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Most new Mac switchers fired complaints on the strange behavior of green 'maximize' button that fails to maximize window to full screen. If you're one of them, it's time to rest assured and check out this nifty little freeware: Right Zoom.
"This free tool fixes an inconvenient behavior of green Zoom button in Mac OS X. It will always expand windows on a full screen instead of strange resizing", explained its developer, Blazing Tools Software.
The installation of this application is pretty straightforward: only unzipping and double-clicking are needed. However, as this application is running on background, you need to stop it by executing Terminal command: killall RightZoom
Categories:
Tips and Tricks
Tags:
Finder,
Mac
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In one word: terrific!!! This is what I always needed for (against) that Finder behaviour!! Thanks a lot ;-)
Thanks for sharing!
"...strange resizing" Where???
Love it. thanks for sharing!
Morons... the green button has a functionality. This is not f* Windows NT. It doesn't mean full screen. It means zoom. Developers are supposed to make sure it resizes the window to fit its contents. Just because developers suck, doesn't mean you should.
Agree with Joel. Take Safari for an example: If you click the zoom button, the window will zoom to fit the size of the web page.
A zoom button is valid, but so is a maximize button. I have my MacBook connected to a 19" CRT, and I tend to maximize apps that live on the smaller screen. Occasionally I will slide a window over, and maybe use the zoom button. Now when I want to slide the window back to the smaller screen, it's nice to be able to click a button that automatically makes the application full-screen. iTunes fails at this, so I'm giving this app a shot.
Hmm... I agree with wihel1812. If that doesn't do your purpose, I suggest you to hold Control and two fingers scrolling you know, the thing you do when you zoom in closer. That should be really enough for simple things such as reading small texts and etc.
Why are mac users so angry? You want more marketshare, but don't want people to feel more comfy switching over? To be honest, I was thinking of returning my mac JUST for this reason. Having a billion windows open (like I always do) gets ridiculously confusing unless you have a full screen open in the foreground. I use this app in combination with WITCH...which is way better than alt-tab on a PC. There ARE some features on Windows that are actually useful... *gasp*
well... the thing is, that on a Mac everything is different. The workflow is totally different, and with all that drag&drop (which works in to and from nearly ANY window with nearly ANYTHING) it actually makes sense to not use fullscreen-windows. On small laptop-monitors, I agree that sometimes fullscreen is nice, but when you start working on 22" or bigger monitor, fullscreen just sucks once you got the hang of how a mac manages it windows (i.e. Expose, Spaces and so on). I once agreed with all you guys that want fullscreen, and especially for iTunes I still do, but for other things, the standard-behaviour is way superior to full-screen-stuff... but it needs you to lay aside what you know about "windows" and working with a computer and re-learn it. but believe me: IT IS WORTH IT!
Thanks for the heads up on that! Finally a fix.
@ Joel: I think everyone has allready noticed that os x automatically resizes to fit a screan's content... BUT in a Finder window with over 20 files/maps or something like that, the window resizes to a format where scrolling is needed to get a sight on ALL the files. I think in such cases this app is really handy AND that in this cases too, os x's developers s*ck a bit. BUT you should never use words like 'moron' if you don't even know what people really mean... And since when is 'zooming' the same as 'resizing' eh???
@Joel - Cool down please... yes I see times where the "fit" resize could be useful but in many cases I'll need the fullscreen. I never understood why Apple didn't add this extra functionality with a alt+(zoom button)... should be a easy task.
Too true! It isn't called the "maximise" button. Plus, how the hell do you plan to switch between modes on Calculator then? P.S. I hope this post doesn't get deleted because I think this site is for windows users who are suing a Mac and need to be taught the simplest and stupidest of things. Last time I said anything it was deleted. Psht. I do like the wallpapers, though. It's the only reason I come back.
