[gotanproject]

I'm still new to the mac PowerBook Pro..

I am confused to how to maximize the windows in OS X.

Usually when I double click the Menu Bar in windows XP it will automatically fully maximize the window to "fit" to the screen.
But When I double click the windows "top bar"(dunno what u call it) in OS X, it will minimize the windows. This is really annoying for me.

Also when I click the "+" sign from the "top bar" to maximize the window, it will just move the window around and making the windows little bigger in the screen,but not maximized.

How do I maximize the window?? (for safari and other programs)

BTW when I maximize video playbacks using quicktime or mplayer I can still see the top menu bar, how do I get rid of that?? Please help!

[JKT]

Maximise and fill screen are two very different things.

This is something you are just going to have to get used to - Mac OS is not Windows. It stems from a different philosophy to Windows and comes from the menu bar always being separate from the application window and fixed to the top of the screen. In Windows you often have to go full screen with windows just to be able to fix the menu items in one location rather than have them floating in some arbitrary position onscreen. As Mac apps use a fixed menu bar at the top of the screen, it makes more sense to sensibly utilise the space available for documents which is achieved by "fitting to contents" when you click the green maximise button rather than fitting to the screen*. For example, if you are viewing a document in e.g. Word, it should resize the window to fit the page width, not to arbitrarily fill the available screen. Likewise in the Finder, it should resize to fit the contents as best it can rather than fill the screen. If you really must have windows filling the screen simply use the resize triangle in the bottom right corner.

Double clicking the title bar has had the effect of minimising Windows in Mac OS for a long, long time - in Mac OS 7, 8 and 9 it used to collapse the window into just the title bar (called windowshading); in Mac OS X it minimises it to the Dock.

Wrt to Quicktime - you need QT pro to go full screen (and if you leave your mouse at the top of the screen, the menu bar will pop into view so that you can select different options should you want to - if this is what you meant, simply move the pointer out of the menu bar area and it will disappear). MPlayer has a full screen option (press command-F to toggle it).

Edit: I just took a look at MPlayer - it has the same feature as QT where the menu bar will pop into view if you mouse to the top of the Window, so I assume this is what you meant. Same solution applies, just mouse down and away from the menu bar area and it will disappear.

* Although this is the theory, the practice is not always as consistent in OS X applications as it used to be in OS 9 and earlier, which is annoying.

[Dog Like Nature]

Well put JKT.
Maximise (as in blindly filling the entire screen regardless of window content) is evil!

[svtcontour]

Originally Posted by Dog Like Nature

Well put JKT.
Maximise (as in blindly filling the entire screen regardless of window content) is evil!

Who are you to judge if its evil or not. Excel is one program where the most avaliable realestate is a good thing. Photoshop may be another at least it is for me. Browsing depends on the site. Some sites allow people to post pictures which might extend wider than a standard view will allow so full screen will get most of that in.

I for one have both a Mac and a PC and I think thats one of the features I DO like on windows. I dont use it all the time but it depends on the program used.

[gotanproject]

are you kidding me?? I can't maximize the windows??? I am speechless

i mean I am a student and read a lot pdf files online and other files, notes, etc. for my classes. There are tons of other reasons I need this feature....

I'm pretty sure its a simple coding for the programers todo.
And what is with it when I close the windows, I mean why can't I close the windows with 1 click?!?!
Why do I have to goto the menu bar and close the windows (I know I can use command F4 but..). What is the purpose of having the x symbol on the title bar??
It seems like this feature is to have programs running in the back ground more simple for such users, but that just eats up resources. This feature should be made or made optional for students like me.

I just do not understand at this point. I should be able to maximize the window screen for viewing purposes, not wasting all my money on a bigger screen or wasting my efforts to make the window larger everytime. In my opinion this is one hella annoying issue I have to deal with.

[Mr. Blur]

Originally Posted by svtcontour

Who are you to judge if its evil or not. Excel is one program where the most avaliable realestate is a good thing. Photoshop may be another at least it is for me. Browsing depends on the site. Some sites allow people to post pictures which might extend wider than a standard view will allow so full screen will get most of that in.

I for one have both a Mac and a PC and I think thats one of the features I DO like on windows. I dont use it all the time but it depends on the program used.

Pay attention...he said *blindly* filling the screen. If the data in an open window warrants it, then it will fill the screen, if not it won't...that is how it should be....seems so logical to me and I use Mac and Windoze every day...

[svtcontour]

I can read thank you very much I know he said blindly but thats up to the user to decide what is 'blindly' or not. Heck if I want my excel spreadsheet open with the whole page filling the screen and having 2 cells worth of data, then thats my perogative. There NEEDS to be a way of easily filling the screen with what ever program you have open regardless of the data inside that window. Dragging from the lower right corner to resize and then moving the window over and stuff like that is not a quick option.

