zoom/fit (green +) button inconsistent

[VPrime]

Don't know if this is normal or not as I never noticed until now.
I know that the green butotn is not like windows, it doesn't maximize. Instead it enlarges the window to fit the content correct?
The only apps I find that do this are Finder ,Safari textedit (if I have wrap to page on), addressbook

I tunes goes into a mini player.. unless I press option(where it just moves the window into the middle, but staying the same size)

Firefox switches from fully maximized screen to my last sized window,

Mail acts the same way as firefox...

So I am wondering if this is normal.. For the zoom button to be inconsistent between apps (I suppose iTunes is an okay exception when it switches to the mini player).. Is it just me that feels this makes no sense? I find it really hard to get used to when the button does one thing in certain apps then something completely different in another.

 

[gr8tfly]

You're pretty much right - it's not a zoom or maximize button. It usually will go between your own, last size setting and the application's "best fit".

For instance, Safari and Finder work that way. However, the iTunes player window goes between your setting and what it thinks is optimum - in this case, the "controller only".

Here's a quote from Apple's Human Interface Guidelines you can try an wrap your head around (actually, it's not that bad . It's pretty much what I described above. It's different from what you're used to, but it'll make more sense once you use it a bit.

Resizing and Zooming Windows
Your application determines the minimum and maximum window size. Base these sizes on the resolution of the display and on the constraints of your interface. For document windows, try to show as much of the content as possible, or a reasonable unit, such as a page.

Your application also sets the values for the initial size and position of a window, called the standard state. Don’t assume that the standard state should be as large as possible; some monitors are much larger than the useful size for a window. Choose a standard state that is best suited for working on the type of document your application creates and that shows as much of the document’s contents as possible.

The user can’t change the standard size and location of a window, but your application can change the standard state when appropriate. For example, a word processor might define the standard size and location as wide enough to display a document whose width is specified in the Page Setup dialog.

The user changes a window’s size by dragging the size control (in the lower-right corner). As a user drags, the amount of visible content in the window changes. The upper-left corner of the window remains in the same place. The actual window contents are displayed at all times.

If the user changes a window’s size or location by at least 7 pixels, the new size and location is the user state.The user can toggle between the standard state and the user state by clicking the zoom button. When the user clicks the zoom button of a window in the user state, your application should first determine the appropriate size of the standard state. Move the window as little as possible to make it the standard size, and keep the entire window on the screen. The zoom button should not cause the window to fill the entire screen unless that was the last state the user set.

When a user with more than one monitor zooms a window, the standard state should be on the monitor containing the largest portion of the window, not necessarily the monitor with the menu bar. This means that if the user moves a window between monitors, the window’s position in the standard state could be on different monitors at different times. The standard state for any window must always be fully contained on a single monitor.​

 

[Richard1028]

Try this:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30591

It's a tiny freebie app that will truly maximize your windows like err... Windows does and uses very few resources.

Read the instructions... you can install this thing without it appearing anywhere on your desktop or menubar. It can be loaded at each boot by putting it in your login items.

You can assign a hotkey to it. I use Cmd+Shift+M (Since Cmd+M is Finder's hot key for minimizing windows).

Works great.

 

[VPrime]

Try this:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30591

It's a tiny freebie app that will truly maximize your windows like err... Windows does and uses very few resources.

Read the instructions... you can install this thing without it appearing anywhere on your desktop or menubar. It can be loaded at each boot by putting it in your login items.

You can assign a hotkey to it. I use Cmd+Shift+M (Since Cmd+M is Finder's hot key for minimizing windows).

Works great.

I like the way the mac zoom button works (In finder and safari at least).. I DON'T want it like windows... I LIKE the fact that it enlarges the window to fit the content, I just don't like when it doesn't work.
I just want it to work the same as finder and safari, for almost every thing (specifically Firefox)

 

[freesonwang]

With me, I was always so anal about window placement on a Mac. Forget Right Zoom, use MercuryMover. For me, it satisfies my stupid OCD about centering windows (bring up MercuryMover and press the "=" sign to center the window). It can also memorize window size and placement by setting shortcuts (make a shortcut, say, s, for the perfect window size you like for Safari and hit s when you bring up MercuryMover and it will make the window that size). MercuryMover is $20 sadly, but it is worth every penny if you actually are that OCD.

I always thought the zoom button was schizophrenic also. I don't care about the arguments that it "makes sense". No it doesn't. It's unpredictable because you can never anticipate what the "correct" size of the window is going to come out. In addition, the idea of a "correct window size" only makes sense if it is continuously updated.

For example, opening up my home folder, I only have the standard folders there. "Zooming" it only makes the window big enough for those folders. But I am navigating folders! I can't work with something that small. If the size adjusted each time I move through a folder, that would sorta make sense.