The problem is unexpected order of user input resulting in "unsavable" data.
Input fields MUST be finished with an ENTER keypress or the data validation is 
apparently incomplete.
Sadly, the colored red to green background validation misleads the users into 
thinking the entry for each of the three fields, Address, Netmask, and Gateway 
is complete.

Problem could be mitigated by adding to hover help text.
Problem could be solved with data validation when click the "Add" button 
alongside "Addresses".
Or creating a flag for each of the three fields, all of which must be set to 
valid, for the Add to add a new address. A popup or some other indication, say 
blinking or turning all invalid fields red, could then direct the user to fix 
the bad field data.

Reproduce by:
Editing a connection
Select the "IPv4 Settings" tab.
Change the Method pull down to "Manual".
Delete any existing addresses.
Click Add
Type 192.168.1.49 (entry will turn from red to green)
press TAB (not Enter)
Type 255.255.255.0 (entry will turn from red to green)
press TAB (not Enter)
Type 192.168.1.1 (entry will turn green)
Press Add
Save will be greyed out but entry will appear as a row within addresses.

Also reproducible by clicking into each field rather than pressing TAB.

Workaround. Press ENTER after EACH entry rather then pressing TAB or
clicking to the next entry.

Easy mitigation: Change hover text from:
IP addresses identify your computer on the network. Click the "Add" button to 
add an IP address.

to

IP addresses identify your computer on the network. Click the "Add" button to 
add an IP address.
Then enter Address, Netmask, and Gateway, pressing the Enter key after EACH 
entry.

This is perhaps icky, but might save others sanity :-)

Note: when you TAB from 199.168.1.49 to "Netmask" the number "24" appears 
automatically in the field.
Perhaps this is an indicator of the 24 bits that compose an old "Class C" 
address.
Pressing Enter after the 24 is displayed (and after click or TABbing to Address 
and press Enter, and after clicking and TABbing to Gateway and pressing Enter) 
allows you to save the Address. When you return to the re-edit the address the 
24 has been automagically converted into 255.255.255.0.
No indication of this lovely and useful magic is on screen or in hover help 
text.


Thanks to for the clue to the problem:
> jlinkels (jlinkels) wrote on 2011-05-21:       #6
>Well, you can make the save button ungray, but you have to press ENTER after 
>entering the IP address, >the netmask, etc.

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You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop
Packages, which is subscribed to network-manager in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/737615

Title:
  Can't save changes in "Edit Connections..." for Wi-Fi networks to
  which one doesn't have the password

Status in “network-manager” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: network-manager

  Steps to reproduce:
  1) Right-click on Network Manager's tray icon
  2) select "edit connections"
  3) go to the "wireless" tab
  4) select any connection in the list, except the one you are currently 
connected to
  5) Click "Edit"
  5) Change some settings

  Expected: there should be some way to save those changes

  Observed: the "Apply" button is greyed out. There is no "Save" button.
  If you hit Cancel, obviously the changes are discarded.

  If you edit the network you are connected to, the Apply button works,
  but why on earth are'n you allowed to save changes to a network you
  are not connected to? And if there was a reason why you can't, then
  why are you allowed to edit in the first place?

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
  Package: network-manager 0.8-0ubuntu3
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-29.58-generic 2.6.32.28+drm33.13
  Uname: Linux 2.6.32-29-generic i686
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  Architecture: i386
  CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
  Date: Fri Mar 18 14:47:06 2011
  IfupdownConfig:
   auto lo
   iface lo inet loopback
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
  IpRoute:
   192.168.2.0/24 dev wlan0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.2.105  
metric 2 
   169.254.0.0/16 dev wlan0  scope link  metric 1000 
   default via 192.168.2.1 dev wlan0  proto static
  Keyfiles: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.utf8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: network-manager

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