dumbest question ever asked: close a window in os-x?

[maximus06]

I am ashamed to ask this, but then again I am a total newb. How do I close a window without going to the dock icon and right-clicking "quit"?

The "x" button in windows only hides it/minimizes it to the dock. What the hell? Am i missing something here?

 

[adrianblaine]

Easiest = command apple+q

 

[lamina]

Click the red button (leftmost) in the top left-hand corner of the window.

That will close the window, but not quit the program.

You can also press -W

 

[maximus06]

Ugh...people I want to close the program with one click of the mouse. You're saying you can't do that in os-x? WHAT?! That is terribly useful/convenient...why would they made it hide the window? Thats what minimize is for.

 

[dL.]

X is to close the window, not the program. At first I found that to be pretty dumb, but why do you need to close the program? Next time you need to use the program it'll open instantly because it's already been opened. OS X is still just as fast as smooth because it has great memory management. You won't notice a decrease in performance just because that program is still left open.

dL

 

[Aranince]

Cmd-Q closes the entire application...the red button closes the window.

 

[adrianblaine]

Ugh...people I want to close the program with one click of the mouse. You're saying you can't do that in os-x? WHAT?! That is terribly useful/convenient...why would they made it hide the window? Thats what minimize is for.

It may be possible, but I don't know of anyway to do it with just one mouse click. I'm a keyboard shortcut kind of guy though, so I always use them over mouse clicking...

How crucial is it to close a program (and in one less mouse click)? Is it slowing your computer down?

EDIT: also you can cmd+tab through programs and cmd+q quit programs from there as well. You can shut down 15 applications in just a few seconds doing this.

 

[~David]

If you have a mouse with programable buttons, you can easily set one of them as a shortcut for "Command + Q".

 

[anti-microsoft]

Ugh...people I want to close the program with one click of the mouse. You're saying you can't do that in os-x? WHAT?! That is terribly useful/convenient...why would they made it hide the window? Thats what minimize is for.

U'll find that closing a window (instead if whole program/app) by clicking the red x, will be very convenient in the future... Sometimes in windows I close, the iTunes window (for example), thinking it will still play, like in Mac OS X, but nooo, I just quit the program.

 

[maximus06]

It may be possible, but I don't know of anyway to do it with just one mouse click. I'm a keyboard shortcut kind of guy though, so I always use them over mouse clicking...

How crucial is it to close a program (and in one less mouse click)? Is it slowing your computer down?

EDIT: also you can cmd+tab through programs and cmd+q quit programs from there as well. You can shut down 15 applications in just a few seconds doing this.

No, it just seems odd/dumb. I mean why have a button for it then, after all minimize is for that, right?

I'll just have to get used to it, thanks guys!

 

[~David]

"Minimize" brings the open window down to the right side of the dock for easy access to that specific window. "Close" closes all windows for that program, but leaves the process running so that you can quickly open up a new window in the future.

Trust me, once you get used to it, you'll love this.

 

[QuarterSwede]

No, it just seems odd/dumb. I mean why have a button for it then, after all minimize is for that, right?

I'll just have to get used to it, thanks guys!

No, minimize is for just that. Closing the window makes a lot more sense when you've used OS X for a week or so. There really is no need to close an app in OS X (unless it's a memory hog like Photoshop or iPhoto). Didn't you wonder why Windows had to come up with the System Tray?

 

[WildCowboy]

The red button closes the window...once you do it, it's gone. The yellow button minimizes it...the window and its contents are still there in your Dock, and a single click brings them back.

There are some apps that will quit entirely when you click the red button. These apps have no function unless there's a window open. System Preferences is one of these. But there are apps like Mail where they can remain open and performing functions with no need for windows to be open.

 

[adrianblaine]

"Minimize" brings the open window down to the right side of the dock for easy access to that specific window. "Close" closes all windows for that program, but leaves the process running so that you can quickly open up a new window in the future.

Trust me, once you get used to it, you'll love this.

Let's not forget "hide" as well... cmd+h

I personally like this more than minimizing

 

[maximus06]

Let's not forget "hide" as well... cmd+h

I personally like this more than minimizing

Oh gawd...the confuseness! Its only been 3 hours but I am adjusting! The biggest annoyances are that window-maximizing is crap and you need to adjust the size yourself...the round corners stay - and the fact that iChat does not have MSN.

Apart from that i'm liking.

 

[adrianblaine]

Oh gawd...the confuseness! Its only been 3 hours but I am adjusting! The biggest annoyances are that window-maximizing is crap and you need to adjust the size yourself...the round corners stay - and the fact that iChat does not have MSN.

Apart from that i'm liking.

It is odd at first, but then it seems more natural than windows. I use XP at work and hate every minute of it now, but I've been using OS X for 3 years now...

The maximize button works much differently. I'll let others explain it better than I can. I generally don't even touch it.

 

[WildCowboy]

The "maximize" button, as you noticed, doesn't maximize the window. What it does it automatically size the window to best fit the content of the window. OS X operates under the principle of layered windows, allowing you to drag and drop from one window to another one sticking out from behind it or to the Desktop. For that reason, you generally don't want a single window filling your screen. In this day or ever larger monitors, this strategy makes more and more sense.

