Status Bars
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.
KDE applications should not use a conventional status bar by default in favor of maximized space for content.
Guidelines
Is this the right control?
- Omit the status bar in the main window to maximize vertical space
for content.
- Don't show meaningless information like 'Ready'.
- Use a floating panel or tooltips for short-term status information like full length text of links.
- Move controls to the toolbar.
- If you cannot find good replacements for status bar functions, please ask the usability team for support.
- Don't display a status bar in secondary or internal windows.
- If a status bar is really necessary in your application consider to use a toolbar with all customization features.
Behavior
- Don't use the status bars or any kind of replacement for crucial information. Users should never have to know what is in the status bar.
- Don't use the status bar or any kind of replacement to display advisory messages in place of standard tooltips.
- Keep the status information plain; e.g. don't add icons.