How to use the window buttons at the top right of every window
Above are the ever constant Window Buttons. Most of us think we know what they do and blindly click away at them, never knowing what trouble we're going to get into as a result. Let me set the record straight for you, then. There are a few things you need to know about them that you probably didn't know, that will make your Mac experience much better.
Here's what they are and what they do.
The Green Button: this button OPTIMIZES the window size. If you're used to a Windows PC, this does not do what you're expecting. What Apple has designed into this button, is the ability to read what the window designer wanted to set the size to and use that setting. This will NOT, repeat NOT, make the window full-screen. On the Mac, since we usually have many screens open at the same time, we rarely overlap them so much we can't seen underneath. This will make the window exactly the right size for the content and that's it.
The Yellow Button: this MINIMIZES the window and puts it into the Dock at the bottom of the screen. Pretty much what it does in Windows (if you're used to that). The only way to get the window back on the screen is to go the Right side of the Dock and click on the icon for the window you reduced.
The Red Button: This does NOT, again I repeat, DOES NOT QUIT applications. I'd say that again, but I hate being redundant. In Windows, the red button has a big X in it and it does quit applications. And for good reason. On a Windows PC, you can have many versions of, say MS Word running to show multiple versions of papers. On the Macintosh, we don't do that. You can have as many Word documents open as you like (actually I think the number is something like 254, but who would do that?) but it's all running out of the same single version of MS Word. So, when you hit the red button in Windows, you're actually saving a LOT of memory and processor time. On the Mac, you're only closing a window, the application continues to run.
You should get into the habit of quitting applications from the Application Menu at the top of the computer screen. Hitting the red button to 'unclutter' your window or to close an application will only server to close the window and not quit the applications, leaving them running in the Dock (you'll see lots of white dots under all of the running applications). If you're goal is to unclutter your screen, use the key combination of ⌘ + H to HIDE the application. This simply puts the application into a stealth mode and by clicking on the applications icon in the Dock, you can bring it back again, instantly. This is a HUGE time save, especially for something like a web browser like Safari or Firefox, because if you hit the red button to get rid of a window and then realize you need a new window, the browser will have to regenerate all of the data on that page all over again. And if you're on a slow connection or the page just takes a while to load, that's dead time you're just sitting there looking at the screen. Add that up over the course of the day and you're sitting, looking at a blank screen for an hour or more a day.
So just remember to NOT hit the red button unless you're in the Finder or you have excess windows within an application. To quit an application you need to go the Application Menu or use ⌘ + Q. That's all.
Any comments, please let me know.