The wallpapers sure are great. Fullscreen very rarely makes sense in non-power user mac apps, and the Apple HIG specify to suit apps to the 80% non-power-users. Fullscreen is great for watching a DVD or playing a game etc., but in that case a complete display capture is usually suitable. The key (that is the correct term) window has a deeper shadow (from Leopard onward) and different colouring. It is always pretty clear which window is key, and the menu bar is key-app-contextual in every mac app, so you would rarely go wrong. Spaces is great if you have too many windows, Exposé likewise. Like most stupid GUI elements, a maximise button would not be hard to implement for Apple; that's still not much of a reason to do it. Sure they *could* do a start menu if they wanted to. The annoying thing about mods like these is that they ruin the integrity of the GUI. The green zoom pebble has a designated function, and the consistency across different computers would be very poor if a lot of people applied mods such as these. Sure, windows users don't want to relearn how to do things; but things get much more complicated for these un-inquiring beings if all personal computers behave differently. If 15% of all macs were to hide windows instead of minimising them when the yellow pebble is clicked, or if windows apps started resizing to fit the context when you hit fullscreen, you wouldn't know how to use *any* system. Mod makers: add functionality, f.ex. a fourth pebble, instead of screwing with the one in place.
I too was frustrated with this "maximize" button when I first switched to Mac. A couple days of using a Mac I realized it's not a MAXIMIZE button, but rather a button (as Joel said) to make the window contents fit perfectly, which in a way is better than maximize once you get used to managing windows on a Mac vs managing them on Windows. For web browsing I like full screen, so I just resize the window, and it sticks to that size next time I open the browser.... not really that difficult.....
I bought this stupid 20'' imac yesterday and I am about to go mad as I cannot see the full page in the web browser. I just can't understand it. What am I supposed to do with the fx nonsense white columns on both sides of the actual page when I go to so-called full screen?How the hell can you call this fullscreen? I cant believe this, I just cant believe this...
Well, the problem is that zoom doesn't work consistently. Even in OS X supplied applications. If Safari zoomed to fit the page consistently I wouldn't have a problem, but it doesn't, thus I want more control. go to http://www.nikonusa.com/Assets/Digital-SLR/25438-Nikon-D60/PDF/25438_D60_brochure.pdf and then hit the zoom. My Safari window actually got smaller, doing exactly the opposite of what I wanted. This kind of erratic behavior is what drives people to look for mods.
Consistency is the main point here. So you say zoom should adjust the window so it *fits*... Another example of what drives people nuts is Apple's own inconsistency. Click on Zoom in iTunes. It minimizes to a mini player. What if I'm in the iTunes store and I want to see more within one window? The only option I have is to manually resize the window. IMHO Apple should have used a short-cut key combination to minimize to the mini player instead of overloading the zoom button. It's confusing.
If you want fullscreen view on any app on your Mac just so you don't get confused about what window you're working in, why don't you give Isolator a try? It should do the trick for you. (See the 30 menubar applications section on this site.) ——————— @ Yu Guli: if you don't like the white bars on the left and right side of a webpage layout when you resize the window to a broader size than the original web content, but want to zoom in on a page just to make it fullscreen... Well, let's just say the developer of that website centered the contents with user-friendliness in mind. It is done because in full-screen mode without zooming in, the page content would otherwise sit at the left side of your screen with a broad white bar at the right. Most of the time that bar would be wider than half the screen. So at Apple they probably thought it more stylish to resize the browser window to the page content. I think they have a point there.
@ Sajjad K: I'm sorry you do not seem to be more understanding of people who are learning something new for the first time. I guess you will never try anything new out of fear you will have to (quote) learn the simplest and stupidest of things (unquote)? I am a new Mac owner myself , switched from PC only a few weeks ago. Personally, I really like to learn something new, even if it means learning simple, stupid things all over again. For instance, on my iMac I missed the 'Home' and 'End' buttons very much, and it was a site very much like this one that led me to the Command+Left/Right Arrow key combination. Simple? Stupid? Perhaps. But perhaps this site is for experienced Mac users and newbies alike. Can't we all just relax and learn from each other without looking down on anyone else? Makes things a lot simpler, but certainly not stupid IMHO. ;)
@joel, @Sajjad K, This is the primary reason I left Mac the first time, I've just recently bought a mac for the second time(I'm a developer), and I have to say the arrogance of the vocal users is not something I miss. Is it really that hard to believe that someone might actually WANT to expand their screen all the way, their reasons for wanting it might be completely different than yours. And that leads me to the fundamental reason of why I had my initial issues with OS X in the first place, the OS constantly dictates to you, how you should think and work. To do things any other way is EXTREMELY difficult. I've used alot of windowing systems(Linux based, Windows, etc.) and I've never felt as locked down as I have on OS X, and even given all that I've still had a decent opinion of it(its still one of the best development platforms available), but the fanatics, oh man...you guys are doing the community a disservice. I'll leave with this quote, I know Apple doesn't believe in it, but I do: having an OS that conforms to your wants and needs rather than dictating them to you is the true mark of a superior OS
First off, thanks for the link. Very happy with this little app so far. ModuLIZER got it right. Apple should add this function to ALT and we would shut up. We would get both zoom and maximize. Also, zoom does not always work right even in Apple's own Finder, when the folder content would fit on a full screen, but you have to scroll in a "maximized" window or resize it manually.
