Show an Indicator If the User’s Work Is Unsaved

If possible, your app should be “autosaving” the user’s work, but there are, of course, cases where this needs to be a user-initiated action (for example, in an application where saving could be destructive—like writing a really long document or editing a photo).

A great way of showing the user that their work is unsaved is by displaying a visual indicator in the title bar of the app. This could be a bullet or could even explicitly say “not saved,” if space allows.

At a glance, the user can tell if they need to quickly hit Cmd + S (or Ctrl + S) to save where they’re at or if they’re just experimenting, they will know that they haven’t saved.

A big part of this is about respecting the time and effort that the user has put into using your product: entering data, preparing a profile or bio, and so on. They deserve to be shown the state that their...