Motif and Common Desktop Environment: Style Guide Reference Migration Version

Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Status Area (Area)

Reference

The status area is a specific part of a window for displaying information about the contents of the view presented by the current application.

Figure 66. Status Area.

View figure.

Recommended: Display in the status area information about what is being presented in the viewing area, for example, how it was sorted, filtered or selected.
Recommended: Display in the status area information about how the contents of the viewing area was generated, such as a 2x2 dithered view.

Recommended: If a window has multiple viewing areas, but all of them view the same data, use a single status area to report on all of them.
Recommended: If you provide a status area, do not allow the status area to be scrolled when the viewing area is scrolled.
Recommended: Allow the user to copy information from the status area, either in part or completely, but do not allow the user to edit the contents.
Recommended: If the status area contains only text and the information in the text is likely to be reused by the user, make the status area a text-display field; otherwise, make it a textual label.
Recommended: If you provide a status area in a window, either place it within a reserved part of the associated viewing area or place it so that it is located as follows:

Immediately above or below the associated viewing area and palette areas (if any)
Below the menu bar and control bar
Above message, information, and command areas

Recommended: Separate the status area from the rest of the window.
Recommended: Update information in the status area to reflect the current state of the associated viewing area.
Recommended: Make the status area the same width as the associated viewing area, if it is outside the viewing area.
Recommended: Make the status area no larger than necessary to accommodate the information it needs to present.
Recommended: If the status area contains only text, design it to contain only one line of text.
Recommended: If the user reduces the width of a window, compress information in the status area, if possible; otherwise, clip the status area.
Recommended: For views that support a selection model other than single selection, indicate in the status area the number of items currently selected. For example:

2 items selected

Recommended: If the window contains elements that are not visible because they are clipped or scrolled, indicate in the window's status area the number of elements visible in proportion to the total number of elements. Include in the count only the elements that are completely visible; do not include any elements that are partly off the screen or hidden. For example:

3 of 10 items displayed

Recommended: If only some elements from a larger set of elements are displayed in a viewing area of a window, indicate in the status area of that window what criteria the elements met to be displayed in the window. For example:

Displaying documents created between 02/Feb/96 and 06/Jun/96

Recommended: If elements displayed in a viewing area of a window are arranged according to some criterion, indicate in the status area of that window the criteria used to arrange the elements. For example:

Sorted in ascending order by name

For more information, see the Information and Message Areas (Area), Viewing Area (Control), and Window Title reference pages