Traffic light buttons to small to click

Traffic light buttons too small to click

Hi everyone. I'm new to mac, and have noticed a usability issue over the last few days of use with my new macbook.

The traffic light buttons (red, yellow and green) are too small to accurately click. I mean, sometimes I seem to be clicking the litle yellow trafic light button, and keep waiting for the window to get minimized in the dock... only to realize 3-4 seconds later that I clicked at the wrong place (just outside the yellow circle)

This is especially frustrating with smaller buttons (the small "i" in lower right corner of some dashboard widgets).

I want the traffic light buttons to be slightly bigger without affecting the rest of the display. Please help. Thanks.

P.S. I tried lower resolutions, but the screen looks so ugly then.

i think you just need to get used to the trackpad more or change it settings to suite you better so that you can be more accurate with your cursor. i have never found them to be too small at all....give it some more time because i dont think there is anything y ou can do aabout it other than use keyboard shortcuts **use the search function for a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts**

some quick hints for you though:
command+M ==minimize
command+W == close window
command+Q == close program

-chris

Hmm, I really don't find them any harder to click than the equivalent buttons on the Windows. I think they're slightly smaller than the Windows ones are by default.

Definitely tweak your mouse settings (Apple Icon > System Preferences > Keyboard/Mouse), as I had to change them around a bit when I first switched, because I felt like the cursor moved a little too quickly, so I slowed it down a tick. That would definitely make your cursor movements much more accurate.

If there are specific things (like the little i on widgets) you could use zooming. Press command-option-8 to enable it, then command-option-+ or - to zoom in and out. For general use, I will just echo the advice to change the trackpad sensitivity.

cazabam said:

If there are specific things (like the little i on widgets) you could use zooming. Press command-option-8 to enable it, then command-option-+ or - to zoom in and out. For general use, I will just echo the advice to change the trackpad sensitivity.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input but... I am using a mouse. Even then the traffic light buttons are a little small for me to click. Maybe it's just a question of adaptation - I was using a 15.4" Dell prior to getting this 13.3" macbook. The smaller screen is what may be causing me troubles I guess...

I hope I'll learn to click the traffic light buttons the right way in a couple of weeks.

The advice about sensitivity fits even for mice. If the acceleration of the pointer is too high for your preferences, it can feel like the pointer just whizzes past what you're trying to click on.

On my macbook the clickable area for each of the buttons is a good eigth of an inch across, and the x, - and + symbols appear when you are pointing at them for visual feedback. I have just tried clicking outside of the yellow circle, and the window still minimises as long as the - symbol is showing.

Anil_robo said:

I hope I'll learn to click the traffic light buttons the right way in a couple of weeks.

Click to expand...

I'm sure you'll get used to it after a while. Also, the keyboard shortcuts coach_z mentioned can be quite useful. They make things a lot quicker for me. For even more shortcuts try this thread. Most importantly though, give it some time. As the saying goes: Practice makes perfect.

Anil_robo said:

I hope I'll learn to click the traffic light buttons the right way in a couple of weeks.

Click to expand...

haha....maybe you just need to change your mouses fluids, needs to be done on occasion....lol, its a joke.

but seriously it shouldnt take you more than a few days to get a hang of everything
-chris

You might want to look into the Universal Access in System Preferences. It has a zoom feature you can turn on. I can't see this being a great solution, but maybe for you it will be. I'd first try to get use to it and as other have said, play with you mouse settings.

cazabam said:

On my macbook the clickable area for each of the buttons is a good eigth of an inch across, and the x, - and + symbols appear when you are pointing at them for visual feedback. I have just tried clicking outside of the yellow circle, and the window still minimises as long as the - symbol is showing.

Click to expand...

On my macbook, the trafficlight buttons glow whenever I take my mouse pointer anywhere around them. Even if they are not clickable, they start glowing. For example, see the attachment. There, I have my mouse pointer between two traffic light buttons, none of which is clickable, but all thre three are glowing!

That's normal. When you move your mouse anywhere near the traffic lights all 3 light up as your icon shows. Hold down the left button to see if you're clicking accurately or not.

I've discovered: Maximizing windows on OS X kind of sucks anyways, due to the larger dock. If I need to resize the window, I use the bottom right's "triple mark triangle" to resize, along with dragging around the title bar. Minimizing is REALLY simple, just double click the title bar. Closing isn't guarenteed if you press the "X". Example, Safari you press the red X. The application is still running! Just the window closes. So if I need to close an app, I usually right click the task on the dock and close it that way. Or I go to the application's menu (to the right of the apple on your top left corner of screen) and go to Quit.

So in the end, I don't even use the traffic lights.

Logan said:

So in the end, I don't even use the traffic lights.

Click to expand...

I think it's quite common for windoze/linux migrants to use traffic lights in os x at first. But in the end, I think, their use may be minimized by "learning" to do things in the mac way.

I discovered the dock right clicking thingie to close an application on the first day, and have started using it instead of traffic light close button.

However, I still click the minimize button intuitively, windoze really got on to my nerves in all these 11 years!

And the "zoom" (=minimize) button sucks anyway, just as you've said.

Thanks everyone for your kind inputs. I appreciate it.