UI idea: Turn the status bar into a docker (or several dockers)

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On 23.08.2012 14:53, C. Boemann wrote:
> On Thursday 23 August 2012 14:31:18 Thomas Pfeiffer wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>> while discussing the best way to implement the word count in the Author UI,
>> I had an idea for the Calligra UI in general.
>> Flexibility is one of the key advantages of the Calligra UI. One of the few
>> UI parts that are currently not flexible is the status bar. That's why I
>> asked myself: "Why not put the the things currently displayed in the
>> status bar in one or several docker(s), put these dockers at the bottom by
>> default (or maybe someplace else if that works better for a particular
>> application) and remove the standard status bar?"
>> This would allow to keep the current layout as default while preserving
>> maximum flexibility. To me, this is the logical consequence of the
>> "Flexible UI" paradigm of Calligra.
>> So, what do you think about it? Did I miss any problems/downsides?
>> Cheers,
>> Thomas

> I think the main problem I see is that dockers have titlebars that take up
> vertical space.
>
> Sure it can be removed but then the user looses the configurability. We can
> then do like Amarok does, but then what dockers should have their titlebars
> hidden

True. I think this should not depend on the docker, but on its position.
How about hiding the title bar when the docker is placed at the bottom? Having a 
title bar would probably look weird then, anyway. But if a docker containing 
status info is placed somewhere else, it should have a title just lie any other 
ones.

The Amarok approach of switching into a specific "UI reorganization mode" would 
probably make sense for Calligra anyway, as it would prevent accidental 
reorganization.

> Not saying it can't be solved but there are some issues with this

Sure, and certainly more issues will come up. But that's the fun of challenges, 
right? ;)