[kde-guidelines] Styleguide: Status bar

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On Wednesday 02 October 2013 10:58:30 Heiko Tietze wrote:
> Viewing and Navigation > Access functions
> * Apply a status bar to every standard application.
> http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/HIG/StatusBar
> 
> == Purpose ==
> A ''status bar'' is an area at the bottom of a primary window that displays
> information about the current window's state (such as what is being viewed
> and how), background tasks (such as printing, scanning, and formatting), or
> other contextual information (e.g. selection, keyboard state, etc.).
> 
> == Examples ==
> 
> == Guidelines ==
> === Is this the right control ===
> * Provide a status bar in the main window of every standard application.

As stated in my reply to Teo's mail: I agree with him and David on this.

> * Do not display a status bar in secondary or internal windows.
> ===  Behavior ===
> * Do not use status bars for crucial information. Users should never have to
> know what is in the status bar. * Do not use the status bar to display
> advisory messages in place of standard
> [[Projects/Usability/HIG/Tooltip|tool-tips]]. 
> * Do not make a status bar area interactive in standard applications. 
because those features are difficult to understand for non-experts. 

I don't agree: I think many applications make good use of interactive elements 
in status bars: E.g. the zoom feature in Gwenview (I know it's technically not 
a status bar, but from a user's perspective it's pretty much the same) or 
Calligra, or Kontact's expandable progress indicator.

What I do agree, though, for the reason you state, is that the status bar 
should never be the _only_ way to execute an action. to me, it's similar to 
conext menus: An interactive status bar can be a nice shortcut (e.g. I'd 
actually expect to be able to switch between insert and overwrite mode by 
clicking the mode indicator), but you cannot expect all users to find functions 
there, so you need an alternative