[PER3]

Originally Posted by gotanproject

are you kidding me?? I can't maximize the windows??? I am speechless

i mean I am a student and read a lot pdf files online and other files, notes, etc. for my classes. There are tons of other reasons I need this feature....

Personally, I've no need for full-screen, but if you want to read PDFs that way, open them in Preview > View > Slideshow and use your arrows to turn the page. Maybe this is possible in Acrobat as well, but I don't know for sure.

Closing windows - either click on the little red spot at the top left or type Apple-W with your thumb and forefinger. It's really not that hard. I do it several times a day without injury.

How does in work on Windows? Telepathically?

[OreoCookie]

Acrobat Reader will automatically open windows that span over the whole screen width. However with widescreens, I find that pretty annoying since I cannot read enough of the text or quickly browse through a page.

You can also set a standard magnification factor in Preview's preferences (located in the Preview > Preferences menu).

I would suggest that you try Mac OS' new ways instead of trying to duplicate your Windows workflow. That usually doesn't work well.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by gotanproject

are you kidding me?? I can't maximize the windows??? I am speechless

i mean I am a student and read a lot pdf files online and other files, notes, etc. for my classes. There are tons of other reasons I need this feature....

I'm pretty sure its a simple coding for the programers todo.

You didn't read what I said, did you. Yes you can fill the screen with windows, but it depends on whether the document warrants it. Unfortunately, Preview (which is what I assume you are using given your response) is one those apps in OS X which is a little frustrating in how it interprets that need. You may be better off using Adobe Reader instead as this will allow you to fill the screen to your heart's content.

And what is with it when I close the windows, I mean why can't I close the windows with 1 click?!?!
Why do I have to goto the menu bar and close the windows (I know I can use command F4 but..). What is the purpose of having the x symbol on the title bar??
It seems like this feature is to have programs running in the back ground more simple for such users, but that just eats up resources. This feature should be made or made optional for students like me.

I just do not understand at this point. I should be able to maximize the window screen for viewing purposes, not wasting all my money on a bigger screen or wasting my efforts to make the window larger everytime. In my opinion this is one hella annoying issue I have to deal with.

Your problems are stemming from your attitude that you are still using Windows which is very poor when it comes to dealing with multiple applications running at once. Closing windows is not the same as closing the app on the Mac and never has been (there are a few exceptions to this, such as Calculator and other utility apps). To quit an app, just press command-Q. Running programmes in the background does not eat up resources (unless they are poorly coded) and the memory management, unlike that of Windows, is able to deal with having multiple numbers of apps open at once. Try getting used to the fact that you don't have to always close apps all the time just to use your OS. It is that simple.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by svtcontour

I can read thank you very much I know he said blindly but thats up to the user to decide what is 'blindly' or not. Heck if I want my excel spreadsheet open with the whole page filling the screen and having 2 cells worth of data, then thats my perogative. There NEEDS to be a way of easily filling the screen with what ever program you have open regardless of the data inside that window. Dragging from the lower right corner to resize and then moving the window over and stuff like that is not a quick option.

Well, that is just a bad example - Excel does fill the screen when you maximise because the document warrants it. A spreadsheet is of near infinite size (relative to the screen anyway), so maximising the window will try to accommodate that fact and will fill the available screen.

In the few instances where a window does need to fill the available screen, maximising will actually do that*. What you are suggesting is that e.g. Calculator should fill the screen or that my Photoshop image should fill the screen and be obscured by my palettes just because I clicked the green button which is absurd.

* Having said that, there are a few apps such as Preview and TextEdit which don't follow this behaviour - which IS annoying and inconsistent.

[Love Calm Quiet]

Originally Posted by Dog Like Nature

Well put JKT.
Maximise (as in blindly filling the entire screen regardless of window content) is evil!

No: not having OPTIONS is "evil".

Like Stevie, I like options.

Often I'll want to have a maximized Safari window (e.g., so I can then choose to open all bookmarks in a bookmar bar menu folder in tabs). But no go.

The option to do something like "Opt-maximize" to do that is something I've wanted for years.

[Chuckit]

You used to be able to option-zoom to fill the screen, but for some reason that was taken out. Kind of a shame, though I think the feature is generally unnecessary — if the developer of an app wants to put in a fill screen feature, he can do it easily enough.

Also, if you want a gazillion options for everything, Linux is probably the best platform for you. It's all about customizability. Even Windows has some interface guidelines, and Mac has an even more unified interface.

I don't mean to sound snippy, but while having options is a good thing, having more options isn't necessarily always good. Having too many options gives us the confusing heterogeny that drives people away from Linux.

[TETENAL]

When it makes sense for the application, then there usually is a fullscreen mode available. Photoshop has it, Real Player has it, QuickTime Player has it (though you have to pay extra for it, but you can use Real Player instead), Preview has it etc. pp. Yes, Calculator.app doesn't have a fullscreen mode, but I really don't see why anyone would want that.