Hey Apple! Fix the green button already!
Sometimes it zooms, sometimes it maximizes and sometimes it just does wacky stuff that no one can really explain. The green button in all OS X windows has been a nuisance since the public betas and it’s (long past) time Apple fixed it.
A Brief History
Actually called the zoom button, it dates back prior to OS X (at least as far back as System 6) and was one of only two buttons in the Macintosh windowing interface (the other being the close button). Back in those days, the zoom button actually did what it was supposed to do: enlarge or shrink the window to the minimum height and width necessary to fit the graphical content. A second click on the button would return the window to its previous state, essentially working as an Undo.
A user could always drag the right-hand corner of a window to resize it, but that is an imprecise action with a mouse and one that is essentially unnecessary since the computer knows the exact coordinates to size the window to eliminate the need for scrollbars. Once you added or removed files to a folder, you could click the Zoom button to quickly resize it to its most efficient size. In an operating system designed for dragging and dropping files from one window to another, this was incredibly useful.
That usefulness continued throughout the years as the zoom button kept its place in the interface through all the iterations of the Classic MacOS (7-9) and it even gained the ability to maximize windows (option-clicking the zoom button).
Where Things Went Wrong
The intent of the zoom button was brought to OS X in the green button even in the beta versions. Unfortunately, its effect was not so easily ported. Finder windows seemed to be blind to the Dock in early versions of OS X. Clicking the green button would enlarge the window so that it touched the bottom of the screen, leaving the bottom-right resize corner underneath the Dock.
This was compounded by the Finder’s seeming inability to remember window sizes. Even on the rare case that the green button resized the window correctly and there were no visible scrollbars, on reopening the same window a scrollbar would appear on one or both sides.
Even today, in version 10.4.9, the Finder still has problems correctly sizing even simple folders with less than 10 items in list view. To make matters worse, a second click rarely works as an Undo. Instead it picks a new size, often worse than the last one.
For instance, I have my Applications folder set to Icon view, Keep Arranged by Name and three columns wide. If I click the green button, what should happen? It should grow the window vertically to the top of the screen and the bottom of the screen (above the Dock) to accommodate the 100+ icons and shrink the window horizontally to fit exactly the three columns currently showing. What does it do instead? It shrinks the window horizontally so only two columns of icons are showing but leaving nearly a full column of empty space on the right. Oops, let me hit the zoom button again. Now it’s shrunk the window again so there’s only one column of icons but nearly a full column of empty space. Why not click it again and see what happens. Now it has shrunk the window horizontally so much that there’s a scrollbar at the bottom. One more time? Now it has extended the window vertically so it extends beyond the bottom of the screen and the resize handle is completely inaccessible (see this screenshot). The only way to fix the window’s size is to turn off the toolbar and press the green button. Gee, that was intuitive.
Of course, the list of weird Finder behavior could fill a book (a poor-selling and depressing one, but a book, nonetheless). But the Finder isn’t the only application where the green button acts abnormally. In Preview, when viewing an image smaller than full-screen, it will expand the window, but not to full-screen. And it won’t enlarge the image, so it just half-fills your screen with a bunch of gray border area.
In Safari, where the button should expand the window horizontally to accommodate the length of the active web page, sometimes it moves the entire window so the titlebar is in the middle of the screen and the status bar is below the bottom and inaccessible. Sometimes it moves the window to the right just one or two pixels, and you can slightly see the windows behind the browser on the left. I’m at a loss to what the point of that could be.
This bizarre and useless behavior of one of OS X’s longest-running interface controls is simply unacceptable. Longtime Mac users are left frustrated by something that worked so easily and consistently on older, inferior versions of the Mac.
The green button is not a maximize button
Windows users probably find the green button even more frustrating because they’re familiar with the longtime three-button Windows controls of close, minimize and maximize. Since OS X windows also have three buttons (just on the opposite side of the titlebar) and two of them are close and minimize, you can’t really fault them for expecting the green one (which shows a + symbol when moused over) to be a maximize button. It’s not uncommon to see a new Mac user mention the lack of a maximize button on a blog or as feedback to a ‘Switch to the Mac’ article.
