# Why would someone design a website to do this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-design-a-website-to-do-this/317733>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 19, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-design-a-website-to-do-this/317733 "2005-08-19T13:04:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-design-a-website-to-do-this/317733/21 "2005-08-20T01:28:43Z")

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> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> * * *
> 
> Disable Similes in this Post

I guess that was one of the times when you should have disabled smilies instead of similes eh? 🙂

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**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-design-a-website-to-do-this/317733/22 "2005-08-20T15:57:24Z")

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> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> ::opens a FileMaker database, then closes the database document. FileMaker is still running::  
> :::opens Excel and opens a worksheet, then closes it. Excel remains running::  
> ::right-clicks a JPEG and has it open in Paint Shop Pro. Closes document. PSP keeps running::

Yeah, but you’re only closing _documents_, not _windows_. In order to keep those programs running, you cannot close the last window. That’s not just a nit-picky distinction; that’s a fundamental difference in the entire way things work between Windows and Mac OS. There’s no way for a Windows program to give you a user interface without the use of a window of some type. The Mac can present a user interface without a window, because the menu bar is always there once the application is activated.

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-design-a-website-to-do-this/317733/23 "2005-08-20T21:50:37Z")

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?? Those documents are windows, aren’t they ??

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**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-design-a-website-to-do-this/317733/24 "2005-08-21T04:24:35Z")

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The examples you cited were of MDI applications. The other posters are talking strictly about SDI applications, since Mac OS does not use MDI. The difference being observed is whether, in an SDI application, closing the last window will cause the process to exit. On Windows, the application has to exit; if it didn’t, there would be no way to return to it. On Mac OS, the application can exit if it wants to, but most often it will not. Now if the application’s window cannot be duplicated – e.g., a mail program, as opposed to a web browser – then it will sometimes exit, and sometimes not; programmers are frustratingly inconsistent about this.

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