Why does Metro have no status bar?

[Ice_Blue]

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

[Dashel]

Charms is the auto-hide Ice.

[Guest]

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.

[Defcon]

It was a choice they made between the 'elegance' of a pure fullscreen app, and the usability/functionality of showing more information to the user.

You can see this choice being made all over the OS, where looks and 'beauty' have been emphasized. The other word I keep seeing is 'consistency', which means 'make everything work like a tablet' since that's their primary target.

[+Ryster Subscriber²]

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.

That's exactly what live tiles are for. Why would I want all the notifications duplicated into a separate bar on the screen taking up more screen real estate?

[FMH]

Windows 8 has been designed by observing how consumers use their PCs. It was found out that having a status bar was unnecessary, and affected the end-user experience. So instead they just put it one click/swipe away.

[Dashel]

You really believe that FMH? Are you saying they didn't observe how consumers use their PCs previously? ;) Why does WP have it again on a much smaller screen?

The Charms swipe is still terrible, I really hope it acts like the other two hotcorners on release.

[Wyn6]

You really believe that FMH? Are you saying they didn't observe how consumers use their PCs previously? ;) Why does WP have it again on a much smaller screen?

The Charms swipe is still terrible, I really hope it acts like the other two hotcorners on release.

A correction, if I may. Windows Phone's status bar is hidden by default. Devs can, depending on their app, choose to have it always show or can give the user an option to tick to always show.

However, as the default from the Start Screen, or any app, to see the status bar, you must tap the top of the screen. The bar drops down and is visible for approximately ten seconds before "retracting" back into the top of the screen.

They chose to make the Charms Bar in Windows 8 the equivalent of this, but with added commands, of course.

[George P Global Moderator]

You guys, WP only shows the time by default, you still have to swipe down from the very top to show you the rest of the stuff on the "status bar". So in the end, it's not all that different from how they've done it in Windows 8, a swipe to the charms brings up the, what I'll call, status box in this case.

As for the desktop, the systray is there, and the desktop, it shows you the same info the pop-up status box does all the time you're in the desktop. Now in the future, who knows what they'll add or change. We could see a status bar at the top on the start screen in Windows 9 or SP1 for Win8 even.

[mdtaUK]

A correction, if I may. Windows Phone's status bar is hidden by default. Devs can, depending on their app, choose to have it always show or can give the user an option to tick to always show.

However, as the default from the Start Screen, or any app, to see the status bar, you must tap the top of the screen. The bar drops down and is visible for approximately ten seconds before "retracting" back into the top of the screen.

They chose to make the Charms Bar in Windows 8 the equivalent of this, but with added commands, of course.

Well I think the thread title has been answered. Metro does have status bars and status display, they are just not always visible, but are visible on request from the user.

[Syanide]

That's exactly what live tiles are for. Why would I want all the notifications duplicated into a separate bar on the screen taking up more screen real estate?

Live tiles do a horrible job as notifications because they are ever-present, while notifications in status bar would pop up only when there's something new to notify you of. You don't have to go through dozens of tiles and try and figure out what's changed (which is also made much harder because some live tiles are animated), you simply see there's something new. Not to mention that the status bar is always visible, while you have to manually switch to the start screen to go over live tiles and see if there's anything new. Awfully made, when it could have been so simple.

[Defcon]

Live tiles is exactly what iOS had (except it was a more limited version) before they added the Notification Center. Live tiles do nothing when you're in an app. Or when you come back to your pc after a while and want to see what you missed.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Live tiles is exactly what iOS had (except it was a more limited version) before they added the Notification Center. Live tiles do nothing when you're in an app. Or when you come back to your pc after a while and want to see what you missed.

iOS has never had anything like live tiles.

In Win8, real-time notifications come via "toasts" regardless of what app you're in. The tiles let you easily see what you've missed (or updates which weren't worth popping a toast for).

[Solid Knight]

Most people don't give a crap about "status" bars; they don't even know what the icons are besides maybe signal strength, power, and time. On a desktop, two of those are entire pointless. Looking at average users, they care for two things: (1) getting to the internet and (2) launching applications. Everything else is for "techies".

[Defcon]

iOS has never had anything like live tiles.

In Win8, real-time notifications come via "toasts" regardless of what app you're in. The tiles let you easily see what you've missed (or updates which weren't worth popping a toast for).

Which is why I said 'more limited version'. In practice, if you see the number next to an app on iOS you know it has new content. The only thing live tiles add is showing a snippet preview, you still need to open the app. 'Tiles let you easily see' only for tiles you actually notice. Its not a substitute for a true Notification center.

Why do people have to defend every single thing about Win 8 as if its the best design ever.

[Wyn6]

Which is why I said 'more limited version'. In practice, if you see the number next to an app on iOS you know it has new content. The only thing live tiles add is showing a snippet preview, you still need to open the app. 'Tiles let you easily see' only for tiles you actually notice. Its not a substitute for a true Notification center.

Why do people have to defend every single thing about Win 8 as if its the best design ever.

