Just using examples, if you close the iTunes window, iTunes.app remains running until you explicitly quit. Yet if you open iPhoto and close the iPhoto window, iPhoto.app terminates as well.
Is there some sort of guideline for this sort of thing? Which should my applications do?
system preferences also terminates with closing the window... but both sys prefs and iphoto don't have an option to "open new prefs window" or "start new iPhoto window", so it makes sense that they terminate on window close... although maybe it would have been smarter for apple to just remove the close option from the window controls... AND itunes is like iphoto and sys prefs, so i think apple was being sloppy... did i just contradict myself?
it is probably written in the HIG that you should not terminate the app when closing the main window, but if that's the case, than clearly apple isn't following their own guidelines...
i would suggest that if your app isn't a document based app, or an app without the ability to open multiple windows to remove the close window option from the window controls simply because mac users are use to having to quit apps and not close apps...