Except when it is
Further confusing matters for these users is that in some applications the green button does maximize the window to full screen. Applications such as iMovie, iPhoto, iCal and GarageBand, for instance, will expand their single-window interfaces to the entire screen when the green button is clicked. As will Utilities such as Activity Monitor, Disk Utility, Network Utility and System Profiler. Even blank windows in Dictionary, TextEdit and Terminal will expand to full screen when the green button is clicked.
Then there’s iTunes
And then there’s iTunes, where clicking the green button of the main window actually shrinks it to a mini-player. This command is (ironically) called Zoom in the Window menu. iTunes also has the distinction of being one of the few (only?) applications to have a keyboard shortcut for the green button: Control-Command-Z.
Who can blame Windows users for being confused when the Windows version of iTunes—probably the most well-used Apple application for Windows—has a full-screen maximize button and the OS X version doesn’t? The other major Apple application on Windows, QuickTime Player, also has a maximize button.
What to do
First, the Finder’s zoom button must be fixed. It should behave consistently and be useful. Is it the only problem with the Finder? Certainly not. But after six years and three paid upgrades to OS X, it’s an issue that still lingers unnecessarily. Different applications assign different behavior to the green button, but Apple can’t blame anyone else for how it works in their applications, which make up a larger percent of the OS than ever before.
Second, iTunes needs to change its behavior. The green button should not turn iTunes main window into a mini-player. It should follow the example of its iLife brethren and maximize the main window as much as necessary vertically to show all the playlists and as much as necessary horizontally to show all the metadata columns. The mini-player functionality can still be invoked via the Window menu and the keyboard shortcut. And if a visual control is necessary, create a distinct interface icon. As one of Apple’s most important applications, and one most likely used by Windows switchers, it should be setting an example for best behavior, not weirdest.
Maximize vs. Zoom
I realize that many former/current Windows users would prefer the green button maximize the window when clicked and many longtime Mac users would prefer the green button zoom the window as it sorta does now. So how do you solve an issue where one person wants the behavior one way and another wants the behavior to do something different? Preferences. OS X already has preferences that deal with Windows/Mac differences. The “Automatically log in as” and “Always open folders in a new window” preferences makes OS X a little more like Classic Macs. And the “Show all file extensions” is probably valued by many Windows switchers. More importantly, users can choose what they prefer, be happy and not go griping on blogs about X Things They Hate About Using OS X.
The zoom button used to be useful and reliable, Apple. Make it that way again.
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#1 MacDork says:I’ve learned to simply never push that button. It’s never done what I’ve wanted it to, and is therefore just decorative.
It visually completes the stop light analogy; that’s all I expect of it.
Good job, green button!
#2 Adam says:Is that really your applications list? Why do you have all the messengers installed? Why not just use Adium? On app, all messenger services?
I’m glad someone else has problems with the Green button, I just thought I didn’t knew it’s subtle actions and left it be.
#3 Matt Hoult says:Sadly, I am in the same boat as “MacDork”. For me it’s the completion of the set although I wish it did something useful. I like my Windows to be positioned where I want and need them in order to be efficient and rarely does this mean clogging my entire display up with a single application window. Even if it was to do something useful I don’t know I’d use it, but I’d certainly feel a lot better.
This will be something I look forward to being fixed in Leopard as it’s currently as useful as S.M.A.R.T!
#4 Treehouse says:I ENTIRELY AGREE. The green button needs work.
#5 Geoff says:Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as demanding that Apple fix the problem.
I can’t explain why Apple implements the zoom button as it does in the Finder. That is something that Apple could fix. But, it’s left up to the developer of any given application to implement the button properly. More often than not, it isn’t.
There’s an article at O’Reilly Mac DevCenter, “All About The Little Green Blob,” that does a pretty good job of explaining the situation (though much of it is a programmer’s read). It can be found at http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/05/16/cocoa.html .
#6 Galley says:It’s really odd why clicking the green button in iTunes turns on the mini-player. I just want to maximize the screen!
#7 Scott Fannen says:As a window layout “neatnik” this has bugged me too - but, I remember they DID fix it on something like 10.2.8 or something like that and the next major upgrade screwed it up again.
Pressing Option (Alt) and the green button is supposed to maximise in the Windows sense too - even that’s screwy under X.
iTunes just lives in a different universe interface-wise. I’m worried Leopard will look like it.