Loving it. Simple as that. I use a 30" screen and even then it's the one application Mac should provide standard with new releases. Yes I'm a switcher but sometimes not everything Wintendo has to offer is evil.
Loving it. Simple as that. I use a 30" screen and even then it's the one application Mac should provide standard with new releases. Yes I'm a switcher but sometimes not everything Wintendo has to offer is evil.
I'm satisfied with the default zoom button, although I'm aware that for some people used to MS Windows a "maximize" button can be missed. Remember that Mac OS allows a heavy use of drag and drop, and a maximized windows is definitely an obstacle to this practice.
That's cool...thanks for sharing :)
wow!! finally!! thanks man!
This has been pissing me off for years, making windows feel a lot better when it comes to window switching etc... but this is awesome
This is what i've always been looking for since i got a mac. THANK YOU
Search for wrongzoom, see the forks for a working 64-bit SL version with the swizzle code converted over to the objc 2.0 abi. Been out for years and solves all problems.
Have to agree with Marlon. The experienced Mac users can be so annoying. If Mac becomes as popular as Windows, what will they do?? Maximizing a window should be a one click solution. Why not have the Zoom button AND a maximize button *gasp*, way too much freedom for a user. An OS shouldnt dictate, the user should. The only reason Macs are more stable is because they lost the race early on and Windows got overexposed to malicious coders. If Mac had won the race early on, Windows would be more stable.
I don't know why you are calling it "strange resizing" all what the green button does is expand your window according to its content, if there was enough content in a window to cover the whole screen then the green button WILL make the window in the size of your screen. I find it a very reasonable strategy on Apple's side.
I always keep some of my applications at full-screen. It's not about isolation, it's about screen real-estate. My problem isn't how the green button works (you can option-click or cmd-click and that usually works anyway) but what I hate is that there is no way to lock the window in place. When I am remote-logging in and my clicks are lagging, or sometimes just after a careless click on the title bar, the window will jump out place and I either need to move it back, or hit the green button twice. I'd like to be able to lock certain apps in place. These days I use Quicksilver and Cmd-Tab to move around windows, and I want them to stay where I put them.
problem fixed! wonderful
Joel said: "Morons... the green button has a functionality. This is not f* Windows NT. It doesn't mean full screen. It means zoom. Developers are supposed to make sure it resizes the window to fit its contents. Just because developers suck, doesn't mean you should." Just because developers suck, the absence of a genuine maximizing button is a flaw of Apple OS.
I also am frustrated by the behavior of application windows in Mac OS X. The green pebble doesn't maximize the window to full screen but, as others have pointed out, zooms in to display (sometimes) the entire contents of the window. I googled information on this topic which led me to this excellent website. Yay Google! I just discovered that holding down the shift key when clicking the green pebble mimics the functionality of the M$ Windows maximize/restore button. I am using Mac OS X 10.5.8 with no add-ons currently installed. This is a great website! Very informative and helpful!!
Honestly, you should have 4 buttons. I agree with both sides of the argument here. The Zoom button works great for dragging and dropping, however when I'm viewing the web I'm not dragging and dropping so I want a maximized screen. I'm a hard core Windows User and Linux user. Mac's OS is a clear rip of the Linux OS, but it misses certain things. As Marlon said, it locks you in, tries to make you confirm. Maybe some people like to be told HOW to operate, so they don't have to think or figure anything. Hand it to them and they're happy, so they follow. I prefer to lead, I don't want to be told HOW I should use my computer, I'm a developer and I'll use it as I see fit. I'll leave with my own personal quote. Each OS has it's place and it's uses. A good developer and user will understand those places and uses and choose the right tool for the job.
Go to any Apple store and look at the handheld device used by reps to ring sales. It is not an iPhone, it is a Windows based device. So when it comes to critical functionality even Apple uses Windows. For fun, I recommend Disney World.
