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In the common case a window is decorated with buttons to minimise, maximise and close. It is the maximise function that this post relates to.

Screens vary in size and aspect a lot since the original maximise function was conceived of. It is no longer up to the task. At least as often I find myself wanting to maximise vertically or set to a specific width (eg to match web content). Firefox has a plugin for example that lets you select a "standard size" from a short list (640x480, 800x600, 1024x800 etc) and its actaully quite useful. In the context of a word processor the standard sizes would be defined differently... say the size required to show the text width at 100% magnification; show two pages side-by-side. For a text editor or console the column width defines the size etc.

Ok I know that I can middle or right click on the maximise button (hey I used to use fvwm), but these days I use a trackpad with only 2 buttons and its just too awkward Plus it has no way of dialing up "standard" sizes.

My suggestion is that the maximise button be associated with a pull-down that provides access to all maximise options as well as a list of standard window sizes which are determined by the application context.

Perhaps mouse wheel scrolling on the maximize button could resize the window to a bigger/smaller size.

Hmmm... except that the decoration is likely to move as the window changes size and then you would need to do pointer warping... which is an ugly thing

Also the set of sizes is typically discrete and scrolling/wheeling is best suited to continuous adjustments IMO.

the maximize/restore button supports horizontal, vertical and full maximization. Anything else is resizing.

Maximizing is a state and the normal size is remembered. It\'s for toggling between the maximized state and the normal size.

I don\'t think adding something like a dropdown menu to allow changing the size is a good solution. Free hand resizing is probably faster and more accurate