[Tiffany Mac]

I have an interesting question. I use to have PC. And when i wanted to close a program, i would click on the 'X'.

Now that i switched to an apple, you have an 'x' in a red circle at top right. When i click that, it only closes the window. Why doesn't it close and quit the program.

I can understand that closing the window is good idea if i have many windows open. However, since i only have 1 window open...shouldn't that red cirlce operate as a 'quit the program' key?

What do you think?

-Tiffany

[bgmccollum]

welcome to the mac os. closing the last window doesn't necessarily mean you want to quit the program. often, i leave photoshop open, but with nothing open waiting till i need photoshop, rather than starting up the application again. if you really want the application quit, then either file>quit, or [cmnd]-q that sucka...

bg

[alex_kac]

Well, that has always been the Mac way. It is normal that in SOME apps, when you close the window, it closes the app too. But that's pretty rare. The Mac idea is that you run apps - and those apps stay in memory all the time. They don't take up extra CPU or REAL RAM, because the OS is smart enough to page all that out when you're not using it.

Its one of the key differences between Macs and Windows. In 90% of situations, the Mac way IS better once you get used to it.

[asxless]

Some OSX apps actually do quit the application when the last window is closed (e.g. iCal, iPhoto, etc.) but most do not. Which IMHO is a Good Thing (tm) I frequently like to close an existing window prior to opening a new window in an application. Thankfully most OS X apps let me do that

Note: In many Windows applications (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) there are actually two Xs in the upper right. One that quits the Application and one that closes the Document. The former is equivalent to Quit and the latter Close in most Mac apps. The "little Red circle" in the upper left of a Mac window is equivalent to the latter in most Mac applications.

asxless in iLand

BTW The apps that quit when the last window is closed _tend_ to be single window apps.

[cwasko]

But, something that still needs to be done in some apps is opening a new window when the app is open, but no document windows are open.

I like the way the Mac handles the window/app closures for the sole reason that I really, really hate when computers think for me. If I want the app quit, I'll quit it. Don't asume that since I closed the window that I wanted the app closed too. Infact, it highly irritates me when apps do that.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by Tiffany Mac:

Now that i switched to an apple, you have an 'x' in a red circle at top right. When i click that, it only closes the window. Why doesn't it close and quit the program.


-Tiffany

No, if I want to quit the app I know how to do that. I sometimes don't want any windows open in IE, Photoshop, Dreamweaver whatever.

[MrBS]

Originally posted by Tiffany Mac:
I can understand that closing the window is good idea if i have many windows open. However, since i only have 1 window open...shouldn't that red cirlce operate as a 'quit the program' key?

What do you think?

That would take a lot of the advantages of having a good multi-tasking OS. I always have mail.app, iTunes and OW running in the dock, and sometimes iChat. Unless I'm actively working with one of those programs, I don't have any windows open. Mail still checks for new mail, OW still checks for updated bookmarks, iTunes still plays mp3s, iChat still listens for messages... and if I want to go to one of those programs I don't have to wait for it to launch. Launching Photoshop takes a couple dozen seconds, so after I launch it I keep it open if there's any chance I'm going to edit anything that day.
~BS

[Jerommeke]

Oh man, I would love an option iCal just not quits when I close the window. I have an 15" monitor, and I can have some time planning, but I don't want a dock of a meter long (slow, sluggish), and also not the whole manager in my backgorund which makes me mad.

Abd erhm, Windows is just Windows. Incosistency, etcetera. If you want to quit, keep command-Q in your mind. Works in 99% of the apps (the only thing where it doesn't work of my knowledge is DragThing when you've explicitely turned it off )

[Developer]

Originally posted by Tiffany Mac:
Now that i switched to an apple, you have an 'x' in a red circle at top right. When i click that, it only closes the window. Why doesn't it close and quit the program.

Actually, the close window button is at the top left.
Some apps can do usefull things without a window (iTunes can play songs, Mail can check for new Mail etc.)
That's why this behavior is the rule, and iCal is the annoying exception.

[JLL]

Originally posted by Jerommeke:
Oh man, I would love an option iCal just not quits when I close the window. I have an 15" monitor, and I can have some time planning, but I don't want a dock of a meter long (slow, sluggish), and also not the whole manager in my backgorund which makes me mad.

