Thoughts on quitting and window controls

Jonathan Blackhall johnny.one.eye at gmail.com
Wed Apr 7 13:22:11 UTC 2010


> > Why must this be different in Rhythmbox?
>
> Think about Rhythmbox as some kind of service running in the
> background. The window is just a user interface for that service that
> you can close if you don't need it, without stopping the service.

Ok, I'll give you that it technically means 'close' the window.  My
issue still stands, however. On most applications, closing a single
window is synonymous with quitting the application.  My frustration
comes when this doesn't happen.  Closing my last Firefox window
doesn't leave it running in the notification area as a service.  I
understand in theory why keeping Rhythmbox open and running as a
service is useful.  In practice, however, I should be able to fully
quit any application (at least when there's only a single open window)
by clicking a single button.  None of this "File->Quit" business.
(Being able to quit an application with a single button even with
multiple windows open is an interesting idea.)  Again, it's
frustrating when a button behaves one way for some applications and
not others.  And it's frustrating not being able to quit an
application with a single button click.

The current behavior can cause a number of problems.  As other users
pointed out (and I have also experienced), sometimes you want to quit
an application, such as Empathy or Gwibber, only later to find
yourself still logged in, online, and maybe receiving messages.
Another issue is with Rhythmbox.  This is especially true for newer
users. Let's say I just click the 'X' to quit, just like I do with
Firefox or Calculator.  I don't notice that the icon is still present
in the Notification Area.  It's not doing any particular harm there
right now.  However, then I shut down my computer and come back the
next day.  I open Rhythmbox, and it starts minimized to the
Notification Area.  I'm sitting there waiting patiently for it to
open, but it never does.  Now you could argue that this is a bug in
Rhythmbox (and it has been reported), but my point is that it
highlights an underlying problem of an application not quitting when
the user wants it to.

Just for reference, I have a problem with this bug almost daily, and I
can't seem to teach myself to remember File->Quit to close certain
applications but not others.




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