Is there any use to the green menu button?
Hey there,
I'm switching to the Mac soon and i've heard lots of talking about the green menu button and how useless it is... I am interested to know - do you use this button? Does it ever do what is supposed to do? (I understand it is supposed to enlarge the window to the minimal size that fits its contents).
Any reply would be highly appreciated
I'm switching to the Mac soon and i've heard lots of talking about the green menu button and how useless it is... I am interested to know - do you use this button? Does it ever do what is supposed to do? (I understand it is supposed to enlarge the window to the minimal size that fits its contents).
Any reply would be highly appreciated
Comments
However with Expose (default is a squeeze of the mouse) actually resizing windows is not something I do all that often. I keep them all big and use Expose to drag and drop files between the windows.
Hey there,
I'm switching to the Mac soon and i've heard lots of talking about the green menu button and how useless it is... I am interested to know - do you use this button? Does it ever do what is supposed to do? (I understand it is supposed to enlarge the window to the minimal size that fits its contents).
Any reply would be highly appreciated
Green menu button? I've been using OS X for at least 2 years and I don't know what you're talking about nor have I ever seen a green menu button. Where is it?
Green menu button? I've been using OS X for at least 2 years and I don't know what you're talking about nor have I ever seen a green menu button. Where is it?
He's talking about the maximize button at the top left of every window. The third button of the three (red, yellow, green) on the right.
I find its operation to be very inconsistent, sometimes it seems to work as expected other times not. Why can't it just make the window it is attached to maximize to fill the screen?
I guess the idea is that it is supposed to increase the window size to accomodate the content in that window, the problem is that it very often doesn't do this correctly.
Overall it is a confusing aspect of the OS for me, perhaps one of the only things about it that I find does not "just work".
Green menu button? I've been using OS X for at least 2 years and I don't know what you're talking about nor have I ever seen a green menu button. Where is it?
It's the little plus next to the red 'X' (close) and yellow '-' (minimize to dock). You have seen it, but just never really noticed it, used it, or cared about it most likely.
I use it for when I'm doing something like surfing the web and chatting so that I can see both at the same time and don't have to switch windows to see what a person says. And then when I want to see a 'regular sized' web layout, I can view it until I want to switch back to my customized size.
the green "maximize" button was a bit confusing to me as I was used to the Windows version.
However, after I got used to it, I realized it was a lot smarter. It will expand to fit the size of the content in an application window. this keeps things neat and tidy when you want, as opposed to the windows way which just fills up the whole screen with empty space.
Now, I use this button all the time. From viewing files in Preview (graphics mostly) and PDF files, it is great to zoom in or out and click the button and the window smartly resizes itself to fit the content. This is very helpful when you have multiple windows open and you want to see as much at once as possible.
If you are used to Mac OS, it makes total sense. If you are used to windows, you may have to rethink.
I must confess, this is the first time I have heard it referred to as the green menu button, but i guess that makes sense in that it is green. But I don't think it is truly a menu button. It is a feature widget (although, yeah, the term widget is just plain weird
However, after I got used to it, I realized it was a lot smarter. It will expand to fit the size of the content in an application window. this keeps things neat and tidy when you want, as opposed to the windows way which just fills up the whole screen with empty space.
Now, I use this button all the time.
That's interesting... many people claim it just doesn't work. I still wonder how well it works...
Any reply would be highly appreciated
That's not a menu button because it isn't in a menu. The menu bar is found at the top of the screen. That green button is actually contained by each window's "title bar".
Edit: I agree that the functionality is unpredictable and is thus useless to many people.
He's talking about the maximize button at the top left of every window. The third button of the three (red, yellow, green) on the right.
Ok. got it. I was looking in the menu area for it.
Thanks,
i use the green button all the time, mostly for web browsing. the Safari window will snap to the exact width of the site page dimension.
...and that's what it's supposed to do. I use the + button all the time. All it is intended to do is make the window the size it is supposed to be. I do not want a button that make a window the whole screen unless it's C4D, or other graphic Design apps, which most do by default anyway.
I use the + button all the time. All it is intended to do is make the window the size it is supposed to be. I do not want a button that make a window the whole screen unless it's C4D, or other graphic Design apps, which most do by default anyway.
I know that. I meant to ask if that button works well. Many say that it does not.
I know that. I meant to ask if that button works well. Many say that it does not.
I never had any problems with it, it works for me
I know that. I meant to ask if that button works well. Many say that it does not.
That is strange. I have never heard a single complaint about the button. Who are these many?
It always works. Your just need to know what it does in order to understand when to use it.
It always works. Your just need to know what it does in order to understand when to use it.
Well, I'd disagree with that. Although the button might always work (i.e. give the program a signal that it needs to change size), many programs either don't respond properly or don't respond at all. My Camino for example shows no response at all on pressing the button. Firefox and Safari do respond, but with a very different resize (on the same webpage). The iTunes has a completely different response: it switches to min player.
Not intuitive at all IMHO, which makes me understand why many people just give up on the funny green button...
Which mac are you going for? I'm sure it would work better for a Mac with a bigger screen (in managing real screen estate and such), but on my 13" Macbook, the button is redundant seeing as I'll just make the application as big as possible and use expose for drag and drop.
Hey there,
I'm switching to the Mac soon and i've heard lots of talking about the green menu button and how useless it is... I am interested to know - do you use this button? Does it ever do what is supposed to do? (I understand it is supposed to enlarge the window to the minimal size that fits its contents).
Any reply would be highly appreciated
You wont get the response you're looking for here, but you'll find when you switch you wont use it much. I personally think it's useless, although I do expect people here to tell me the so many ways I'm wrong. It's pretty crappy to say the least.
System Setting expands to show the content, with certain restrictions set by each programmer. For example, shrink your Safari window to a 4 inch wide by 2 inch high rectangle in the upper left corner. This is "User Setting." Then hit the green button and the window will expand downward to fill the vertical dimension, and expand horizontally so that there is no horizontal scroll bar. This is the System Setting - the minimum size that shows all the content without having to scroll. Then hit the green button again and the window will return to your manually-set User Setting.
iTunes is a special case that nobody understands.
The iTunes has a completely different response: it switches to min player.
Not intuitive at all IMHO, which makes me understand why many people just give up on the funny green button...
Yeah...it doesn't help that the Finder and iTunes development team are composed of retarded horsemonkeys.
There is free app (don't remember the name) that changes it so that the button behaves like a maximize... but in my experience, it left a 1 or 2 pixel wide column on the left side of the screen (on a MacBook) which was plain st*p*d... so I got rid of it.
I wish 10.5 would include an option to change the behavior of that button... MacOS Classic or Maximize.