How do I save the appearance of windows on the desktop?

I take it, then, that it is not possible in any OSX to save the size, position and style of a Finder window so that every time you open a particular folder it opens the same way?

As an example, I open a folder, set it up the way I want, then tell OSX to save the settings. Then I change the look of the folder and close it (without saving the settings). When I reopen that folder next week, it remembers the original look, not the altered look.

Another possibility: when I minimize a window it disappears into the Dock and stays there until I shut down. Is it possible to tell OSX to keep that minimised window in the Dock until I remove it?

After spending a bit of time looking into this, I have found a part solution (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3739).

To save a folder so that it opens again as it was set up:

1. Set up the Folder (call it XYZ) as you want it: position, size, style (List, Icon…)
2. Drag XYZ to the Dock.
3. Control-Click XYZ in the Dock and set up the options. I chose Display as > Folder.
4. When you want to open XYZ, Control-Click on it in the Dock and select the bottom option: Open…

XYZ will open looking exactly the same as you set it up, but with three provisos:

1. If you navigate to a new volume or folder within XYZ's window using the back and forward keys, and then open XYZ from the Dock, it will be displaced a small amount because another window is now occupying its proper position.
2. Style changes are not saved unless you drag the newly-styled XYZ to the Dock, thereby overwriting the existing XYZ.
3. Position changes are saved. Move/resize XYZ, and the Dock remembers the new position/size.

Control-Click is the trick, but position/size are not locked in. If you don't move/resize the folder, no problem.