I don't understand. You wan't to close the iCal window but keep iCal open? That won't remove it from the Dock.

And if you don't want 'whole manager in my backgorund' why don't you hide it?

Cmd-H is your friend

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by JLL:
I don't understand. You wan't to close the iCal window but keep iCal open? That won't remove it from the Dock.

And if you don't want 'whole manager in my backgorund' why don't you hide it?

Cmd-H is your friend

No, this really is insane. Since applications can't update their Dock icons when not running, you need to leave iCal running for the Dock icon to be correct. However, if you close its window, the app quits. This is really stupid behavior IMHO.

You can cmd-H the app, of course, but then if you cmd-tab to it by mistake, you have to cmd-H it again. It can get to be a pain when it happens frequently...

[kovacs]

Originally posted by Jerommeke:
Oh man, I would love an option iCal just not quits when I close the window. I have an 15" monitor, and I can have some time planning, but I don't want a dock of a meter long (slow, sluggish), and also not the whole manager in my backgorund which makes me mad.

Abd erhm, Windows is just Windows. Incosistency, etcetera. If you want to quit, keep command-Q in your mind. Works in 99% of the apps (the only thing where it doesn't work of my knowledge is DragThing when you've explicitely turned it off )

Oh yeah me to !! I would like to leave iCal and Addressbook open all the time, the best I can do now is hide the app, but I would like an option to just close the window and not the app when you click the close button.

[Developer]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
You can cmd-H the app, of course, but then if you cmd-tab to it by mistake, you have to cmd-H it again. It can get to be a pain when it happens frequently...

Yes.

There's also another reason why one would like to do that. One might not want to have the icon in the Dock permanently, but then there are days when you have to work with that app over that day. Then you just keep it running and close all its windows. Photoshop falls into that category for me, but it might also apply to iCal or even Calculator sometimes.

[asxless]

Originally posted by JLL:
I don't understand. You wan't to close the iCal window but keep iCal open? That won't remove it from the Dock.

I _think_ he was reffering to the 2nd (window) icon in the dock that occurs when you minimize the iCal window to unclutter the screen but still keep the iCal app active.

As for hiding... iCal is the _only_ app that I use that requires 'hiding' so it is still the 'odd man out' either way.

asxless in iLand

[JLL]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
You can cmd-H the app, of course, but then if you cmd-tab to it by mistake, you have to cmd-H it again. It can get to be a pain when it happens frequently...

Well, it's a matter of habit I guess. I never close windows since I end up using more time opening and closing windows than hiding apps that came forward after a unintentional Cmd Tab - almost never happens for me.

[Developer]

Originally posted by JLL:
Well, it's a matter of habit I guess.

That's fine.

With the Mac's default behavior the user has the choice. If the app quits with the window on the other hand one option is taken away without distress.

[Tiffany Mac]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to check out iCal because i haven't used that program yet.

[Jerommeke]

Command H can be done too yeah. But that means inconsistency with iTunes. iTunes is hideable, dockable and just closeable. If iCal and iPhoto and the others which I forget could become like that, ohh man, my year 2003 would start really good!

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by Tiffany Mac:
I have an interesting question. I use to have PC. And when i wanted to close a program, i would click on the 'X'.

Now that i switched to an apple, you have an 'x' in a red circle at top right. When i click that, it only closes the window. Why doesn't it close and quit the program.

I can understand that closing the window is good idea if i have many windows open. However, since i only have 1 window open...shouldn't that red cirlce operate as a 'quit the program' key?

What do you think?

-Tiffany

As people have said already - Welcome to Macintosh.

This method may take some getting used to, but I'm confident you'll find it far superior to the Windows method (I'm not bagging out Windows here - I use XP as well as the MacOS).

Why wait for a program to load again when you use it next, when it can sit idle not slowing anything down, and be ready when you DO need it next?

You will find no disadvantage in OSX keeping all your most used applications open and idle, to quitting them.

I don't know how your computer skills are, but if you're from a windows world, you'll have to learn to think of documents and applications more independently (and more logically, I guess) than you do with windows. If you know what I mean. If not, oh well, I don't want to confuse you. Anyway, it's all been said already... this is pretty redundant.