 

[TEG]

You can also go to the Application Menu (The menu that is the name of the Application you are in) and scroll down to Quit.

Apple does not believe in Maximize. There really is no point to it, it is a holdover from Windows 2 (before Windows even had the rudimentary desktop in Windows 3.x) and is usually useless. Most programs are not designed for maximize (Freecell anyone) and you just end up with a window that is locked in place with a bunch of empty space. The "Green Skittle" in OS X expands the window to the natural size of the content and will then return you to the original size.

As for the "Red Skittle", many Applications use more memory when they are drawing windows on the screen, and often their content takes up memory (such as a flash video in Safari), and you need that memory for something else, but will also need the program soon. Closing the window frees up that memory so you can use it, but the Application is ready at a moments notice to go back to work again. This concept was much harder for the novice to understand prior to OS X, as the only indication that a program was still running was its entry in the Application Menu.

Also, if you want an MSN client, check out http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ for the Mac client. You may also want to check out Adium at http://www.adiumx.com/

TEG

 

[maximus06]

The "maximize" button, as you noticed, doesn't maximize the window. What it does it automatically size the window to best fit the content of the window. OS X operates under the principle of layered windows, allowing you to drag and drop from one window to another one sticking out from behind it or to the Desktop. For that reason, you generally don't want a single window filling your screen. In this day or ever larger monitors, this strategy makes more and more sense.

Ahh, I see. Well, the macbook has a small screen and when your're browsing you want every inch of it. But yeah, thanks

You can also go to the Application Menu (The menu that is the name of the Application you are in) and scroll down to Quit.

Apple does not believe in Maximize. There really is no point to it, it is a holdover from Windows 2 (before Windows even had the rudimentary desktop in Windows 3.x) and is usually useless. Most programs are not designed for maximize (Freecell anyone) and you just end up with a window that is locked in place with a bunch of empty space. The "Green Skittle" in OS X expands the window to the natural size of the content and will then return you to the original size.

As for the "Red Skittle", many Applications use more memory when they are drawing windows on the screen, and often their content takes up memory (such as a flash video in Safari), and you need that memory for something else, but will also need the program soon. Closing the window frees up that memory so you can use it, but the Application is ready at a moments notice to go back to work again. This concept was much harder for the novice to understand prior to OS X, as the only indication that a program was still running was its entry in the Application Menu.

Also, if you want an MSN client, check out http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ for the Mac client. You may also want to check out Adium at http://www.adiumx.com/

TEG

Thank you also for that exellent post - I did install Adium though it has no video capabilities :-(

Mac Messenger...well I don't know if I can force myself to, probably yes.

 

[gnasher729]

Oh gawd...the confuseness! Its only been 3 hours but I am adjusting! The biggest annoyances are that window-maximizing is crap and you need to adjust the size yourself...the round corners stay - and the fact that iChat does not have MSN.

Apart from that i'm liking.

Imagine you had a nice 30 inch monitor. And maximising windows would always extend them to the whole size of the monitor. How useless would that be?

 

[deputy_doofy]

I think, eventually, you will get used to it. What's weird for me is on Mac, I HATE full-screen windows. Even on my older 12" PB, I do not use full screen. I like the windows layered.
Conversely, I always use full screen windows on Windows. Why? Who the F knows? I honestly can't explain it.

 

[byakuya]

Ahh, I see. Well, the macbook has a small screen and when your're browsing you want every inch of it. But yeah, thanks

the webpage won't get bigger by making the window size larger though (if you have "maximized" it using the green button).
I also found it confusing at first but like this management of windows more because why waste space by having a fullscreen browser if I can read the content of it in a smaller window?
I think maximize would be the wrong word for the green button...it's rather "optimal size".

 

[23am]

Also, in this way you don't get several identical applications opened for doing many projects/things at one time. For example web browsing, if you already have Safari opened the application just need to open a new window(Safari uses tabs, but you get the point).

 

[kuebby]

EDIT: also you can cmd+tab through programs and cmd+q quit programs from there as well. You can shut down 15 applications in just a few seconds doing this.

That is the second coolest trick I've found yet in OSX (first being holding shift to slow OS effects).

 

[WildCowboy]

the webpage won't get bigger by making the window size larger though (if you have "maximized" it using the green button).
I also found it confusing at first but like this management of windows more because why waste space by having a fullscreen browser if I can read the content of it in a smaller window?
I think maximize would be the wrong word for the green button...it's rather "optimal size".

Unfortunately, it doesn't read minds. For instance, on the MacRumors forums, the "optimal size" takes up about half the screen width on my PowerBook. All of the content certainly fits in that size of window, but the text wrapping means that there's a lot of vertical scrolling as I read.

So I generally manually make my browser window almost cover the entire screen, leaving a strip along the right side where I can get to my Desktop and other windows. That's pretty much always the window size I use, so I rarely have to adjust it.