I don't get why they didn't do it right this time. Please leave containers opened, i.e. do not reverse the open animation after opening. That way I know everything I pillaged by looking at it. Also, it would be nice if empty containers were open.

Thanks.

But then once the containers respawned they'd still look empty !

The answer to that is simple. When the container is respawned/refilled you just reset the animation to show a closed container.

But all containers don't have open/close animations, like sacks and barrels for example.

Once they respawn they can close again.

In order for this to work properly, you would need to make Open/Close separate actions from Looting, so that you could only loot once you have opened an object, like a dresser or a chest. You mention that this is how it was in oblivion, but aside from things like display cases, which has actual physical items inside as opposed to a 'loot' function, I don't think any furniture in oblivion actually had an open or close animation, if I remember correctly.