Who knows what Leopard will bring - still no sign on the “mystery ingredients” yet.
#8 mdmunoz says:I personally love the green button. The developer has the final say in what it does, and that’s how it should be. I use it all the time, especially in Safari.
#9 Steve says:I could not possibly agree more — thanks for publishing this! APPLE, WAKE UP ON THIS ISSUE!!!
#10 Damon Schreiber says:Great article. I never realised how messed-up the green button is in the Finder. I guess like others, I gave up on using over the last few years. The only app where it consistently does what I want is iTunes where I use it all the time. I know it’s not consistent with other apps (Ha, as if!) but I love the toggle between the mini-player and the open window mode. I agree especially about the Finder. I think all the bizarre green button behaviours in the Finder would fill a chapter of your book. Please oh please, Apple, FTFF in Leopard!
#11 Kevin says:Great article, my + button is grey (does anyone else use the ‘greyscale’ optoin?) but I have had so much trouble with getting that button to do what I want that I, just like many others, have given up using it all together.
#12 A Guy From Cingular says:I rarely very rarely use the green or the yellow (”amber”) button either. Then the close button - will it close the app or just close the window and leave the app running?
#13 Alan says:I agree… it should be fixed to resize the windows correctly.
#14 Damon Schreiber says:Oh, and Photoshop. It works spectacularly well in Photoshop - always has. It shrinks the window to the exact display dimensions of your image as long as it will fit onscreen. If it won’t, it just maximises the window to the screen size. I’ve always found this one reason why I much prefer to use Photoshop on the Mac rather than Windows.
Cingular guy: the red button closes the window not the app except for most one-window apps like System Preferences and Address Book where it quits them. It’s not completely consistent, but not as insane as the green button either.
#15 Lucky says:How come you don’t use the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger?
#16 Steve says:It totally depends on the app. Good developers handle it correctly and use it to zoom to the best size for the window in its current state. MultiAd Creator uses the green button correctly.
#17 lantzn says:Agreed this button has bugged me since the beta. I’ve been a Mac user since 1987 and actually want the button to work like a maximize button. I like the way it works in Photoshop. I prefer having the extentions on also.
#18 Kevin says:You know what I always liked in the older versions of the Mac OS was the ability to double click on the title bar and have the program disapear, except for the title bar. I know that the OS X version of this is a windows style “minimize” but I have never really liked that.
Steve - if it depends on the developer, then why do apps that Apple has created not function uniformally? I think that was the point of the post, the button does not work the same in all of Apple’s software, and it SHOULD.
#19 Joseph Duchesne says:Kevin> That feature is called window shade, and I believe there is a program called windowShadeX that does the trick.
As for the expand-contract. I go to the finder, I open my HD: 163 items. I hit icon view. 3 Column, two and a half show. I hit the green. It springs to the width of the 3 columns. I hit it again, it reverts back. I’ve tried this with a number of windows. Yes, the button can behave erratically in some applications, but in the finder it seems to work fine for me.
#20 getgreg says:@Damon Schreiber
It took me forever to understand the behavior of the red button. The big problem with it is that most users don’t realize which applications can have multiple windows and which do not. I definitely think this should be next on on Apples fix list.
Quickly followed by making Cmd+Tab restore a minimized application when switching to it…
#21 Argyle says:“It should grow the window vertically…”
Please stop using “grow” as a transitive verb - it’s really not. Look it up. You don’t “Grow your business” or “Grow the economy.” These things can grow, or you can help these things grow, but you can’t grow them. It’s just wrong to use the word that way.
Drives me nuts…
#22 Dis Dis says:Submit this to Apple’s BugReporter!
https://bugreport.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/RadarWeb.woa
#23 dssdf says:Fortunately mac os x is good at remembering window sizes that the user manually changes. I rarely maximize something (on mac and windows) so the green button is the least used. Even if fixed to behave consistently i would still rarely need the button. But yeah, it ought to be improved. There are bigger fish to fry. Like full virtual reality porn.
#24 Brian says:Apple will never fix this because they know you’ll buy the new OS regardless. Apple only does something when they can list it as a new feature. A damn shame.
