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iAnnoyance Challenge: Red means Stop, Green means Go


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Wow $500, that will go great towards that real mac I have been wanting...I think I am gonna give a shot at learning the whole coding thing (although I doubt I can learn it and do the coding in a single weekend) but it will still be a good thing to learn. Earlier today I started downloading the xCode developer tools and while i've been waiting i created a pretty cool looking icon (goes along well with the "Red means Stop, Green means Go" theme)

 

post-42993-1157227956.png

 

Edit: Nevermind on this current project, coding seems incredibly hard so far and I would like to have a lot more time to learn all it well before I dip into something big like this.......in the meantime I will just keep playing around in photoshop

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Shouldn't the "red means stop" behaviour be restricted to single window apps? What if I just want to close the equalizer in iTunes? Or one of many documents in Word?

 

And don't most single-window apps behave properly anyway? I thought the big complaint people had was that they wanted System Preferences not to quit just because its window was closed.

 

Finally, programs that have no windows open shouldn't be consuming processor cycles anyway. If they are, then that's the bug.

 

I guess my problem with this is that Mac OS X is designed to run quickly with many apps open, and it's often faster to leave a program running without any windows if you need to use it every now and then (instead of loading it every time you want it).

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Shouldn't the "red means stop" behaviour be restricted to single window apps? What if I just want to close the equalizer in iTunes? Or one of many documents in Word?

 

Muriac - It'd be great if that was an option. I'd strongly encourage any entries to have this feature, since it would make things a lot easier.

 

And don't most single-window apps behave properly anyway? I thought the big complaint people had was that they wanted System Preferences not to quit just because its window was closed.

 

Most do, but not all. This app will give consistency to those that want it.

 

[i agree with the rest of your post.] :)

 

Here are some other questions I just answered for someone via email, so here are those answers:

 

1. Exactly what behavior are you looking for with "Make the red x

always hide an app (as in, close all windows but keep the app open)"?

If there are multiple windows open, it should close all of them but

leave the app open?

 

A. Great question. What I mean is that when you close the last window

of an app (like, say, System Preferences), the app will stay open even if it's

normally set to close with the closing of the last window.

 

2. For full-screening, are you looking for a true full-screen no-

edges kind of thing, or should it just take up all available non-

Dock, non-menu bar space?

 

A. It should take up all non-dock space. Just like maximizing in

Windows, basically.

 

3. What kind of behavior are you looking for in multi-window apps? In

a document-based app, it makes sense for closing the last document to

quit the app. In a regular app, I'm thinking that closing the last

key window quits the app. Is this in line with your expectations?

 

A. Yes.

 

4. How is a winner determined? Is it just the first app submitted

that meets the qualifications, or does judging take place between all

apps submitted before the Sunday night deadline?

 

A. The first working application submitted will win. Someone might

submit one that doesn't work fully, and if that happens, the contest

is still open. If it's good enough to be a beta, then the contest

closes.

 

5. How will prizes be delivered, and when will a winner be declared?

 

A. Prizes will be delivered via check or paypal, unless special

circumstances require something different. The winner will be declared

immediately after I am emailed/PMed/IMed the app!

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What I REALLY want is to have four buttons:

 

(x) (-) (%) (+)

 

The red X is for closing the window or application (and yes, there should be (systemwide/application specific) preferences for this, as per this challenge.

 

The yellow - is for minimizing.

 

The green % is for toggling the window to "optimal size", ie. pretty much current behaviour, not however that the character for the green button is the % not the + sign.

 

The blue + is for maximizing the window to full screen.

 

Rationale:

- I want consistency from my computer.

- I expect my computer to multitask, but I don't want my computer to expect ME to multitask. Going fullscreen on a single application's window is a great way of shutting out all these other also-rans and all this clutter that's really distracting me from the task at hand. Additional stuff should be a single shortcut away, but a cluttered desktop with many sheets of paper on top of each other is bad enough in real life. I don't need my computer to emulate that (unless when and where I really want that).

- Close, minimize, optimize, maximize. 'Nuff said.

 

Oh, and shortcuts like e.g.:

Command plus F1 for (x),

Command plus F2 for (-),

Command plus F3 for (%) and

Command plus F4 for (+) wouldn't hurt either.

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Shouldn't the "red means stop" behaviour be restricted to single window apps? What if I just want to close the equalizer in iTunes? Or one of many documents in Word?

 

And don't most single-window apps behave properly anyway? I thought the big complaint people had was that they wanted System Preferences not to quit just because its window was closed.

 

Finally, programs that have no windows open shouldn't be consuming processor cycles anyway. If they are, then that's the bug.

 

I guess my problem with this is that Mac OS X is designed to run quickly with many apps open, and it's often faster to leave a program running without any windows if you need to use it every now and then (instead of loading it every time you want it).

 

That's why I recommended using the APE framework. It can be worked that way the same way that Unifier works (on a per application basis) and can have an exclude list.

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I think the fact that all these stipulations need so much clarification points to the solution being less intuitive than the supposed problem.

 

Single-window apps should quit when you close the window, because if you don't need that window, you're obviously done with the program's functionality. Multi-window apps can't make that decision for you. There simply isn't any way for the software engineer, let alone the app, to tell whether the user is done or not. Why should I have to open a new document before closing the old one if I want to avoid restarting the app?

 

Besides, anyone reading this thread knows which of their apps behave in which way, and 95% of them do it intuitively. I'm sure we're all capable of remembering the 5% which don't, and it's not that big an issue if we forget every now and then. The only people who would benefit from a rigid imposition of new standards (those learning the OS) would not A) be helped by an APE program that had all sorts of settings, or B) be reading this thread.

 

Sorry to sound like a jerk, but whatever inconsistencies OS X has, I don't think the solution is to make it more like Windows.

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Muriac-

 

It's alright, you don't sound like a jerk. And I'll agree that the problem is not an overwhelming one.

 

But I think that if someone wants to be able to make safari go full screen instead of just "Zoomed" they should be able to.

 

We'll agree to disagree. :worried_anim:

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Nope, I mean the Red X should just close all the windows but not quit the program. I'll edit it above to make it more clear.

 

Option-clicking the red button does this already, just as option-clicking the yellow button minimizes all windows in the application. As for the green button, its purpose is to size the window so that all of its contents are visible. This may mean the application goes fullscreen or it may not.

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