Re: [Usability] GNOME UI principle: All applications should save internal state?

[John F Dixon Iv <John Dixon ndsu nodak edu>]

I think this is would be useful and is a great idea, but allow me to 
extend it. I believe that users should have the option of saving the 
state, but shouldn't be required to save it. Currently applications are 
either on or off. My idea in a nutshell is to introduce a third state: 
sleeping. A sleeping application would essentially be an "off" 
application which has a saved state associated with it. When an 
application is put to sleep it quits the application and saves the state 
information. I think this is a good idea for several reasons. It is a 
very simple idea, and i think it is intuitive as well. Users are already 
familiar with this concept at an OS level. It doesn't interfere with 
user's expectations about what quiting an application should do. Emblems 
could be used to designate with applications are "sleeping" and which 
applications are not. This would also serve as an indicator of which 
applications have saved states so the user knows before they start the 
app what is going to happen.

John

PS: sorry if my lines don't wrap.