Whewww. I didn't realise this would generate so many comments. Here's what they
all have cause me to think:
The observation that the "church secretary" type is familiar with a web-browser
is correct, but I would think that they would also be familiar with WP and/or
Word on a Windows platform.
The Web browsers almost all do exit when the last window is closed.
The Windows WPs all behave as I would like, close the last document and you
have a "clean slate" to enter or open a new document. OTOH I really hate the
way the programs handle multiple documents where one is hidden under another
and you really can't easily tell what you have open. Makes it almost impossible
to cut and paste between docs for example.
I really don't like the way WP for Unix handles things either, the little
window is just one more thing for me to have to close when I am through.
Unix users are probably more likely to be running with more screen real estate
and have multiple docs side-by-side, making the current behaviour probably more
acceptable to Unix users.
I guess what I don't like is finishing up a document, closing it and then having
to restart the program, extra keystrokes you know. I guess I could leave it open
and just open a new window for the next document but I would have to close it
eventually.
The WP/Unix approach also requires the extra action, it just delays it until
the end of the session. The "close all windows and exit" choice with AbiWord
gets around this.
After thinking about it more I have decided that in fact, no matter what method
is invoked, in the end it seems to result in the same number of key/mouse
operations sooner or later.
So maybe we should leave well enough alone?
--- Brian E.W. Wood beww@intac.com