[Rd] OSX R GUI visual interface tweak (PR#11318)

Simon Urbanek
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:42:26 -0000

On Apr 28, 2008, at 5:10 AM, nelson.ana at gmail.com wrote:

> Full_Name: Ana Nelson
> Version: R 2.7.0 GUI 1.24 (5102)
> OS: OSX 10.5.2
> Submission from: (NULL) (213.94.201.89)
>
>
> The R GUI close button has a solid circle. Screenshot is here:
> http://skitch.com/ananelson/kmxj/r-console
>
> On OSX this indicates that there are unsaved changes pending. Please
> see page
> 201 of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines (version 2008-03-11):
>
>
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/OSXHIGuidelines.pdf
>
> However, I never save my workspace on exiting R, therefore I don't
> really have
> unsaved changes, so the "X" close button would be more
appropriate.
>

The workspace has nothing to do with it. The window you are referring
to is the console window and its contents (text) has changed (namely R
output was added), hence the unsaved status. However, to avoid
(unexpected) loss of data, we don't reset the status on console text
save, either.

The R console semantics doesn't readily correspond to Apple's document
model. There are in fact at least two documents here - the console and
the workspace. There's isn't much we can do about that.

BTW: We are not creating those buttons, Apple's frameworks are, so we
have no control over their appearance.


> I know this might seem like a very fussy request, but I actually
> find it very distracting to think I have unsaved changes in a
> document, and every time I glance and see the solid circle I have to
> stop and think and remind myself that I don't. Apple has me so well
> trained! (sigh) I think it's because when I see a dot instead of an
> X, I anticipate that I will be faced with a "save as" dialog box,
> which will interrupt my workflow and I will have to think about
> where to save the file, what to call it etc.

>
> Anyway, I would vote to get rid of the dot, perhaps just for those
> users who have the "No" option selected for "save workspace
on exit
> from R".
>

See above, that's not our call.

Cheers,
Simon