74 replies to this topic

[Defcon]

iOS and Android are both very successful and easy to use tablet OS's. Both have a status bar with useful icons/widgets. Why did Microsoft remove it from Win 8 Metro?

[+SharpGreen]

Defcon, on 30 July 2012 - 20:44, said:

iOS and Android are both very successful and easy to use tablet OS's. Both have a status bar with useful icons/widgets. Why did Microsoft remove it from Win 8 Metro?

Metro never had a status bar to begin with, so how could they remove it?

[Tyler R.]

I would really like a status bar. It could replace the system tray and have the clock/date in the middle so I don't have to constantly bring up ye olde lucky charms menu just to see the damn time/battery status. A show/hide feature could also be implemented on it.

[mdtaUK]

The phone has a status bar which is brought into view with a tap at the top.

Windows 8 gets an overlay when you swipe for the charms, with battery, time, signal strength etc

[Defcon]

mdtaUK, on 30 July 2012 - 20:55, said:

The phone has a status bar which is brought into view with a tap at the top.

Windows 8 gets an overlay when you swipe for the charms, with battery, time, signal strength etc

I know that. The point of a status bat is its visible. Esp on a desktop where there is more than enough space. I'm perfectly fine with how it is now on an Arm tablet, with no desktop. But with desktop apps that have useful information in the status bar, it makes no sense to hide it.

[Syanide]

Defcon, on 30 July 2012 - 22:05, said:

it makes no sense to hide it.

Making sense is not really Microsoft's strength these days. I fully agree on this one, it's one of the largest annoyances I had with Metro. There's simply no rationalizing it, a mere notification indicator would have done wonders for usability of the entire platform.

[mdtaUK]

Syanide, on 30 July 2012 - 22:08, said:

Making sense is not really Microsoft's strength these days. I fully agree on this one, it's one of the largest annoyances I had with Metro. There's simply no rationalizing it, a mere notification indicator would have done wonders for usability of the entire platform.

Why do you need it ever present, where a simple tap or swipe is too much of an effort to see this stuff. Also if the device screen is off, press the power button and its on the lock screen.

[rfirth]

Defcon, on 30 July 2012 - 22:05, said:

I know that. The point of a status bat is its visible. Esp on a desktop where there is more than enough space. I'm perfectly fine with how it is now on an Arm tablet, with no desktop. But with desktop apps that have useful information in the status bar, it makes no sense to hide it.

With desktop apps, you have the taskbar... with the notification area... which provides all the same information...

[siah1214]

rfirth, on 30 July 2012 - 22:25, said:

With desktop apps, you have the taskbar... with the notification area... which provides all the same information...

STOP BEING LOGICAL! Personally I love the fact that the there is no unnecessary information on a metro app, but all the info I want is just a Win+C away.

[Stoffel]

Not to bash anybody, but MS can't win. If they do the same as Android or iOS, they can't innovate and are just copying. If they decide to do something differently then people are upset because it's different and they want the same as all the others. Very strange if you ask me.

[Syanide]

mdtaUK, on 30 July 2012 - 22:24, said:

Why do you need it ever present, where a simple tap or swipe is too much of an effort to see this stuff. Also if the device screen is off, press the power button and its on the lock screen.

Why would I want to tap to see if it's there if it can just be there? It's minimum screen real estate for a critical task -- informing you of stuff that changed (new emails, IMs, any other notifications), and Microsoft tried really hard to make this as complicated and convoluted as possible.

[Dashel]

rfirth, on 30 July 2012 - 22:25, said:

With desktop apps, you have the taskbar... with the notification area... which provides all the same information...

For desktop users stricktly in Metro I think was his point rfirth. If someone want to never use the desktop, Metro is much more of a pain for at a glance items that they could see before without a swipe or click. (If Metro is the future, apologists need to spend a lot less time saying well, you can do that on the desktop. No ****?!)

Metro has no status bar because they aren't that far into the design state yet, its quite alpha. Even my WP7 can show basic things like time without a swipe so don't give me that 'it hides battery/network' business. Two different classes of 'info'. Oops, I forgot, we need an app for that.

Cause gods forbid, especially on a desktop, that we'd like to glace at it but not interact with it (which is a much more common scenario than on handheld devices obviously).

[mdtaUK]

Dashel, on 30 July 2012 - 22:31, said:

For desktop users stricktly in Metro I think was his point rfirth. If someone want to never use the desktop, Metro is much more of a pain for at a glance items that they could see before without a swipe or click. (If Metro is the future, apologists need to spend a lot less time saying well, you can do that on the desktop. No ****?!)

Metro has no status bar because they aren't that far into the design state yet, its quite alpha. Even my WP7 can show basic things like time without a swipe so don't give me that 'it hides battery/network' business. Two different classes of 'info'.

Cause gods forbid, especially on a desktop, that we'd like to glace at it but not interact with it (which is a much more common scenario than on handheld devices obviously).

If you are in a metro app, and you want to see the clock, date, signal strength, or battery life. You will have to swipe for the charms. There will not be a permanent on screen status bar!

[BajiRav]

Defcon, on 30 July 2012 - 20:44, said:

iOS and Android are both very successful and easy to use tablet OS's. Both have a status bar with useful icons/widgets. Why did Microsoft remove it from Win 8 Metro?

It has a whole freaking screen showing notifications. It's called the start screen.

Should they add a dedicated drawer? may be. I think the current approach still works.

[+remixedcat]

status bars are not hip... /s