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, background tasks, or other contextual information.

The status bar ‘frames’ the form and, thereby, has a white-space function which is part of the operating system or desktop environment branding . Because secondary forms like dialog boxes must not use a status bar it denotes a form as primary window too.

Guidelines

Is this the right control

• Provide a status bar in the main window of every standard application.
• 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. Otherwise consider to use tool-tips or a message panel.
• Do not use the status bar to display advisory messages in place of standard tool-tips.
• Consider to make status bar areas interactive, e.g. with a slider to zoom content. The interaction with controls placed within the status bar is a convenience feature and must not be the only way to execute an action.
• Do not hide the status bars by default. If configurable, users should easily be able to make it viewable again.

Appearance

• When different information are shown the content of a status bar should be structured in panels.
• Keep the status bar plain; do not add icons.