Kevin L is correct that there should be 4 BUTTONS. A computer should make life easier and developers should accomodate this by allowing for user choice. A user might prefer a window to go "PC full screen" one minute and prefer it to go "Mac full screen" the next. The USER shold have the choice and it should be easilly accessible and not require a trick or download. The Shift/Green Pebble on a Mac is too concealed. Having used both Mac and PC's, it's obvious that the PC developers "listen" better to it's market, but, deliver a mish mash of products that "bump into each other" and sometimes cause problems, but, they are more flexible. Mac on the other hand develops great products, but, sort of control how far a user can take things. Apple tends to take the approach of "telling" its customers what they need. This limits problems, but, is also a bit arrogant and frustrating to users. Apple intentionally does not "listen" to customers wishes because it wants control. Hence, the maximize button on a Mac sies to the windows content and doesn't annex the entire screen because Mac thinks you will want to see other screens. That's true sometimes and not others.
Where do I start? ... The Mac OS is the best on the planet, but there are some features in Windows and Linux that I wish OS X would incorporate. Maximize is one of them. I like to focus on just one application at a time unless I am performing a task that requires me to see windows of multiple applications simultaneously. If I want a window to be taller I resize it from the bottom right corner. If I want it to take up the entire screen I use the green Zoom button. When I hit the Zoom button hoping for the window to fill the screen and it doesn't, I get a bit annoyed. Because then I have to drag the window to the top left corner of the screen and then grab the bottom right corner and stretch it to fill the screen. I am obsessive compulsive, so when aligning the window I have to make sure the window is pixel-perfect. (Linux windows snap to the edge of the screen so no manual alignment is necessary) The basic problem with having a button that responds differently on an app-by-app basis is that the user will often hit it expecting one result and then get frustrated when it doesn't behave as anticipated. Eventually the user may come to memorize which applications expand to full-screen and which only expand vertically, and frustration will slowly subside, but never fully disappear because there is that extra step required of asking oneself "is this a fully expanding app or just a vertically expanding one?" But there is hope! Developers can begin including a preference in their apps for the way resizing is handled. They can add a preference to enable snapping to the edge of the screen as well. Or maybe this fantastic piece of software that Blazing Tools has granted us will catch on and eventually grow to address all of the shortcomings of our favorite (but imperfect) operating system. ;-) I can wish, can't I? I hope that one day OS X will include these options natively as well as universal keyboard shortcuts for moving, maximizing, and scaling windows. This would eliminate the need to waste time moving the cursor to a specific area of the screen to accomplish these common tasks. And one last gripe (then I'm done, I promise!): what's with that annoying 3-pixel high gap at the bottom of most applications that remains even after you maximize them?! (People who keep their dock hidden will know what I'm talking about) OK, it's all off my chest. Thanks for reading. And thank you to the developers of this freeware!
Thank you for this freeware! Am a new Mac user, and that green pebble was indeed frustrating me because it wasn't doing what I had expected it to do (that is, to maximise my window). Now...if only there was a delete button somewhere...(and I don't mean the backspace key).
Just found this site and haven't even looked at any other threads yet but I love it. Turned on my mac book pro today to surf the web, hit the green button, an the screen got smaller. rrrrrrrrr. Been a Max user for about 6 months now, have owned an operated many pcs over the years including network at my business. while there are many great functions with mac os, it is OVERRATED. This thread is a perfect example. Number 1 - I have always operated several programs at a time and usually have all maximized to full screen at all times. In windows, this works great, and you can click on them in the tray at bottom to see them, or hit alt tab. works great. I'll probably down load this handy little ap. 2 - File management in mac is silly - examples are trying to organize my hard drive, find things on hard drive or use finder in general. Maybe I'm just not getting it, but when I run finder and I'm very specific a million things come up. it's such a pain 3 - mac users are snobs - just read this thread and you'll see all you need to know. I have one mac user at work and he's just like the mean people in this thread - sort of like a liberal elitist in many ways - he knows whats good for me, and so does apple. "its better, and that's just they way it is" he'll say. Well, can you take a minute to show me? "Just figure it out, it couldn't be any easier on a max?" Gee thank you. Maybe mac people are so cranky because their market share is so low. Any mac seems to refuse to build in another mouse button just because they invented a one button mouse 25 years ago. So you have to go buy after market mice with cool functions. And don't even get me going on file management with Itunes, what a friggin joke.
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