#25 Ryan says:I often find myself intentionally avoiding the green button, as it never seems to do anything besides make the window worse than it already was. It is also annoying when I click it and nothing happens, so I click it again–it minimizes… When my Windows friends use my laptop and they say, “How do I maximize this window?”, my response is usually, “Well, you have to…”.
#26 Scooter says:The buttons on MS Windows are actually (From left to right) the minimize, restore, and close. (not close, minimize and maximize)
Microsoft’s original design goal was a toggle between a ’smart’ middle button, one that would naturally tile the windows. But that was never to be…
#27 Mitch says:MacDork (comment # 1) says it all!
Thanks for the laugh.
#28 Sharpe says:It’s neither a maximizing nor a zooming button. Think of it as a button for the optimal size. Developers are to write it in their code how big their app’s window is to optimally present the content. In some cases, optimal size means a smaller window than the user assigned size if the user wastes window space. Blame the developers for not properly doing that, not the concept (yes, that includes Apple developers for some of their apps).
#29 Craig Talbot says:I have to agree with other posters. Actually other than close and minimise, I too learned quickly not to use the green button. It would be nice if it did something useful consistently, but the problem is now of course none of us would use it because we have already learned to ignore it. Out of curiousity am I the only one who never uses that wierd get rid of the toolbar button either?
#30 adam says:Argyle: Maybe you should look it up yourself, “grow” is both transitive and intransitive. Please see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/grow
8. to cause to grow: They grow corn.
9. to allow to grow: to grow a beard.
#31 Otto says:For reference, iTunes initially had this problem on Windows too.
The first thing most users do with new software on Windows machines is to click the maximize button, to make a window full screen. This allows them to see all the controls and get an idea of what the application does.
Well, in the original iTunes for Windows, this turned the thing into a mini player, with no obvious way to restore the full sized window. What’s worse is that iTunes actually had the Maximize icon on that button.
Anyway, after a lot of complaining on the Apple forums, they paid attention and fixed the button to do the right thing, which is to *maximize* the window. I’ve got all this screen real estate: Let me use it. Don’t try to guess what I want; just do what I tell you to do.
#32 B deR West says:“I rarely very rarely use the green or the yellow (”amber”) button either. Then the close button - will it close the app or just close the window and leave the app running?”
I agree. While I only use the green button in Safari to get rid of the side croll bar, I’ve noticed how sometimes the other buttons don’t do what they’re supposed to.
In PhotoBooth, the red button acts as a quit button, like in Windows. And (I don’t know if all do this or just my copy) iPhoto’s the same.
In Aperture, while the buttons are grey (too much grey! aahhh!), the “red” button is (even more) greyed out. They don’t give you the option. And this is an Apple in-house program, too! WTF? It’s like the brushed metal problem.
Grrr
#33 DBL says:I do not understand why it’s so difficult to do this correctly. One click should zoom the window large enough so that as little screen scrolling as possible is required, and the second click should return it to exactly the size and position (carefully chosen by me, earlier) it was at before.
When I click the green button repeatedly and the window keeps getting smaller and smaller, or when it starts to toggle between two useless window positions that I’ve never seen before and my custom size and position were somehow lost, I feel that Apple has sustained permanent brain damage in this area.
#34 DBL says:“Please stop using “grow” as a transitive verb - it’s really not. Look it up. You don’t “Grow your business” or “Grow the economy.” These things can grow, or you can help these things grow, but you can’t grow them. It’s just wrong to use the word that way.”
Language adapts. How many of today’s verbs were yesterday’s nouns? (see Google) What was not in the dictionary yesterday will probably be in the dictionary tomorrow, given enough usage, and “Grow” is well on its way.
Learn to adapt.
#35 Tigereye says:I could’t have listed all of the reasons why it’s bad as accurately as you did.
I couldn’t have described WHY those reasons are problems as well as you did.
I couldn’t have agreed with your conclusions on how to solve these problems any more than I do.
This blog entry has wrapped up this hotly debated issue so well.
A+++++++ blogger, great communication, fast point delivery. Will read again and recommend. Heh.
–TE
#36 Marco says:The only application in which I use the green button is Adium, where I use it pretty much all the time.
It will perfectly resize to accomodate the names of my contacts perfectly. Try it!
