Expand widows

timboellis1 · Dec 30, 2006

A silly question how do i when i double click on the winow bar to expand the window to full screen like you would do in windows for any window, and how do you make it go past the doc and not stop at the top of it?

Reel1 · Dec 30, 2006

Hello your going to need to forget your Windows life

To enlarge the window you need to drag it to enlarge it with your mouse. Select the bottom right had corner of the window and just drag it until its a suitable size.

ToddG · Dec 30, 2006

Double-clicking the bar at the top of a Mac OS X window will not maximize the window as in WinXP. Instead, it minimizes the window to the Dock (think of it like sending the window to the WinXP taskbar).

Pressing the GREEN/+ button in the top left corner will expand the window to fit the entire document if possible.

If you want your window to be larger, you will have to drag the bottom right corner until the window stretches to your liking.

thefarky · Dec 30, 2006

The green + only adjusts the window size to fit the content of the window. It is a tad different than maximize in the windows world.

nukemm · Dec 31, 2006

thefarky said:
The green + only adjusts the window size to fit the content of the window. It is a tad different than maximize in the windows world.

A tad nicer than maximize, IMO, as it is wonderful to be able to use several apps at once and have them all sized based on their content.

Archeious · Mar 12, 2007

One of the reasons I like the "maximize" feature is that is give that app as much screen area as it can use. Usually what ever I am working on will be on the primary screen while all the other "fluff" like widgets, IM clients, notepad, clock, etc is on the secondary screen.

Carol247 · Mar 13, 2007

I agree with the above posts, you have to forget Windows. I asked the same question when I first got my Mac.
You might like to hide the dock and have it only come up when you run your mouse over the corner. Go to system prefs, dock, choose to hide/show dock. I'm sure there's a short cut to this, but I'm not familiar with it. Hope this helps.

yogi · Mar 13, 2007

The reason why this is the case in the first place is because Apple feels maximizing a window is not productive, and it's true. Unnecessarily hiding access to other windows and things on-screen while the document can be viewed fine with the Zoom function is just dumb.

Nowadays I find it very hard to work on windows when a single web page just spans over my screen. Macs tend to work well with small screen sizes this way, as well.

Archeious · Mar 13, 2007

yogi said:
The reason why this is the case in the first place is because Apple feels maximizing a window is not productive, and it's true. Unnecessarily hiding access to other windows and things on-screen while the document can be viewed fine with the Zoom function is just dumb.

Nowadays I find it very hard to work on windows when a single web page just spans over my screen. Macs tend to work well with small screen sizes this way, as well.

I am not trying to start a Mac/Windows flame war but shouldn't I the end user decide what I find the most productive? It isn't a big deal just a small annoyance. I personally liked the nVidia extension that put 4 buttons in the corner of a window (close, minimize, fit, and maximize). Then I could choose how I wanted the desktop to be organized.

Alexis · Mar 13, 2007

Well I might decide that the OS X way is more productive, yet be annoyed that Vista makes me use maximised Windows that fill the screen. It's just two different philosophies.

Which is easier - an A1 flipchart where you flip each page, or a table where all your pages are laid out in front of you?

GeorgeGlass · Mar 13, 2007

Alexis said:
Well I might decide that the OS X way is more productive, yet be annoyed that Vista makes me use maximised Windows that fill the screen. It's just two different philosophies.

Which is easier - an A1 flipchart where you flip each page, or a table where all your pages are laid out in front of you?

That depends on how easily I get distracted. I manually "maximize" my windows when I'm working on one thing, don't want to be distracted, but want to keep other information up and active in case I need to reference it. (for example, a Web page running in the background while I'm writing).

How do you add the fourth circle for maximizing, arch?

Archeious · Mar 13, 2007

GeorgeGlass said:
That depends on how easily I get distracted. I manually "maximize" my windows when I'm working on one thing, don't want to be distracted, but want to keep other information up and active in case I need to reference it. (for example, a Web page running in the background while I'm writing).

How do you add the fourth circle for maximizing, arch?

It was actually a fourth button in Windows and it was done by a specific display driver (nVidia) of all things. I am not saying some people are more productive one way or the other, just that I am more productive when I don't get distracted... oh shiney object brb

Aptmunich · Mar 13, 2007

Apple's design philosophy is slightly different in this sense:

Rather than adding two buttons and letting the user decide, Apple isn't afraid of determining what they consider "best" and leaving it at that.

