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iAnnoyance Challenge: Red means Stop, Green means Go

Swad

By Swad

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Earlier this week we announced the iAnnoyance Challenge, a series of challenges in which we give you the weekend to code up a fix to something annoying in OS X. Oh yeah, there's cash involved too. While we initially said we'd give $100 to the winner (plus all donations sent in by others), we decided that, to kick things off, we wanted something special. That means that before donations, the prize money stands at an awesome...

$500

And now, introducing the world's first iAnnoyance challenge... (drumroll)

 

Red means Stop, Green means Go

How many times have you thought the red "Close" button was going to quit your application when it was actually still running? Ever looked at your dock to find all of your applications still open? How many times have you clicked the green "zoom" button in anxious anticipation, having no idea whether the window would get a little bigger or go full screen? Ever shaken a fist at a developer who didn't read the Human Interface Guidelines? It's happened to us all. But no longer.

 

We're looking for an app we're calling Red means Stop, Green means Go that will allow any Mac user to...

 

- Make the red x always quit an app

- Make the red x always hide an app (as in, close all windows but keep the app open)

- Make the green Zoom button always go full screen.

- Change these setting on a per application basis, so that the features can be disabled or enabled for specific apps. There should also be a universal setting.

- Use one or all features

 

There are several obvious benefits that this app presents. First, it'll mean one UI action where there are currently thousands, making the OS easier for children and seniors to understand. Secondly, it will save RAM, processor usage, battery life by closing unused apps in one click. Finally, if you're a stickler for Apple's HIG rules, you can tweak to your heart's delight.

 

You have until Sunday night (Midnight CST, 6 am GMT) to email me (mashugly [at] gmail.com), PM me, or IM me your solution. It should be in good enough shape to release at that point, but if it's still in a beta stage (as in, still has a few bugs) that's fine too. Since we'll be open sourcing this app, the cleaner the code, the better.

 

Best of luck!

 

Rules:

1. All applications must be universal.

2. All applications must have a cool name (we'll stick with ours, unless you have a cooler one).

3. Every application must be easy and fun to use.

4. If a solution is not found within the 3 day challenge, the prize money drops to $300 for the week after the challenge and $400 for the weeks after that. Just a little extra incentive to beat everyone to a solution. Donated funds will stay the same. (Props to DiegoMax for ideas on the prizes)

 

Donation List (Click here to donate) :

None so far. :)

 

To share this contest with the world (which will result in a better pool of applicants), digg it!

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Muriac

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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Swad
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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ropers

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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A Nonny Moose
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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Muriac

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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Swad

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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seanskti
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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