Why does Metro have no status bar?

[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]

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?

[f0rk_b0mb]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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. :rolleyes:

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]

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]

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

[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 Veteran]

[. . .] 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 Veteran]

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 July 31, 2012 by Calum
Added to the post.

[encarta]

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 Veteran]

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]

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 Veteran]

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 Veteran]

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.