Using the MacOS Close, Min, Max/Restore Buttons vs retaining the MC versions of those buttons.
Microsoft introduced the ability to use the Max/Restore/Resize Button to Resize and Position a Window back in 2021 when Windows !! was released and MC for Windows has not been amended to make use of those Resize & Move Options.
I seriously doubt if such a Feature/Option will be introduced into any of the multitude of variants of the Linux Operating System. Over the past few years a lot of work has been put in to making MC for the Mac more like MC for the Win so why are we even considering making MC for the Mac very different to MC for both the Win and Linux Platforms.
Let's look at some of the problems those MacOS buttons cause in MC.
The MacOS buttons will only ever do what Apple want them to do, but the MC versions of those buttons could be classed as Intelligent because they do what JRiver have programmed them to do.
The Red Close Button-
The MacOS one will Close MC regardless of what view it is in when the user presses it.
The MC version will:-
Close MC when it is in Standard View
Reopen the Previous View when MC is in Display View or Cover View.
In Mini-View it serves 2 purposes based on how the Tools > Options > General > Behaviour > Mini View close mode Option is set; if it's set to "Close Program" that is what it will do but if it's set to "Return to Standard View" that is what it will do regardless of which view MC was in prior to switching to Mini-View.
In Cover and Display View the Close Button on the Drop-Down PlayerBar Window. it returns MC to the Previous View
The Green Maximise/Restore.
With the MC Version
In Display View the Green Button on the DropDown Player Bar window is the one that is used to Dock/Lock or UnDock/Unlock the PlayerBar Window into Display View.
Mini View doesn't have a maximise button because the only size change the user can make to that PlayerBar is to make it Wider or Narrower
But the Dumb MacOS Resize button doesn't know there isn't a Maximised/Fullscreen Variant of that PlayerBar and the attached image reveals what happens if you use that button.
Oh that's what happens if a TrackInfo Plugin is not being used, if one is being used the Display Panel will be shown alongside the previous, play/pause, stop and next buttons.
With the MacOS buttons the Cover View and Display View Drop Down Playerbar don't have any Close, Minimise or Maximise/Restore Button on them. Yes I do know that the Drop Down PlayerBar never put is an appearance in MC for the Mac but hopefully Bob will be able to work out why it doesn't.
Over 95% of the Available Standard View Skins were created before MC for the Mac was introduced or were only written with use on the Windows Platform in mind, you'd be surprised by the number of MC users/skin creators who forget MC is a Multi-Platform Software Package.
That means that because the Windows Close, Min, Max/Restore Buttons are at the right hand end of the TopBar for those skins the Menus and Shortcut Icons on the Top Toolbar will be placed starting from it's left hand-edge. But that's where the Mac Close, Min, Max/Restore Buttons are placed either by the OS or by Skins that are "Multi-Platform". Yes I know that Apple Hijacks the MC menus and moves them onto the Apple Menu/Header bar, but that still leaves the problem of the Apple OS Buttons sitting on top of the first 2 or 3 shortcut icons and there is nothing the individual MC user can do to rectify that problem.
With the MacOS Buttons we end up with an MC that has reduced functionality and probably every MC for Mac user who can't use Sequoia will be in here complaining, very loudly, about changes made to accommodate an OS Feature that will never be available to them, there may well be some of the Sequoia users complaining as well.
Most of the Available Standard View Skins have an instruction similar to this <Data MinimumWidth="800" MinimumHeight="600"/> in the main.xml file used to build that skin, it prevents the skin being resized to a size lower than those specified by the stated MinimumWidth and Height Values. Even though we have always been allowed to resize MC if and when we do we have to allow for the simple fact that we are going to increase the amount of time we are going to have to spend using the scrollbars to navigate to what it is we want to see/check/change.
Something Apple are keeping very quite about but according to some reports/rumours they are redesigning the MagicMouse and the software it uses to solve some of the problems Mac owners are experiencing/reporting when the new options available via the Green Maximise/Resize Button can result in enough open windows on a single screen to cause the MagicMouse to Malfunction.
But revelations about Sequoia causing weird problems don't surprise me anymore since anyone using it on a PC with an M4 chip is using a different variant to anyone using it on a PC fitted with an M1, M2 or M3 Chip.
There is something about the Apple PC's fitted with an M4 chip that you won't find in any previous Apple PC's and it involves the SSD. Unlike previous Mac PC's which only have 1 System Disc the PC's fitted with an M4 Chip the system disc is actually spread across 2 M2 type discs on the same card. It's something Apple do not mention in their promo/sales literature but was discovered after somebody took a M4 Mac Mini apart and published their findings. The strongest rumours floating around tend to suggest that the twin system disc approach was Apple's quickest/easiest way of concealing the fact that the M4 chip with a Single System Disc revealed just how inefficient the OS and a lot of Apple APs are.
