Click on "X" to Quit

RRoger

Lads

the only thing that annoys me on my mac is the infamous Close vs. Quit story

Now, I know there is an app that allows you to change the behavior of the red "X" button so it quits the app (a'la MS Windows) rather than minimising it to the Dock
I came across it while searching the web, and it was one of those Mac tweaking tools with an "i" in front of it but I can't seem to find it again and I think I went through 20 google pages with links to mac forums...I think I actually had in installed but the trial has expired and I must have gotten rid of it by accident

Anyone?

Sad Professor

The "x" button doesn't minimise the app, the "-" button does. The "x" just closes that particular window. If it's a multi-window app (as most are) it will continue to run in the background.

You are better off just getting used to the Mac way.

Hold Command and press tab to bring up the applications switcher, this will show you all open apps. With this up you can also press command-q to quit. Once you get used to it, this a very quick way of switching between apps and quitting them.

Or just right-click on the Dock.

RRoger

I know the difference and all shortcuts (many thanks though), I wrote minimise to dock to simplify

Well if I'm buying new shoes I don't expect my feet to adjust to my shoes, but shoes to my feet

There is a lot of positives about the mac-way but not being a fanboy no OS is perfect and I can see its flaws as well
I've already tweaked my mac so ie. the maximise button actually maximises the window (an app called Perfect Zoom), the Hibernate actually hibernates and so on - little things I actually like in windows (while dislike everything else)

(Btw. a lot of these things are built into OS X, they're just disabled for basic users and can be unlocked via command in a terminal)

I use touchpad gestures a lot and I liked the way I could click on X to Quit (if I want to keep using the program later I just click minimise), I just can't recall the name of the program; it was similar to Mac Pilot (iTweak, iHack or something like that...can't feckin believe I can't google it back on!)

Creamy Goodness

tbh why buy a mac, if you ain't really comfortable about how it works?

case of square pegs and round holes.

aidan_walsh

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

tbh why buy a mac, if you ain't really comfortable about how it works?

case of square pegs and round holes.

Or at the very least, willing to adapt.

RRoger

how you're supposed to know how comfortable it is if you havent used it yet? You only find out AFTER you buy, and then it takes weeks to make your own opinion

btw. I didn't say mac is uncomfortable, I like it much better than windows and the UI is really simple and intuitive....but it has its flaws

All I want is to polish the scratch on the diamond (ha..), not to engage in a flame war

appreciate all the comments tho, if I ever come across that app again (im sure I will) I'll post it here

conor.hogan.2

I think pressing a red x button to close a window is much more logical than pressing a start button to shut down a windows pc.

Jev/N

Just hit Apple + Q as said above or right click on the icon on the dock and choose quit - it actually makes more sense to do it the way Macs do as many programs like Word, Excel, Photoshop operate better that way

Idleater

Jev/N wrote: »

Just hit Apple + Q as said above or right click on the icon on the dock and choose quit - it actually makes more sense to do it the way Macs do as many programs like Word, Excel, Photoshop operate better that way

And if I'm not mistaken, on Windows, the close X button on the (eg excel work sheet) window does only close that window and not the application.

I think I have closed all of the worksheets only to wonder why excel is still running.

Have to agree with the X closes the window instead of the whole application. Much more intuitive in the multiple window environments that are commonplace nowadays.

Sad Professor

Yeah, clicking on x to quit makes a certain amount sense with single window apps. And indeed many Mac apps already operate this way. iPhoto, System Preferences, etc. However, with document based apps like Word it is very silly for the app to auto-quit after the last window is closed. I used to find this very annoying in Windows. Although since Windows doesn't have a consistent menu bar I guess it doesn't have much choice but to work this way.

Out of curiosity, OP, do you make use of Expose and Spaces? And the "hide" application feature?

RRoger

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah, clicking on x to quit makes a certain amount sense with single window apps. And indeed many Mac apps already operate this way. iPhoto, System Preferences, etc. However, with document based apps like Word it is very silly for the app to auto-quit after the last window is closed. I used to find this very annoying in Windows. Although since Windows doesn't have a consistent menu bar I guess it doesn't have much choice but to work this way.

Out of curiosity, OP, do you make use of Expose and Spaces? And the "hide" application feature?

I use expose (great feature), don't have a need to use spaces as yet although I can see the possibilities (especially with an add-on allowing to set different wallpapers in each desktop so it's easy to distinguish which one's which)

I disagree with the ms word/excel comparison - they do have an additional set of minimise/close buttons inside of the active window so you can close an active spreadsheet/word doc without closing the word

perhaps an additional fourth "Q" icon next to an "X" would suit everyones needs but sure you can't have everything

as we're side-tracking a bit (dont need another topic bashing me over my preferences) please post only if have an answer to the original question - thanks

I bought an iMac just there 3/4 weeks ago having never used Apple computers before in my life.

I bought an iPhone after swaring to myself I'd never get one and be a sheep like everyone else. And I had a friend who kept showing me ridiculous apps which made me hate the iPhone even more. Then my girlfriend got one, and I started using it casually to check the sports results etc etc and that's when I had to get rid of my samsung jet and buy an iPhone.

By far the best phone on the market in my opinion in terms of user simplicity and how everything just works...

And I was so impressed with the iPhone, I decided to sell my windows laptop and get myself an iMac 27 having never used the apple OS before. And it's just so easy to use, literally nothing complicated about it at all.

To be perfectly honest, I've been overwhelmingly impressed with Snow Leopard and Apple in general and the overall quality is just simply superior.

To anyone adapting from a windows computer, just watch the video tutorials on the apple site to learn the basics and enjoy it because there is no reason why anybody wouldn't like apple computers in my opinion.

Sad Professor

I think all Macs should come with a Windows detox guide as standard.

Anyway, Stoplight claims to do what you want, RRoger. It's very old, however, and probably doesn't work with 10.6. So caution is advised.

RRoger

Sad Professor wrote: »

Anyway, Stoplight claims to do what you want, RRoger. It's very old, however, and probably doesn't work with 10.6. So caution is advised.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
thanks a lot SP! That's exactly what it was, I must have had a blonde moment...

let me quote by http://lifehacker.com/202621/download-of-the-day-stoplight-mac

Stoplight was the winner of the iAnnoyance challenge, a contest designed to fix little annoyances someone may have with OS X.

glad it wasn't "just me" and the larger part of the Mac-hack community thought the same

I'm on 10.6 and it works on most of the apps I use

cheers again

Sad Professor

No prob.

faceman

I had this frustration when I first switched to OSX years ago but once i got in the habit of hitting CMD and Q to quit a program i was happy again. Overtime i appreciated the relevence of the X button not quitting the program.

MACHEAD

This thread reminds of an old army saying, when recruits were told 'There's only two ways of doing things in this life, the wrong way, and the army way, we're gonna teach you the army way'. Well we can paraphrase that into 'The wrong way, and the Apple way'.

Breezer

MACHEAD wrote: »

This thread reminds of an old army saying, when recruits were told 'There's only two ways of doing things in this life, the wrong way, and the army way, we're gonna teach you the army way'. Well we can paraphrase that into 'The wrong way, and the Apple way'.

Or we could have 'The Apple way, and the way some people like doing things.'

Even though I like the default behaviour in this case, I'm glad Mac OS X is still customisable through third party apps and utilities like this. I sincerely hope Apple never decides to shut off this kind of thing the way it has with the iPhone. I'd be jumping ship.