74 replies to this topic

[Subhadip]

I only really want to see a status bar when I want to, err, check the status. Which is clearly not very often. When you do, it is a simple gesture (or key) away. Could be an issue for those with status checking OCD though.

[Defcon]

I love how people are willing to defend every single illogical decision MS has made with Metro. So I'm in a Metro app, but I also have my email, Google talk, IM and all kinds of other important apps running in desktop mode. An important email or chat comes in. In Metro I'll get a toast if lucky. Then it dissapears with absolutely no indicator that something critical requires my attention.

So the defense people have is I should be hitting Win+C or swiping like a monkey every few seconds to check the status. Instead of having a few pixels out of the tons of wasted screen space dedicated to a status bar, which shows at a glance what's happening. Hell, I want to see the time, the netowrk speed, all kinds of things. But I get punished for using Metro, designed for tiny tablets and forced upon everyone.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

[Calum]

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

[. . .] But with desktop apps that have useful information in the status bar, it makes no sense to hide it.

I disagree. I feel it makes sense for it to be hidden when one doesn't require that information. It being on show constantly contributes to the overall design being less attractive than it otherwise would be, in my view.

[Calum]

Defcon, on 31 July 2012 - 08:29, said:

I love how people are willing to defend every single illogical decision MS has made with Metro. So I'm in a Metro app, but I also have my email, Google talk, IM and all kinds of other important apps running in desktop mode. An important email or chat comes in. In Metro I'll get a toast if lucky. Then it dissapears with absolutely no indicator that something critical requires my attention.

So the defense people have is I should be hitting Win+C or swiping like a monkey every few seconds to check the status. Instead of having a few pixels out of the tons of wasted screen space dedicated to a status bar, which shows at a glance what's happening. Hell, I want to see the time, the netowrk speed, all kinds of things. But I get punished for using Metro, designed for tiny tablets and forced upon everyone.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

I think you raise a good point there. If I miss a toast notification, how am I to know that I've received a notification, without going to the Start Screen and checking (something I'd rather not do, in certain circumstances, while I'm using certain apps)?

Having said that, I'd likely only miss a toast notification if I'm away from my PC, and if I'm away from my PC, I'll lock the screen (meaning I'll come back to the lock screen, which informs of missed/unread notifications).

I'm torn between my desire for a more attractive design and your useful idea. I guess I'd have to see in practice whether I ever become unaware of new notifications due to this. It could well be that I don't miss any, due to the toast notifications and lock screen notifications.

Edited by Calum, 31 July 2012 - 09:01.
Added to the post.

[amnesia-]

Calum, on 31 July 2012 - 08:54, said:

Having said that, I'd likely only miss a toast notification if I'm away from my PC, and if I'm away from my PC, I'll lock the screen (meaning I'll come back to the lock screen, which informs of missed/unread notifications).

You can only choose 7 lock screen apps + 1 with detailed view.

[Calum]

Drossel, on 31 July 2012 - 12:34, said:

You can only choose 7 lock screen apps + 1 with detailed view.

Ah yes Thanks for reminding me I could just check the Start Screen instead of the Lock Screen when I return, though.

I'm curious to see how the OP's suggestion of some kind of status bar could look and work. Perhaps he and/or some other members could create some mock-ups

[BajiRav]

Defcon, on 31 July 2012 - 08:29, said:

I love how people are willing to defend every single illogical decision MS has made with Metro. So I'm in a Metro app, but I also have my email, Google talk, IM and all kinds of other important apps running in desktop mode. An important email or chat comes in. In Metro I'll get a toast if lucky. Then it dissapears with absolutely no indicator that something critical requires my attention.

So the defense people have is I should be hitting Win+C or swiping like a monkey every few seconds to check the status. Instead of having a few pixels out of the tons of wasted screen space dedicated to a status bar, which shows at a glance what's happening. Hell, I want to see the time, the netowrk speed, all kinds of things. But I get punished for using Metro, designed for tiny tablets and forced upon everyone.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

Can I play devil's advocate here? I wanted android like notification drawer on WP for the longest time and never got it. I still sometimes need one but 99% of the time most notifications on WP I care about are in the first few rows and I see them without much effort (probably same as pulling down a drawer). A status bar with bunch of icons will probably clash with the overall metro minimalism (e.g. on WP the status bar is hidden most of the times). It's not blindly following Microsoft's decisions as such but more like it's their OS and sometimes the designs make sense. In Windows 8, the start screen appears and disappears crazy fast and I think it probably acts equally well. They cut off desktop apps as those are not WinRT apps.

[+Brandon Live]

Calum, on 31 July 2012 - 08:54, said:

Having said that, I'd likely only miss a toast notification if I'm away from my PC, and if I'm away from my PC, I'll lock the screen (meaning I'll come back to the lock screen, which informs of missed/unread notifications).

I'm pretty sure that if a toast notification comes while your screen is off, it will display when you turn the screen back on.

[Calum]

Brandon Live, on 31 July 2012 - 15:51, said:

I'm pretty sure that if a toast notification comes while your screen is off, it will display when you turn the screen back on.

Oh, great. Thanks for letting me know. I'll check that whenever I can. If that is the case, I shouldn't miss toast notifications when I'm away from my PC for extended periods. Further, I didn't think when I wrote that post that if I'm away from my PC, I'll likely receive the toast notification on my phone (apps that provide notifications I'm most interested in will likely have a Windows Phone counterpart).

[KingCracker]

I wish they showed the clock better, I wish it was a permanent feature in the apps section.

[Ice_Blue]

How about an autohide status bar at the top of the screen?

[Dashel]

Charms is the auto-hide Ice.

[Mark]

Because it wastes space 90% of the time.

[Sekyal]

Overall I don't think the status bar is necessary in Metro. I do wish that the clock was easier to show. I dislike swiping to the side as it is, I know there is a keyboard command but since I don't use Win8 full-time I haven't forced myself to use it. If you miss a notification though it will show on the live tile of that app so you should see it there and it can handle many more things than a status bar could.
Plus a status bar takes up too much screen space. True you could auto-hide but then still have to have a way to activate it, and we already have an auto-hide bar in the charms.
Excited about the RTM though and to start using Win8 full time.

[Dashel]

You don't need a whole 'bar' concept to embed the 2-3 bits we are asking for and then let apps replace gadgets for the rest. The lock screen has slots, why doesn't StartScreen?

I shouldn't need to install a clock app just to be able to see the time/date.