Maximizing windows & the Dock

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When maximizing windows to the whole screen I find the dock gets in the way and coming from a windows background, im used to having a maximise button which will stretch the window the whole screen.

When you maximize windows, do you make the window fill the whole screen so the dock shows over the bottom of the window, or do you have the window so it finishes just above the dock so it does not get in the way? Im finding this is a pain.

Do you prefer to keep the dock on show all the time, or have it hide and why?

What position on the screen do you have to dock, bottom left or right?
 

cwa107


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When maximizing windows to the whole screen I find the dock gets in the way and coming from a windows background, im used to having a maximise button which will stretch the window the whole screen.

When you maximize windows, do you make the window fill the whole screen so the dock shows over the bottom of the window, or do you have the window so it finishes just above the dock so it does not get in the way? Im finding this is a pain.

Do you prefer to keep the dock on show all the time, or have it hide and why?

What position on the screen do you have to dock, bottom left or right?

The green button does not do the same thing as the maximize button does in Windows (although on the surface it appears to). The green button is considered the "zoom" button, meaning, it will expand the window as large as needed so as to display everything within it. In some cases, it will fill all available screen space, but in general, it's just used to make the window open as large as it needs to in order to display the data within it properly.

Yet again, this is another eccentricity to OS X, and something you have to get used to when switching from Windows.

One of the ways you can keep the dock from obstructing your view is to have it auto-hide (System Preferences => Dock => "automatically hide and show the dock", or you can position it to the left or right (which usually yields the needed space since modern Macs all use a widescreen).

EDIT: Just to add that I keep my dock at the bottom, relatively small and use the zoom feature to offset the size.
 
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I never have a window fill the whole screen (unless it needs full screen), because 1 the dock gets in the way (even though I keep it pretty small) and 2 i don't really see a real reason to need the extra inch that the dock takes up. especially going down, all it will reduce is the amount I have to scroll. I like to keep the dock showing all the time, just b/c it's easily accessible and I don't have to wait the extra second. The dock is on the bottom of my screen.
 
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my windows don't fill the screen either and prefer smaller windows. I have this odd need to see my desktop in the background for some reason. My dock is at the bottom and small. The auto hide feature on the dock drives me nuts so I don't use it.
 
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I can't stand having one window take up the whole screen. I have so much going on all the time that I like to be able to use the space I have and keep things just the size needed.

And... I keep my dock on auto-hide. I like things to be clean, and with the dock up.. it just doesn't look as good IMO.
 
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Yes being a switcher it was a little annoying that the maximize button doesnt really make it to full screen. And the Dock always gets in the way. So i did autohide and magnify just like all the other ppl.
 
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I can't stand having one window take up the whole screen. I have so much going on all the time that I like to be able to use the space I have and keep things just the size needed.

And... I keep my dock on auto-hide. I like things to be clean, and with the dock up.. it just doesn't look as good IMO.

I agree with you on that, it does look much cleaner, but if you hack the dock and do some of that fancy stuff I think you can make it look pretty good with your background.

And as everyone else said the green button is to make the window as big as the page needs to be so there will be little or no scroll bars, why would you need it bigger than the page needs to be anyway?
 
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Well even with this site currently, im on my windows (still need my darned mac!) I have it miximized completely, and the page spreads to fill the window, not the other way around. If i go to window mode, and resize box, the size of the page changes. Just how it works... I'd think it would too on a Mac as all it is doing is reading the page code...
 
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zoommaximizext7.png


This image shows a popular web page in Internet Explorer on Windows XP, maximized, and the same page in Safari on Mac OS X, zoomed, on the same display.

Maximizing has always been wasteful, but a widescreen monitor really shows you how silly it gets.
 
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zoommaximizext7.png


This image shows a popular web page in Internet Explorer on Windows XP, maximized, and the same page in Safari on Mac OS X, zoomed, on the same display.

Maximizing has always been wasteful, but a widescreen monitor really shows you how silly it gets.

that picture pretty much sums up the whole argument!
 
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One benefit of maximizing screen

Except... when one uses two monitors instead of a single very large one.

With two monitors, it's quite nice to be able to maximize the screen, so as to remain focused on the chosen work at hand without the distraction of other visual elements.

Then, use command(alt)-tab to switch between applications, or click the desired icon on the dock. And of course, drag-and-drop from one monitor to the other.

Totally a personal preference, granted, but the double-click-to-maximize and then double-click-to-UNmaximize is one tiny element that I do miss from the Windows days, because it allowed me to size the way I wanted and also to move views around with much less mouse motion.
 
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I agree with you on that, it does look much cleaner, but if you hack the dock and do some of that fancy stuff I think you can make it look pretty good with your background.

Could you link me to some fancy dock hacks? Thanks.
 
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I have this odd need to see my desktop in the background for some reason. My dock is at the bottom and small. The auto hide feature on the dock drives me nuts so I don't use it.

That's not odd at all. I like to see the icons I have on the Desktop. But, I do hide the Dock. It pops up when I don't want it to from time to time, but that doesn't bother me.
 
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Some applications will remember how you resized your window from the last time, and hitting the zoom button will expand it to that size. There is also a little tool called RightZoom, which makes the zoom button maximize completely in most applications.
 
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I use Firefox. It saved any zoom setting for my windows. I like to maximize for purpose of easier reading. So I maximized , then zoom the page to filled to the edge. Makes for much easier reading of web pages. If you like to maximize get Cinch. It's free or donate. You can instantly maximize by dragging the window to the top edge of the screen. Or half vertical screen size by dragging to the left or right of screen edge. Very useful. To switch in between windows or opened apps, I use Active Corner settings on Preference or 4finger swipe.

I love my MBP! 5 months into my switch. Should have paid the extra money and switch years earlier.
 
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If you really want to make the green + button behave more like Windows, you can download something like Right Zoom, which will make that button maximize open windows by default. However, I have to agree with those here who say that maximizing windows--especially on some of these high resolution widescreen displays--is really unnecessary and a waste of space. At least for some programs. I do prefer to have iTunes and iPhoto open at maximum, just because it's easier to work with those apps in that mode. But for something like web browsing, you don't really need it.

Oh, and in answer to the original poster's question, I keep my Dock on screen at all times and have it on the bottom. I did make it a bit smaller though. The default size was too big for my tastes.
 

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