Status bar

A status bar can also be text-based, primarily in console-based applications, in which case it is usually the last row in an 80x25 text mode configuration, leaving the top 24 rows for application data. Usually the status bar (called a status line in this context) displays the current state of the application, as well as helpful keyboard shortcuts. One example is the 'vi' text editor of UNIX (from the 1970s) or newer Linux systems.

Status lines have been used for more than 30 years to display advisory messages in a predefined area, rather than as pop-up messages in center screen which can block the view of related information.

Sometimes, a video game places the player's vital information or Heads-up display (such as hit points, lives, and score) on a similar strip across the top or bottom of the screen; this is also referred to as a status bar.

Usage

Status bars, and status lines before them, have been used for years to display advisory messages in a predefined area, predating dialog boxes which can block the view of related information behind the pop-up messages. The use of status bars (or status lines) involves both advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of status bars:

• They allow viewing messages while also viewing the entire screen (although they take space away from the screen for their own display)
• They allow typing information while viewing status data
• They allow other menu options while viewing status data
• They continually show status during operation

Disadvantages of status bars:

• Status bars might restrict information to a one-line display (although a variable multi-line status bar/region could be used);
• Status bars typically cannot pop to the surface for critical messages when its parent window is layered below others (but are always visible in the parent window, which can be raised).
• Their location at the edge of the display may make them less noticeable than a dialog box