Making an application's menubar minimize/close with the application

There's a little quirky behavior that's bugged me a little bit ever since I started using Snow Leopard last summer.

Whenever I minimize or close an application using either the yellow/red buttons on the application or simply hitting CMD+M / CMD+W, the menubar for that application persists, necessitating a click on whatever application behind it before that app is actually "active".

For instance, if I were to hit CMD+W on Firefox right now, iTunes would be staring me in the face, but the menubar would still be for Firefox -- and I'd have to click on iTunes before being able to play something.

Is there any config setting or some way to make the menubar minimize/close with the application I'm minimizing or closing?

TIA.

 

thats how its supposed to work

those commands are for minimizing or closing a window, not the whole application. You can hide a whole application with CMD+H, and it switches to a different app

 

Exi,
Closing a document, does not close the application.
Minimizing a document, doesn't minimize the app, either.

You are presuming that OS X is supposed to mirror the behaviors of MS Windows....It doesn't.

 

That does it. Thank you.

I know it doesn't close the application per se -- just in the sense that that's the command named in the menu option. And I'm not presuming that SL should mirror Vista/7; just checking into whether a similar functionality exists here.

 

Well maybe it should. I mean, OSX has a few things over Windows but that is just counter intuitive.

When I minimize a document, it's because something else has caught my attention; as a result, I don't want to deal with that document or the application that runs it at that very moment.

 

I think the computer should be able to read your mind, bypassing all this nonsense altogether.

 

I use cmd+H all the time, the other option if you want to actually close a program, is cmd+q but I'm surr you know that by now.

Like others have said, thats how osx works.

 

That's just your preference. Maybe I'm dealing with multiple documents within an app and I just want to minimize one of them but continue working on the other documents. I wouldn't want OS X to switch to another app just because I minimized a document window.

 

In Windows you switch between documents of the same application via Ctrl+Tab ... Minimizing a window means minimizing a window, as such said window should act accordingly and not do a half assed job at it.

While it is my preference, there's no arguing that it is the more intuitive way. I'm not here to start an OSX vs Windows debate ... But this is just one thing that's as clear as day.

 

And that exactly what OSX does. It minimizes the window.

 

no, it does not. You are missing the point akin_t is making.

 

The minimising (just like the maximising) of windows in OS X is different from Windows and does take some getting used to. That said, most OS X users prefer to use Cmd+H (Hide) over minimising, which does change the menu bar accordingly.

Also, you can switch between windows from the same app using Cmd+`.

 

Uh, your statement about it being the more "intuitive" way can be argued. It's all a matter of perspective. And its largely based on preference as previously mentioned.

And in case you didn't notice, OS X DOES minimize the window, it just doesn't change the application. This due to the way OS X handles applications. In Windows each application exists within the window, so when you minimize the window, it "minimizes" the application.

For you, the "Windows" method is better, but that is not necessarily the case for others. So your statement about it being "clear as day" doesn't fly here.

 

Well yeah you are right, it all comes down to preference in the end. Not sure if mine is an acquired preference due to being brought up on Windows platforms but I just cannot think of any advantages the way OSX handles minimizing has over Windows.

I mean, it's not like closing an application where I prefer what OSX does, closes the document but leaves the application running so it doesn't have to start up again when you open a new document. That makes a lot of sense to me, the minimizing thing just confuses me, I still can't think of the design reasons for it.

 

You have to understand something, the Mac OS X system is document based and Windows is application based. On Windows the entire application and the document are self contained, henceforth when you minimize a window it will make the window behind "active", this is because you've minimized the actual application and not just the document window. This is also the reason why the application quits when you close the last window in MS Windows.

On Mac OS X the application runs in the background, just the way you mentioned how it works when quitting an application. The document you see on screen is just that, a document. The application is still running in the background. Minimizing a window will just minimize the document and not the application. This is why the menubar still shows the application running because it's still active.

When you use the Hide command, you're saying, "I'm putting you in the closet for now, I don't want to see you", at this point the Mac OS X understands that you're not using this application or it's documents at this time (but you're not quitting) so it defaults to the next available application and makes it active.

Now, in Mac OS X, if the application can serve no purpose after closing the last window then it will also quit the application in the background. Example, System Preferences, iPhoto, Aperture, Calculator and Photo Booth.

 

I never minimize in OS X, I just alt tab, sure my screen gets very cluttered but I've been managing just fine. Also I just tried cmd+H after reading the posts on this thread and I think I will start using it as it is exactly what I (and I am pretty sure you) want. I don't want minimized windows in my dock.

 

in 10.6 you can set minimize to go to the application Icon, instead of to the right of the dock. Then you click and hold the app icon in the dock and can use expose to see the minimized windows and get them back. Its kind of strange... but works pretty cool when you get used to it. There just isn't an option to minimize an application, only a window of an app.... but Hide works for most people.

 

Ah interesting, I'll be sure to look into it when I get some more time. Thanks.