Mail is beautiful with the window closed. The icon updates when a new message comes in and the dock icon contextual menu allows me to send a message without opening the main window.
I agree with what most people have been saying. Personally, I grew up with system 7-OS 9, so I'm very used to closing windows or windowshading them to get them out of the way temporarily. I also am used to clicking the close box to get rid of control panels, which is why having to quit the system prefs seems strange to me even though having to quit other apps is normal.
The main thing I hate about some apps is when they are a multi-window app that quits when you close a window. QuickTime allows you to not have a movie open but still have the application on, why can't RealPlayer or Windows Media Player do that? They have to have a movie open to work. So opening a new movie and getting rid of the one that's already open is a longer process - you have to open the new movie first, and then close the old one, otherwise the application quits and restarts when you open the second movie.
I can understand why a single-window application would quit upon closing, but it's annoying. If there was some consistency, it would be better. Windowshade would also be nice - quitting upon close wouldn't be as annoying then, because you could just quickly windowshade something to hide it, instead of having to minimize it in the dock. I remember after getting LimeWire in OS 9 how confused I was because all the menus were in a big window instead of the menubar, and there was no "quit" command (you had to click the close box).
Comments
Simplify.
The main thing I hate about some apps is when they are a multi-window app that quits when you close a window. QuickTime allows you to not have a movie open but still have the application on, why can't RealPlayer or Windows Media Player do that? They have to have a movie open to work. So opening a new movie and getting rid of the one that's already open is a longer process - you have to open the new movie first, and then close the old one, otherwise the application quits and restarts when you open the second movie.
I can understand why a single-window application would quit upon closing, but it's annoying. If there was some consistency, it would be better. Windowshade would also be nice - quitting upon close wouldn't be as annoying then, because you could just quickly windowshade something to hide it, instead of having to minimize it in the dock. I remember after getting LimeWire in OS 9 how confused I was because all the menus were in a big window instead of the menubar, and there was no "quit" command (you had to click the close box).
All single window apps should behave the same
All multiple doc apps should behave the same.