Thoughts on quitting and window controls

[Evan]

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Jonathan Blackhall
<johnny.one.eye at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > 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.

For the record, the keyboard shortcuts are much less ambiguous and
much more consistent...
Ctrl-Q: Quit the application
Alt-Space-C: Close the window

Since I use my keyboard for almost everything I have never run into
the problem you describe in any serious way. It does sound like a
usability issue though.

Just my 2 cents,
Evan