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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    KUA: Close & Quit
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2004-08-25 19:21:47
Message-ID: 412CE6CB.6090808 () acm ! org
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Quit:

I agree that document/file windows should not have an option which will 
terminate the whole application.  However, with an interface like The GIMP or 
WordPerfect for X, the main window is not a document/file window and it should 
have an option to close the whole application.  With The GIMP, document/file 
windows have a Quit option that will terminate the application and your are 
correct that this is a serious mistake -- this option should not be on the 
"File" menu.

OTOH, with KDE applications where the document/file windows are peer windows 
with no main window.  I expect that the option to close the window will not be 
called "Close" rather than "Quit".  Perhaps it should say: "Close Window" but I 
have found "Quit" to be confusing.

Close:

The action of "Close" is a bit more complicated than what is stated.

If an application has a main window, then I think that the "File" menu should 
not have "Quit" but rather only "Close" and it should close the window since new 
document/file windows are opened from the main window.

OTOH, some applications have only peer document/file windows and I expect that 
the "Close" option will close the window the same as it would in an application 
with a main window.  This obviously has a problem that if you close the last 
window that you have closed the application and you shouldn't be able to do that 
just by choosing: "Close".

The solution to this for peer window type applications is not a simple question.

My suggestion is that the: "File" menu should contain both: "Quit" & "Close" but 
that only one of them should be active at a time (the other grayed out and 
inactive).  If multiple windows are open, then the: "Close" option should be the 
only one available and it should close the window.  If only one window is open, 
then the: "Quit" option should be the only one available and it should close the 
window resulting in the application being terminated.

Another possibility is to just have the: "Close" option and when you use it when 
you only have one window open that you get one of those damned dialog boxes 
asking you if your really want to quit.

Perhaps the use of: "Close" could be improved if it said: "Close Window" | 
"Close Document" depending on which it actually meant.

--
JRT
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