Red X versus Quit

[circatee]

Currently, I am learning MacOS. However, confused with a few things...

1. The yellow button on applications (top left corner), will minimize an application. Got it.
But, is there no other way to minimize an application? Like just clicking on the app in the Dock?

Edit: I might have just figured this, I can do Command M. Interesting...

2. If the Red X, is used to close/quit the application, why does the app still 'seem' to be open (shows the black dot under the application in the Dock)? Seems one has to click Quit (top left)

Thanks in advance for helping me understand.

 

[brianmowrey]

You want ⌘+Q to quit an application. Clicking the red x or typing ⌘+W will close the current in focus tab or window.

The window menu in the menu bar at the top of the screen outlines the shortcut you mention in your edit, so I presume you have already seen it. Also take a look at what happens when you hold option on your keyboard in the Window menu, as well as other menus.

 

[retta283]

Command + Q is what you want to use. Command + W will close the active window. Get used to using these and you will be a lot faster.

 

[frou]

The yellow button minimizes a window, not the application. The equivalent for the whole application (which can have 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, ... windows) is to Hide it using Cmd-H (also accessible in the menu, e.g. "Safari > Hide Safari").

The red button also closes a window, not the application. But this is complicated slightly by the fact that some applications are programmed to automatically quit once their last window gets closed, and some aren't.

The distinction between an application and its window(s) is something that tons of people seem hazy on, most likely because on MS-Windows, those two concepts are blurred into more or less the same thing. This is also apparent in the Mac having both Cmd-Tab (application switcher) and Cmd-`(window switcher) as opposed to just Alt-Tab on MS-Windows.

If you spend some time thinking about the distinction between whole applications and windows, that will probably put you ahead of 80% of other new Mac users in skills 😅. You can spot a Mac user who never managed to grasp this, if they always use Minimize and never Hide.