The red, yellow and green buttons

red=close window
yellow=minimize window
green=maximize window

it's system wide.

for tabbed browsing, hit the little x in the tab to close the tab.

The green button is more like "enlarge to fit contents".

I rarely use any of those buttons. If I just don't want to see the application's window on the screen, I'll just hide the application by hitting command-H. If I want to quit the application, I hit command-Q. If I want to bring another window or application to the front, I use Expose (F9, F10 and F11) or alt-tab to switch apps.

Also, there is a bit of difference depending on whether an application can have more than one window open. If an application can have several windows then clicking the red button closes that window, clicking on the still running application in the Dock opens a new window. If the application can only have one window (as is the case with System Preferences) then clicking the close button also quits the application. The close button never "hides" the application, it always closes the window and, for applications that can only have one window, it also quits the application. For all other applications it closes that window, "quitting" whatever you were doing in that window. If you have two Safari windows open and click the red button, that window closes, but the other window will remain and Safari will still be the frontmost application. To hide an application, without closing the window you are working in, you can right click or click and hold on the application's Dock icon and select Hide from the popup list, or hold the option key and click in another application.
Francine


Francine
Schwieder

Hi

The red button closes the window. If you want to minimize a window use Cmd + m and if you want to hide an application use Cmd + H. If, however, you just wish to have another app foremost use Exposé by pressing Cmd + tab

See here:

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/1/

and here:

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/1/


Matthew Whiting