I have observed that some GNOME MDI applications have both Quit and Close (e.g. gedit), and others have only Close (e.g. epiphany, gthumb). I've not been able to find in the HIG a stance on when an application should have one or the other or both. I think that where it makes sense, all applications should have Quit, and all MDI applications should have both Close and Quit. (An example of where Quit doesn't make sense is, of course, Nautilus.) I imagine this issue has been discussed before, but because of the inconsistencies in GNOME apps and the lack of statement in the HIG, I'm gathering an actual decision hasn't been made yet. (Or if it is, I need help finding it.) The HIG defines how Quit and Close should behave, but near as I can tell, not when an app should provide both or only one. One might further argue that all apps should have both Quit and Close, where in all cases Quit means "close all windows for this application" and Close means "close this window for this application," and that SDI app is just considered an MDI app with only one window open. This has the benefit of the user not having to think about what kind of app he's using when picking either Close or Quit (or hitting ctrl-w or ctrl-q) and having consistent behaviour at all times, but on the other hand Close is entirely redundant in that case. Smarter people on this list will be able to quickly determine of that's a ludicrously stupid suggestion. :) Cheers, Jason.
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part