#37 Fer says:Made my own fix too: I´m not using it anymore too.
I Still hope Apple will bring a new Finder in Leopard
#38 Rob says:dear apple,
please fix the green button.
Thanks.
Rob
#39 Joe S. says:The window only opens to the size needed. That is how it has worked for a long time. in OS 7, 8, 9.
#40 DBL says:“The window only opens to the size needed. That is how it has worked for a long time. in OS 7, 8, 9.”
It doesn’t really work that way anymore. You must not be using it in very many apps.
#41 Kevo says:The Microsoft Windows “maximize button” works the way it does because Windows has “child windows” — i.e. windows in a window. Mac OS doesn’t have ‘child windows’. The “zoom button” on a mac doesn’t attempt to make the window as large as *possibly be* (aka “windows xp”)– it is supposed to make the window as large as it can *usefully be*.
The larger your screen, the more this makes sense. i.e. if you have a 30″ monitor you don’t want to blow up every window to be two feet wide, you just want the window to be the right size for the web page, image, or pdf file you are looking at.
#42 Dan Ilic says:As a long time Mac user; I have to AGREE. I would actually prefer this button to be a Maximise button. Good Post. You’ve said what mac users have been thinking for years!
#43 Matthew Simmons says:{“Please stop using “grow” as a transitive verb - it’s really not. Look it up. You don’t “Grow your business” or “Grow the ”economy.” These things can grow, or you can help these things ”grow, but you can’t grow them. It’s just wrong to use the ”word that way
”Language adapts. How many of today’s verbs were yesterday’s ”nouns? (see Google) What was not in the dictionary yesterday ”will probably be in the dictionary tomorrow, given enough ”usage, and “Grow” is well on its way.
”Learn to adapt.}
The word Grow is listed as both a transitive and intransitive verb in Websters New World Dictionary of American English Third College Edition. The Intransitive form has 4 definitions the first of which is “To cause to grow” an example “To grow a Beard”
#44 Eric F says:Wonderfully said, I’ve used macs as my main computer from 85 until 04. Whenever I tried to explain that ‘zoom’ button - i’d just come out as a bunch of sailor talk. nice someone finally said it.
now dont get me started on the dock…
#45 Chris says:When I use the green button in Preview it:
Expands or contracts the window to be the exact size of my image, or full screen, whichever is smaller.
OR: Expands or contracts the window to be the “default” size I have set, if it is already in the state listed above.
Try hitting the green button until Preview does the grey-wasted-space thing you described. Then change the size to something smaller. Then hit the green button: the size of the window should change to the size of the image. Hit the green button again: the size of the window should change to the size you set earlier.
Most applications—the ones that do things “right”—will do this. There are supposed to be two states: perfectly-awesomely-sized-relative-to-content and whatever-the-user-defines-as-default. Some applications—iTunes, Firefox, Mail come to my mind—do weird things. That’s not the OS, though.
#46 getgreg says:You inspired me!
Hey Apple, after you fix the green button how about the red button next?
#47 subcorpus says:good point …
good article too …
damn that green …
#48 buzzert says:Should have also mentioned Calculator. When you click the green button in there, it changes it from Regular mode, to scientific mode, to binary/hex/ascii mode.
Interesting…
#49 Tice says:Since I use the GUI in graphite it’s just the “+”-button for me. “+” means more fun, more excitement, because you never know exactly what happens next… ; )
#50 Ryan Leggett says:I am a relatively new mac user, and I like the green button. I love how it maximizes just as much as it is supposed to, instead of taking up the whole screen. I don’t use the green button very often, but when I do it acts like I expect it to.
#51 TJ says:4th button or OPTION-Greenbutton: windowshade please
#52 Nick says:Safari does something else strange.
The user would probably set the user-defined size to fit a webpage of around 800 pixels by dragging the bottom right corner. However, if you do that, then go somewhere where you need to zoom the window a little, and then go to a third place where you need to zoom a little more again, afterwards the window returns *not* to the user-defined size but to the next size down from the largest window you used.
