untidy of mac os

eurotrotter

im thinking of buying a macbook
but i dont lik ethe idea of the untidy window presentation
for example, when u maximize somwthing on XP for example, it genuinely fill up the full screen, there is not an option to this in mac os x but instead u gotta manually stretch it to size yourself
is there any way around this?
such as a plug in or a system preference that needs to be changed
thanks in advance
ed

Sad Professor

Seems like a very silly reason for maybe not getting a mac. In any case the green zoom/+ button serves basically the same function as the maximize button in windows. And with Exposé (and soon Spaces) untidy windows won't be a problem.

eurotrotter

Sad Professor wrote:

Seems like a very silly reason for maybe not getting a mac. In any case the green zoom/+ button serves basically the same function as the maximize button in windows. And with Exposé (and soon Spaces) untidy windows won't be a problem.

exposé wont help at all
i am gonna get an apple, no matter what,
the green maximize button isnt as effective as the maximize button on windows
is there something i can get that could resolve my little issue
thanks
ed

Sad Professor

I'm pretty sure there isn't. The idea is that a multitasking OS shouldn't need to dedicate the whole screen to just one app so the green zoom expands "to fit" and no more. It's the way the system is designed. Just something you'll have to get used to I think.

Urban Weigl

On the Mac, the maximise button was designed to make maximum efficient use of your screen real estate.

On Windows, it simply uses up your entire screen.

It's philosophically a different approach. I've used both, and didn't have any trouble getting used to how it's on the Mac. It just took me a few days, and now I hate it when an application grabs all the screen real estate for itself like is typical in the Windows environment.

Also you can still drag a Window so it uses up the entire screen if you so wish, but I think you'll find that after using the Mac for a couple of weeks, you won't want to go back!

Ham'nd'egger

Of course, if your window on a Mac was filled entirely, you would lose your dock space, which is 00's of times more handy to have than to scroll down to Start, then cascade up, then select the programme you want or having to go to your window bottom as you do on Windows.....

One wonders what they will do when Vista "introduces" their "dock"

unklerosco

It takes a while to get used to alrite... Been a windows man for years n been using an imac for the past month. Been messing around doing up some websites, its handy the way i can open firefox n iweb n they only open to the space i need them to be.. It does make sense...

Onlything that gets on my nerves is i cant figure out how to fullscreen quicktime(i think u need pro??) or to fullscreen photos...

K.O.Kiki

For QT movies, either convert to MP4 w/iSquint & play in VLC or use NicePlayer (I think there's a few other programmes too).
Fullscreen photos in Preview is CMD+Shift+F, which starts Slideshow.

Back OT: not having maximised windows is something that initially feels alien, but after a short while, it's fine. In fact, I prefer it to the degree that I can't stand the super-maximise of XP.

eirlink

My understanding is same as Urban Weigl,in that the "zoom" button on OS X is supposed to make the window as big as is needed to show all the content. The idea is that there is no point to making it bigger than that, however if you really want to blow it out fully you can download this small free prog and use it...

http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/21275

....one caveat, only works with cocoa apps.

BostonB

Urban Weigl wrote:

On the Mac, the maximise button was designed to make maximum efficient use of your screen real estate.

On Windows, it simply uses up your entire screen....

I don't get that point at all. If you are launching new applications all the time it makes sense to keep the launcher on screen all the time. But do you really launch new applications all the time? Personally I probably have the same 6 or 8 apps/windows open at once and switch between them constantly. Usually I'm using more than one screen aswell.

When you are in an application I'd have though you want to see as much of it as possible? Especially if its a IDE or a creative application.

No one does that scroll through programs on a windows box for real do they? LOL. No matter what system you use, you eventually tweak it to suit yourself, with addons etc. Or at least most people do. I like to have docks/taskbar across every screen I'm using, not just the main one, and then of course millions of icons on the desktop, which are always just a short cut key away.

K.O.Kiki

Quicklaunchers, like Quicksilver or Overflow might be handier than a million icons on the desktop.
Plus, IIRC, OS X doesn't like it when you fill up the desktop with stuff.

preilly79

unklerosco wrote:

It takes a while to get used to alrite... Been a windows man for years n been using an imac for the past month. Been messing around doing up some websites, its handy the way i can open firefox n iweb n they only open to the space i need them to be.. It does make sense...

Onlything that gets on my nerves is i cant figure out how to fullscreen quicktime(i think u need pro??) or to fullscreen photos...

apple would like you to think that you need quicktime pro, but i have a short applescript at home that will fullscreen the window for you. i dont have it to hand, so when i'm home tonight i'll post it for you.

mikemac

In the same situation as the OP.
Got a macbook on Saturday and still getting used to it. Was trying to read an ebook last night and couldn't figure out how to maximise it.

Now I know why. This forum is a mine of information.
Loving the new macbook by the way but I reckon it'll take another while to get used to it.

Redhairedguy

micmclo wrote:

Loving the new macbook by the way but I reckon it'll take another while to get used to it.

Another victory for the cause!

Bunnyhopper

I think this is likely to become even less of an issue as Apple moves towards full-screen applications (see here for some blither on that one).

The green + button will make the window as big as it needs to be. Why would you want it to be bigger then it needs to be?

Fanboy

The only thing i missed when i switched was alt and tab. I then discovered exposé! OS X is a step ahead of the game....

K.O.Kiki

Fanboy wrote:

The only thing i missed when i switched was alt and tab. I then discovered exposé! OS X is a step ahead of the game....

Umm... Apple has TWO keyboard solutions:

1. CMD + Tab = switch between running applications
2. CMD + `(same button as ~) = switch between open windows in an application

I can't figure out if there's a "pull window back from Dock after CMD+M"-shortcut though...