all about? Should I use the red x or command q? Thanks for helping shed some light on this for a new mac user!
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Red X button vs Quit command
- Thread starter Tarp07XLT
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Command+Q. Closing the window doesn't close the program unless there is only one window for the program.
Use the Red X to close a document. Quit the program if you are running low on RAM.
This isn't a right/wrong question, its just how you do it. But be warned that running out of RAM will slow things down. So I recommend keeping Microsoft and Adobe programs be left open, and small utility programs get quit out.
This isn't a right/wrong question, its just how you do it. But be warned that running out of RAM will slow things down. So I recommend keeping Microsoft and Adobe programs be left open, and small utility programs get quit out.
esp. Photoshop
applications that only have one window e.g. iPhoto, System Preferences Toast, most of the Utilities will quit when the close window button is pressed.
Yeah, not hitting Cmd-Q can full RAM up quick if you use a lot of different apps. Keep in mind though, when they say apps with one window, there's a difference between that and last window. iPhoto only has one window that would ever be open, but if you only have just one window of, say, Firefox or Safari open, closing it will still only close that window, you'll have to Cmd-Q to close the app.
That is backwards really...
Microsoft and Adobe programs use a huge amount of ram compared to small utility programs. If anything, you should be quitting the large programs and leaving the smaller programs running, if you are concerned about ram space running low.
I can't remember the last time I clicked the traffic lights.
Seriously, keyboard shortcuts! CMD+W to close that window, CMD+H to hide the application and CMD+Q to quit the application and CMD+M to minimise.
Forget the red close button. You'll understand it all if you use CMD+W and CMD+Q and you'll start to really rely upon those two commands all the time. And CMD+H is especially handy if you want to hide something on your screen that shouldn't be there if someone walks in
Seriously, keyboard shortcuts! CMD+W to close that window, CMD+H to hide the application and CMD+Q to quit the application and CMD+M to minimise.
Forget the red close button. You'll understand it all if you use CMD+W and CMD+Q and you'll start to really rely upon those two commands all the time. And CMD+H is especially handy if you want to hide something on your screen that shouldn't be there if someone walks in
I think the idea is so that if you decide to open a document or photoshop file, you don't have to go through the tedious wait for the application to initialize, etc. The application runs in the background, ready to open any file you throw at it without having to wait.
I understand that, and of course if I was doing extensive document or image editing I would leave photoshop / office apps running. But I wanted to point out for new users to mac that obviously for those who are ram conscious that leaving those sort of applications open will take up significantly more space than say SMC fan control or other utility type programs.
sometimes, in some apps, CMD+M wont minimize. like in photoshop. i wonder if adobe realized that.
but i personally keep frequently used apps open.
apps like itunes, mail and ichat.
but high ram apps like safari and photoshop, i keep open on a need-to-use basis.
I thought Apple addressed this in 10.5.6 - fixed issues with CMD+H and M not functioning as they should.
I wish there was a way to make red button always hide, and not quit straight up. I love hiding (cmd+h).
I rarely to never use the "stoplight" buttons. I love the shortcuts that make Mac OS X so fun to use.
Command + Q (quit application)
Command + W (close window)
Command + M (occasionally) - Minimize
Keyboard shortcuts, once you have them down and start doing them out of habit, make using a Mac so much fun and one becomes so much more efficient when doing so.
Command + Q (quit application)
Command + W (close window)
Command + M (occasionally) - Minimize
Keyboard shortcuts, once you have them down and start doing them out of habit, make using a Mac so much fun and one becomes so much more efficient when doing so.
OS X is made to run a lot of apps in the background. The only apps that would potentially eat up all the RAM are apps dealing with large files (Photoshop, iMovie, etc) and that's really only while you're manipulating the files.