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

[C. Boemann]

On Tuesday 28 August 2012 20:53:11 Thomas Pfeiffer wrote:
> On Thursday 23 August 2012 15:05:04 Thomas Pfeiffer wrote:
> > 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.
> 
> Would it be technically possible to show/hide the status bar depending on
> the docker's position? If so, I could think about how to ideally implement
> it form a usability perspective, but I don't want to waste time designing
> something which was not technically possible in the first place.
Yes it would be possible.

But keep in mind that you cannot move  docker without a title bar, so once at 
the bottom the user will have no way of moving it away again