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

[Nadyne Mielke <nmielke acm org>]

At 08:15 AM 4/5/2004, Andrei Yurkevich wrote:

> I think that saving application state only makes sense if the application
> has
> been terminated (but not closed by user). For example, when the browser has
> been showing some page and you logoff without shutting down the browser.

I'm not certain if I agree with this statement.  I often logoff without 
bothering to shut down all of my applications.  I think that I'd be annoyed 
if I logged in again, opened my browser, and found that it had opened four 
tabs to the various sites that I'd previously been using.  I'd be doubly 
annoyed if they were sites that required me to login, such as my 
bank.  Either they'd log themselves in again (which would raise security 
concerns), or I'd be at a timeout page (which essentially means that the 
state wasn't saved).

> Otherwise, if you close the application manually there is no point to
> restore application state unless you ask the application to (selecting some
> menu item?)

I'm not certain if that's true, either.  For example, when I'm on my 
Windows box, I use a program called NoteTab as a replacement for 
Notepad.  One of the reasons that I like NoteTab is that it saves some 
state information.  If I close the application when I have some files open, 
it automatically opens those files again when I open NoteTab.  I often use 
this functionality for files that I edit frequently.  I also use it if I'm 
in the middle of editing several files and need to reboot.


Reading over this, I realise that this is inconsistent behaviour on my 
part.  I don't expect my web browser to save state (and even think that it 
would be annoying in some instances), whereas I do expect NoteTab to save 
state.  But having the web browser save state in certain instances (say, 
doing some research and getting interrupted in the middle of it) would be 
useful.  Is my expectation simply based on what would be easiest for me, or 
the current functionality of the applications in question?  I certainly got 
used to NoteTab saving its state quite quickly, and developed habits that 
exploit its behaviour.  So wouldn't I get used to my web browser doing the 
same just as quickly, and develop similar habits?  Hmmmm.  That's an 
interesting question that I can't answer immediately.

/nm