The green zoom button at the top of most OS X windows is a thing of confusion for many. For Windows switchers, who think it the equivalent of that OS’s “maximize” button, it sometimes behaves “correctly,” and sometimes not. But even to the most diehard Mac users, who remember the classic OS’s zoom button, it can often be perplexing.
Mac OS X Hints master Rob “Zoom zoom zoom” Griffiths points out a couple of occasions in which even Apple seems to take liberties with the zoom button.
Everyone is probably familiar with the first instance: the green button in the iTunes main window toggles between the normal window and the mini-controller window (which can then be further reduced in size by dragging the lower right corner to the left).I don’t deny that those non-standard behaviors are useful (I love iTunes’s mini controller), but they are most definitely weird and probably confusing to those who don’t even understand the zoom button to begin with.[…]
The second non-standard application is Calculator, which uses the green button to flip between its three modes, which are also available in the View menu, or by using the Command-1, Command-2, and Command-3 keyboard shortcuts.
So readers, I pose you this question: do you use the zoom button often? Would you be sad to see it go? Should it be more consistent? Okay, those are actually three questions, but you see what I’m getting at.
I never use the green button.. it never does the same thing, and I find it useless.
I think I almost prefer when the green button toggles between completely different window states (such as in iTunes). The variability in the accuracy of zooming between apps means I usually just adjust the window size manually.
I don't ever touch any of the buttons on the top left of a window.
I use keyboard shortcuts to close and minimize windows, but I never touch zoom.
I switched from Windows, and the whole thing was confusing. I'm sure I could make use of the zoom feature if I looked into it a little more, but I've grown to live without it. I just resize a window if I need to.
I love the zoom button. I have this feeling it is like what apple is saying about typing on the iPhone: you just have to trust it. In general, it resizes the Window to fit a combination of the content and your screen size. As you said other times it has modes. I think they should keep the zoom button, but they need to tweek it. I don't understand why textedit goes fullscreen when hitting zoom. I find it windowslike and infuriating, and can only imagine what might happen if I had a 30" cinema display.
Next topic: when does the red button close and when does it hide?
@ jack: i wish you could configure that yourself... some applications i don't need to stay open all the time, so quiting by click on the red X would be useful, like in preview... right now i think only iPhoto and calculator do it...
back to the topic, i only use it to make iTunes into a mini player... i normally resize windows manually...
I love the green button and I wish it were consistent. In iTunes it should grow enough to show you all your columns or in the store the whole page you are looking at. I find the mini-controller behavior confusing. On the few occassions I have used it, I minimized it first (makes more sense to me). Calculator should have some Finder-type buttons to switch between views. I never use it myself, but cycling through views is not so slick.
I always though the Windows maximize button was a lazy zoom. "We could determine how large the window contents are and expand to show that, but it's easier to just expand to the whole damned screen." I like having the window as large as necessary and no larger.
@Jack, I have never seen the red button do anything but close a window. I sure hope you've never actually seen it hide something. How would you know? Besides you can't--to my knowledge--hide a window, only an application.
A Mac user for about 20 years, I almost never use any of the buttons in the top left.
I always close w/ command-W; I hide by double-clicking the title bar or command-H.
On the very few occasions when I want a window to take up my whole screen, I have tried the zoom button, but as you note, it doesn't always do what I want.
What's more, I hate the colours of those buttons, so I've made them all graphite in the Appearance System Preferences.
I am glad someone brought up the green button. I have, numerous times, tried to figure it out.
At first I thought it would make sense if, for example, I am in safari and click it it could make the window a size that I set it too...but it doesnt save the size you drag it too once you leave safari.
I like what it does in iTunes as far as change to the mini player.
But it should be more consistent. Its annoying.
I love the "only makes windows as big as they need to be" feature, a la Safari, and in fact, wish iTunes worked that same way. I dont use the mini player, so thats not a big deal to me.
I use the green button all the time.
If it doesn't completely change the state of the program (like itunes) then all it does is simply expand the window so as much information can be seen at once.
I use the green button on a fairly consistent basis. Most of the time it works very consistently. It expands horizontally and vertically to contain as much screen info as possible. This is very valuable in a browser. If it needs 1300 horizontal pixels, it uses them. If it only needs 900, it uses 900.
I wish I could figure out how it decides what size to make a new window in Safari...