I really don’t get that. I’ve taken to re-setting it with the 800px Safari bookmarklet:
http://www.apple.com/applescript/safari/bookmarks.html
The other odd thing is that Apple’s own startpage totally fools Safari’s re-sizing. Zoom there and the window re-sizes but still leaves you with a horizontal scrollbar. I think it must be because the rather clumsy navigation bar at the top is wider than the main page content.
http://www.apple.com/startpage/
#53 McJeff says:BAH! GET OVER YOURSELVES ALREADY!
The green button does what it is designed to do. If you dont like it go shoot little fury animals.
#54 Duggdeeper says:Just in case you guys/girls may not know… holding down Shift and clicking the Green button will maximise the window exactly the same way as Microsoft Windows does. Thought it might be worth pointing out.
#55 non_zero says:In calculator it switches to advanced mode. I like it, because I can’t imagine a situation where I’d want to maximize the calculator.
#56 Adam says:The green button works fine for me in Finder. If i have a window in column view with only a ew columns open, the green button makes the windows fit around the open columns. If i have it in icon view it fits around the icons and list view it expands to fill what screen it can without moving the left of the window. I admit that at first these seem to be random actions, but if you think about it, it’s making the window take up the most efficient space it can, and to me that’s a good thing.
I’m running 10.4.9 on a PowerBook G3, maybe it broke on later macs?
#57 non_zero says:Regarding the red button, I think the red button should only act as an application terminator when there is only one main window that provides all the functionality. There would be no reason to leave System Preferences or Photo Booth running when the main window was closed, because closing it would cease functionality of that program entirely. iTunes doesn’t terminate with the red button because it’s possible that music is still playing when the red button is clicked.
#58 tom says:In Preview, the green button doesn’t do for me what it’s supposed to do. I use Preview to read PDF documents. So usually when I open a PDF, the entire document is shown but it’s too small to read, so I click “zoom in” a few times. Then I press the green button, and the window is stretched horizontally to fit the width of the PDF at my chosen magnificatoin. However, it should also be stretched vertically to show me as much of the document as possible - to the full height of the screen (minus the dock) if necessary. This never happens though. The window actually shrinks most of the time so I can see even less of the document, and I have to manually stretch it vertically. Pressing green a second time reverts the window back to its previous state, which is fine.
So to all who think it’s works as intended - well, you never know what the programmer intended. I don’t know what they intended in the case of Preview, but it is never really useful.
#59 illobo says:install STOPLIGHT (yes, ’stoplight’) and you’ll never complain about green buttons
#60 zoomlines says:Like others, I just avoid the green button. It invariably makes the window worse than it was.
IMHO, I think it should do as planned, resize to the optimal size. And then ‘undo’ when clicked a second time.
It should also ‘maximise’ as it would on Windows, when option-clicked. I have never understood why it doesn’t do this. Apple always love to hide many useful options with option-clicks. Surely this would be easy to implement system wide.
#61 Geoff Taylor says:I use the green button all of the time. It’s not perfect but I wouldn’t use it if it was too annoying.
#62 michel says:green button MAXIMIZES THE WINDOW TO SHOW, when possible, THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT !
so if textedit open a litte document , textedit WILL NEVER USE THE FULLSCREEN
the same with safari or omniweb, if the website does NOT need the fullscreen there are NO NEED to go fullscreen , zoom expand the window to what is USEFUL !
application NOT “document” based (as in fact garageband or imovie, with so much controls) goes ALL fullscreen
THAT is that is intended !
some others developper can do what they want but IT’s a button TO ZOOM to MAX the DOCUMENT ! NOT the window!
do NOT change that !
#63 sean says:I totally agree with your article.
I hope you have posted this to Apple’s Mac OS X feedback website as well, otherwise Apple will never know about it.
#64 g says:Hmmm so I guess you can’t you simply change the behavior of the windows and each button that decorates the window? Sorry if that’s a silly question - I have not yet had the opportunity to try OSX.
#65 Chris Howard says:Almost totally agree, Eddie. Except, I reckon the maximize function should be accessible with a modifier key. As a switcher, I’ve grown to accept - and expect - Apple’s widespread implementation of modifier key-clicks.
#66 Steven Jobs says:with stoplight you can let it do what it does in windows. you hav eto google for it but its well worth it!
#67 SHRIKEE says:After reading your article i tried some of the windows to zoom.
