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mrjcarter

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 30, 2011
20
0
Here are my current settings and the issues I'm having:

GENERAL-Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps is ENABLED
SAFARI-New windows open with: top sites
SAFARI-New tabs open with: top sites
SAFARI-Homepage: topsites://

When I open safari for the first time and browse to a site, Google for instance, then close the window by clicking the red X, when I click on safari again in the dock it opens to my default homepage (top sites) instead of my previously visited page (Google). <-- Not what I want

Doing a similar thing in itunes, if I open itunes and then scroll down a bit and click the red X, clicking itunes again in the dock opens it to where I last scrolled down to. <-- I want this

What setting am I missing that will make safari perform the way itunes does when it comes to resume? The only time I want safari to open to my default homepage is after I actually quit the app (right click on the icon and close), and not just close the window.

Thanks-
 

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
The red "X" is not a quit button a la Windows. In almost every case, it simply closes the current window.

Clicking the button in safari doesn't quit Safari to the point that it will open back up with previous windows. When you close Safari's windows, Safari is still running. Clicking on the Dock icon just opens a new window in the current "session". That's why it doesn't behave like you expect.

It's the same thing with iTunes, but iTunes (normally) can only have one window. When you close that window and return to iTunes from the Dock icon, it opens back the same window you just closed at the same position in a list. For a quick demonstration of this, play a song in itunes and then close the window. Two or three things will happen. 1) Music will keep playing. 2) Unless you switch to another program, your menu bar will still show itunes as the active program. 3) If enabled, there will be an indicator in your dock underneath iTunes to let you know that it's still open (though this is disabled by default in Lion).

Cmd-Q or Safari Menu > quit will have the expected results for Safari.
 
Last edited:

mrjcarter

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 30, 2011
20
0
The red "X" is not a quit button a la Windows. In almost every case, it simply closes the current window. Cmd-Q or Safari Menu > quit will have the expected results.

Thanks for the response.

I'm starting to understand how the X work in Lion vs Windows. Like you said, clicking the X in safari would just close the window, but keep the process running. So shouldn't my previous page be loaded after launching safari the second time?
 

Krevnik

macrumors 601
Sep 8, 2003
4,100
1,308
Thanks for the response.

I'm starting to understand how the X work in Lion vs Windows. Like you said, clicking the X in safari would just close the window, but keep the process running. So shouldn't my previous page be loaded after launching safari the second time?

The second time, Safari isn't actually being launched. That's the key difference in Windows and OS X.

In Windows, 1 Window = 1 Process (usually). So each Safari/Firefox/IE/Chrome window in Windows is one process.

On the Mac, a process normally exists once and only once. All windows are owned by that process. So when you click a dock icon to launch an app, if there is no process, it creates one. If there is, it just tells the app that the user is bringing you to the front, and that they expect to have a window. That can be a hidden window that is already open, or create a new one.

If you close a window on the Mac, the state is considered 'lost'. You've closed the document. When you quit Safari with a window open, and then reopen, it will also reopen the windows that were open when Safari was quit. That latter set of steps is resume.
 

mrjcarter

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 30, 2011
20
0
So is there any way to implement these senarios?

Launch safari for the first time and land on homepage.
Browse to Google.
Close the window via the X button.
Launch safari the second time with Google loaded.

also...

Launch safari for the first time and land on homepage.
Browse to Google.
Quit safari.
Launch safari again and land on homepage.

Basically, what I want is for the app to resume upon clicking the X, but to start brand new after quitting completely. Is using the minimize button my only option here?
 

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
So is there any way to implement these senarios?

Launch safari for the first time and land on homepage.
Browse to Google.
Close the window via the X button.
Launch safari the second time with Google loaded.

also...

Launch safari for the first time and land on homepage.
Browse to Google.
Quit safari.
Launch safari again and land on homepage.

Basically, what I want is for the app to resume upon clicking the X, but to start brand new after quitting completely. Is using the minimize button my only option here?

I believe that the command Shift-Cmd-Q will do the opposite of the set preference state when it comes to resume. That is:

If Safari is set to normally resume, then Cmd-Q will save the state for the next launch, while Shift-Cmd-Q will not remember the open windows/tabs and you will see the homepage on the subsequent launch.

If Safari is set to not resume, Cmd-Q and then open will launch the homepage, but Shift-Cmd-Q will save the state.

The closest thing I can find for the first scenario is this. There is an item in the history menu that will open the last closed window. Maybe that will be close enough?
 
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