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Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference


Status Area (Area)

Reference

Description

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.

When to Use

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.

Guidelines

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:

  1. Immediately above or below the associated viewing area and palette areas (if any)

  2. Below the menu bar and control bar

  3. Above message, information, and command areas

  4. 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

    Supplemental Related Topics

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


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