For some apps, I see this on right-click:
The checkmark: the top window.
The diamond: the minimized window/s.
The circles: what do they mean? Do they have a general meaning across different apps?
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3 Answers
Those are buffers which have unsaved changes. I don't use BBEdit, but that is how SublimeText and Word do it. It's probably an attribute which OSX reads and uses automatically. Another signal for this state is a white dot inside the red close dot of the window.
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1It's a document that has not been saved to disk. It's "buffered" in memory. Sorry, I used old unix terminology. Commented Dec 7, 2017 at 23:26
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But in the screenshot, that's a search window, not a document. What then is the user to make of the circle? What does the circle in that screenshot mean?– PacerierCommented Dec 9, 2017 at 10:47
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For some reason Script Editor doesn't use circles in dockmenu, even as the windows are unsaved and have a black dot in the red button.– PacerierCommented Dec 15, 2017 at 22:24
In apps such as Terminal, the circle indicates that the application has a window in which a process is running. The window in focus will always have a checkmark, so you will only see the dot when the process is running in a window which is not in focus.
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By "inactive windows", I mean those windows which are not in focus. Commented Dec 8, 2017 at 6:16
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Btw, is this of the same "general meaning" as the circle shown by BBEdit? Or is Terminal using the circle in a specialized way?– PacerierCommented Dec 14, 2017 at 11:13
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@Pacerier Good question. I am only guessing here, but I assume that the circle is essentially meant to be a warning saying, "The window with a circle needs attention before closing this application." This would make sense both for unsaved changes in an app like BBEdit and for some unfinished process running in the Terminal. Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 17:37
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Is this something that the OS do by itself without the programmer concerning himself with it, or is this "opt in" by the app programmer?– PacerierCommented Dec 15, 2017 at 22:24
It's a guideline of mac software design provided by apple. https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/menus/menu-anatomy/
Checkmark In the Window menu, the active document; in other menus, an attribute that applies to the entire selection. Dash An attribute that applies to only part of the selection. Bullet A window with unsaved changes (typically, when Auto Save is not available). Diamond In the Window menu, a document that is currently minimized in the Dock.