It's compromises that tend to lead to clutter and redundancy (see the Windows control panel's "classic" and "category" views - they didn't have the guts to just remove the old view, so now you have 2 ways of looking at it and things end up being even more difficult to find).

Having said all that, check out Megazoomr for a hack/workaround that might help you

yogi · Mar 13, 2007

Apple just adheres to generally accepted laws of usability. Some of those include:

- Use as little screen estate as possible to display information
- The steps involved in placing a mouse over a button should converge towards 0 (see how apple uses the screen corners effectively). ==> Fitt's Law , Hick's Law, Accot-Zhai Steering Law

Archeious · Mar 13, 2007

yogi said:
Apple just adheres to generally accepted laws of usability. Some of those include:

- Use as little screen estate as possible to display information
- The steps involved in placing a mouse over a button should converge towards 0 (see how apple uses the screen corners effectively). ==> Fitt's Law , Hick's Law, Accot-Zhai Steering Law

Once again I will fall back to "personal preference". Unlike my physical desktop I like my virtual desktop to be pristinely organized. One of my solutions is to turn my monitor 90 degree so that it is taller then it is wide. I guess I like choices. For all the crap people give "that other company" for being proprietary and locked in. They sure did give me a lot of choices. Sure I was locked in (no more then Mac) but the jail cell sure did look nice (IMHO).

I don't know if you should bring up Fitts' Law. Windows is a good example of corners. Which is one of the little reason I liked full screen windows. If I wanted to close an app I could "slam" the mouse to the upper right corner. Because the mouse couldn't leave the screen I was already in the area and could then zero in very quickly. With the current system windows can be (and are) everywhere. There is a short delay while I target the necessary button. Windows also has context menus(right clicking) which puts applicable menu option within centimeters of the current mouse position. I wish I could find a way to use context menu on MacOS.

But alas I will keep soldering on in the hopes that soon I will find that magically feature that will win me over.

technologist · Mar 13, 2007

I'd suggest you complain to Apple.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

You're not going to win over too many people here. Most of us have tried it both ways and found we like Apple's way better. That's why we're here, and not on win-forums.com. :mac" You don't have to agree, but you'll only make enemies if you continue.

Aptmunich · Mar 14, 2007

Archeious said:
Once again I will fall back to "personal preference". Unlike my physical desktop I like my virtual desktop to be pristinely organized. One of my solutions is to turn my monitor 90 degree so that it is taller then it is wide. I guess I like choices. For all the crap people give "that other company" for being proprietary and locked in. They sure did give me a lot of choices. Sure I was locked in (no more then Mac) but the jail cell sure did look nice (IMHO).

I don't know if you should bring up Fitts' Law. Windows is a good example of corners. Which is one of the little reason I liked full screen windows. If I wanted to close an app I could "slam" the mouse to the upper right corner. Because the mouse couldn't leave the screen I was already in the area and could then zero in very quickly. With the current system windows can be (and are) everywhere. There is a short delay while I target the necessary button. Windows also has context menus(right clicking) which puts applicable menu option within centimeters of the current mouse position. I wish I could find a way to use context menu on MacOS.

But alas I will keep soldering on in the hopes that soon I will find that magically feature that will win me over.

Where's the difficulty in getting a context menu? Just right click!

Alexis · Mar 14, 2007

One of my solutions is to turn my monitor 90 degree so that it is taller then it is wide.

It's interesting that widescreen monitors are so widespread now because it is easier to look left and right than up and down.

So you like one application to fill the whole screen and you like portrait monitors?? LOL

Archeious · Mar 14, 2007

Alexis said:
It's interesting that widescreen monitors are so widespread now because it is easier to look left and right than up and down.

So you like one application to fill the whole screen and you like portrait monitors?? LOL

Yeap

actually it is easier to read text if the lines are shorter (ala a newspaper column) it is also easier to read if the font has serifs.

Thanks for the tip to right clicking. Now the 64000 dollar question is how do I right click with a 1 button mouse? I have a USB mouse in when I am at work but when I am out in the plant I don't want to bring it with me. I heard somewhere that you can put 2 fingers on the pad and click but that didn't work.

RiDE · Mar 14, 2007

Ctrl+Click

Or get a multi-button mouse.

To use the 2-Finger Click.. go into System prefs to set it up.