In Mac Classic each folder you opened created a new window which remembered all of its settings for size, position on screen, scroll position, icon size/layout, etc. This window is an explicit and exclusive representation of that particular folder and attempting to open the same folder again does not create a new window, it simply shifts the focus to the already-open window. The change in Mac OS X towards a browser for navigating the filesystem hierarchy caused an active debate over spatial[0] vs. navigation (or browser)[1] file managers.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_file_manager

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_manager#Navigational_file...

The short answer is: stuff stayed where you put it. Every icon, every window, opened up exactly where you left it last time you saw it.

So you had the option of remembering "Excel is the icon below the Special menu" and you could be confident that the Excel icon would always be located below the Special menu, exactly where you put it.

One of the reasons I switched from OS X to Windows is that Apple threw that brilliant design in the garbage. Shame.