One of my favorite changes that came in 5.2 (I think) was the ability to name a style (at the time they were called GeoMedia Style Definitions or .gsd) files with the same name as a feature class. Then, as long as the style was in a set folder (identified in Tools > Options), when the feature class was loaded into the legend, it would default to the style definition. I used this ALL THE TIME.
Then, when Intergraph introduced 6.0, the .gsd was eliminated because styles are now saved either in a geoworkspace or a library. With the elimination of the .gsd also came the elimination of the feature classes loading with predetermined styles. Well…I’m happy to report that Intergraph has re-introduced the this functionality in 6.1! So, if you have a style named "Airport" that is in your geoworkspace styles, when you load the feature class named "Airport", it will default to the "Airport" style. Very cool!
Now, a few notes on the functionality.
1) If I understand the specifications correctly (haven’t tried it myself), this functionality only works with styles that are in the geoworkspace. As a result, make sure to have your styles either in a geoworkspace template or make sure to move the styles from your library BEFORE loading feature class. It would be nice if the feature class would look in a library as well, but reading the specifications, it doesn’t appear that this happens.
2) When using Oracle, you need to ensure that the style is named CONNECTION.FEATURE CLASS NAME. In other words, if your data are in an Oracle schema named "GISDATA", your feature class, when first loaded in the legend, will be named GISDATA.MY_FEATURE_CLASS_NAME. You need to make sure the style has the "GISDATA." prefix in the name of the style. I’ve filed this as a change request as this was also a problem with the .gsd files. It’s not a showstopper, but it would be nice if that restriction were removed.