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.