Just to clear up something. You will get more than a snippet from Live Tiles and depending on the app and developer, won't need to open the app. For example, on my phone, I can see game scores for up to 4 teams that I choose, Stock Market, my personal stocks, and my stock portfolio.

I have no need to open those apps if that's all the info I want to see. Now, you would open an app if you read a news headline and wanted to actually read the story, as another example. Again, it depends on the nature of the app, how much info. you need at that moment and how the dev codes the Live Tile.

[jakem1]

Why do people have to defend every single thing about Win 8 as if its the best design ever.

Why do people have to criticise every single thing about Win 8 as if it's the worst design ever.

[Defcon]

Why do people have to criticise every single thing about Win 8 as if it's the worst design ever.

No one is doing that. Everyone agrees its a fast OS with a lot of nice improvements. Almost all the criticism is the behavior on non-touch devices and MS or the defenders hasn't given a single reason why Metro on desktop is better.

Just to clear up something. You will get more than a snippet from Live Tiles and depending on the app and developer, won't need to open the app. For example, on my phone, I can see game scores for up to 4 teams that I choose, Stock Market, my personal stocks, and my stock portfolio.

I have no need to open those apps if that's all the info I want to see. Now, you would open an app if you read a news headline and wanted to actually read the story, as another example. Again, it depends on the nature of the app, how much info. you need at that moment and how the dev codes the Live Tile.

While this is true, the same can be accomplished using widgets. Which could give all this useful info on the Desktop as well. Live tiles aren't something new, just a rebranding. They make a lot of sense on a phone, esp because they unified apps (single Messaging, Mail, task based apps). No such thing exists on the pc.

Why not allow me to place a live tile on the desktop and have it launch an app? No reason at all. They just want you to never use the Desktop and have basically ignored it.

[Calum Veteran]

[. . .] MS or the defenders hasn't given a single reason why Metro on desktop is better.

No, you just haven't heard a reason as to why it is better for you. I and many others have explained, quite a few times, why the Metro experience is better for us on a Desktop PC than the Windows 7 experience :)

[Wyn6]

No, you just haven't heard a reason as to why it is better for you. I and many others have explained, quite a few times, why the Metro experience is better for us on a Desktop PC than the Windows 7 experience :)

True. True.

[jakem1]

No one is doing that. Everyone agrees its a fast OS with a lot of nice improvements. Almost all the criticism is the behavior on non-touch devices and MS or the defenders hasn't given a single reason why Metro on desktop is better.

I disagree. Most of the criticisms I see are mindless and inane and I can't say that I've seen many haters praising the OS for anything.

I'll tell you why I think Windows 8 and Metro are an improvement over previous versions. Large numbers of Windows users (including the majority of casual users) don't use their PCs for more than just internet browsing. For them Metro is a simple interface that allows them to make the most out of their PCs and also simplifies the transition to a tablet. For people who use their PCs for productivity the desktop works exactly the same way as it always has and the Start menu is improved to eliminate the problems caused by trying to squeeze too much onto a tiny menu.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

While this is true, the same can be accomplished using widgets. Which could give all this useful info on the Desktop as well. Live tiles aren't something new, just a rebranding. They make a lot of sense on a phone, esp because they unified apps (single Messaging, Mail, task based apps). No such thing exists on the pc.

Why not allow me to place a live tile on the desktop and have it launch an app? No reason at all. They just want you to never use the Desktop and have basically ignored it.

Actually, they're quite different from widgets. Widgets are actual app code that runs in a small window all the time. They're really bad for battery life and general system performance. Widgets can also look like anything they want, and thus clash with each other or the system (and this gets even harder when you start talking about new OS versions). They're also more complex from UX standpoint. They can have multiple hit targets, and they don't necessarily have any affiliation with a particular app. This makes managing them more complex.

Tiles aim to address those problems and others. The whole Start screen is designed to be hyper efficient for both battery and performance, and to maintain complete user confidence in it. An important step in accomplishing this is that absolutely no app code is involved in displaying it.

That's not to mention that tiles are far, far easier to work from with for developers versus authoring widgets.

[BajiRav]

Which is why I said 'more limited version'. In practice, if you see the number next to an app on iOS you know it has new content. The only thing live tiles add is showing a snippet preview, you still need to open the app. 'Tiles let you easily see' only for tiles you actually notice. Its not a substitute for a true Notification center.

Why do people have to defend every single thing about Win 8 as if its the best design ever.

While I understand your point and somewhat tend to agree, the iOS count are no way like Live tiles and most of the times, you don't need to open app.

Weather: no need whatsoever. in Windows 8, you can even set it to show on lock screen

People: On windows phone, a group tile is constantly updating with latest update from that group. Again, I only open it if I want to call someone (or text or post message etc.)

Me: Updates showing latest notification or count if there are more than one.

Photos: Rotates between pictures

Calendar: Don't need to open app most of the time

There is nothing like this on iOS or Android. Yes Android has widgets but they have limitations(as to how many you can fit on a screen) due to lack of UI consistency.