I realized I actually never use the button because it does not maximizes stuff like in MS Windows.
Anyway, i tried several programs and the zoom button works as expected. It respects the dock and menubar. It resizes to the amount of icons in a windows or the size of the current content… I tried maybe like 10 programs and a whole bunch of finder windows. All worked fine.
I’m using OSX 10.4.9 on an Intel macbook pro
#68 Cory Kilger says:I use the green button all the time, and it always does exactly what I expect it to. Maybe I’m just used to it.
#69 warren says:I think that users should be able to change green-button behaviour:
1. zoom to content (default OS X behaviour).
2. maximize/restore-to-prior (windows-like)
Warren
#70 Hasnain says:wow! i thought i was the only dork who didnt understand what the green button does. i was embarrassed to ask because i’m a mac newbie and it seemed like such a simple and essential part of all mac windows. its so pointless. fix it apple! its gotta be consistent. thanks appleblog for making me feel less dorky about using the mac.
#71 gb says:Another problem is the use of aqua colors. I am green/red colorblind. I cannot tell which button is which looking at them. As a part time windows user I cannot remember left from right order so I end up not using the buttons because I don’t know what they will do. I wish I could have a preference to always show the plus (+) and minus (-) symbols all the time (like in Windows where an icon us used instead of color — so you can set the colors too using prefs)
#72 g says:@ gb - I can sympathize! No one considers the colorblind - ever. It’s simply amazing to me that this aspect of the OSX interface is unconfigurable.
#73 Ray Cruz says:I agree with Eddie! Fix this irritating problem Apple!
#74 Motorcycle Guy says:I kind of like how macs don’t maximize the browser window full screen.
#75 Felix says:Hi, really great article! Can I translate it into Chinese and publish it onto my personal blog, so that you could share your thoughts with more people?
Actually, I’v already translated the whole part, so it’s up to you.
Cheers!
#76 tachyon says:The Windowshade behavior from OS 9 is still lingering in the app “Stickies”.
As for what Windows switchers do- they hit the “white blob” or chiclet on the right side of the window, because that is where they are used to seeing window controls and they can’t comprehend any interface differing from The Great Seattlian One. Of course you know pressing this removes the sidebar and brushed metal look of the window and gives it a more Classic/OS 9 feel. In other apps it collapses button bars or other unexpected behavior. In any case, they are confused with that one too!
#77 Tom says:Green button Abyss….Just bought my son a MacBook for college and can’t understand why the “user” has no flexibility to set screen size to what “WE” want it to be. First Mac experience and enough to sell me on staying with Dell-IBM-Toshiba-HP-Acer-ANYONE else…
#78 iamkeir says:“#65 michel says:
green button MAXIMIZES THE WINDOW TO SHOW, when possible, THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT!
some others developper can do what they want but IT’s a button TO ZOOM to MAX the DOCUMENT! NOT the window!”
Whilst I appreciate that the green button for the main part does what it is ‘meant to’, when I’m working in, and trying to concentrate on, one window I actually find it very distracting to have other windows/apps visible which is why I like to maximise it to full screen.
I think both the intended functionality of the the green button and the ability to maximise to full screen are both useful (if not almost fundamental) and I see no reason why the latter is left out. Macs are becoming a lot more mainstream so a function that is useful just for developers is really quite short-sighted.
Also, thanks to the chap who posted the tip about holding down the shift key and clicking the green button…but it only works in some apps and not others.
I’m off to download that Stoplight tool…
#79 iamkeir says:“#82 iamkeir says:
…very distracting to have other windows/apps visible…”
Edit: I meant to say “very distracting to have other windows/apps visible in the background, in the space around the unmaximised window”
Heh heh, Mac OS X needs a maximise button, like this blog needs an edit button!
#80 Christian says:So, what happened in Leopard?
#81 Matthew Kennedy says:Apple please fix the green button it’s too dam contextual it needs to serve one function throughout the operating system it will stop switchers from windows moaning and make your operating system feel loads better in an instant.
At the moment in most apps it just shrinks the window to fit content apart from Skype iCal most the iLife stuff ( mini player in itunes ) blar di blar
Id go for switch between too sizes set by user simple, (apart from in quicktime it would have flick between the original size of the movie and a resized by user size!!
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