Firefox 4 Alternative to Status Bar Messages [closed]

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Firefox 4 has done away with the status bar. I used window.status to display some informational messages to users of my web app. Is there any alternative comparable feature built into FF4 that I can use instead? If showing these messages requires an add-on then you can bet that 90% of my users won't see them.

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The status message hijack has been a bad practice that's fading away. I think the default behavior for javascript in this browser is to not let hijack it.

Solution: find another way. A tooltip, create your own status bar, do it with the title attribute, etc. Don't rely on something like the status bar.

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Whether it's "bad practice" to use or rely on status messages is highly debatable. If you are designing a work-oriented desktop app, then how they render on phones is moot. Good practices for one device may not be good for others. If you cater to the lowest common device features, then you cannot leverage the advantages of more powerful devices. I'd say the utility of status messages depends on the usage and type of application.

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Not everyone HAS the status bar turned on or even a title bar. (Consider phones and tablets that do away with these things just to increase a little screen real estate.) Also with more and more touchscreen devices entering the fray, mouseover is also going to become less useful.

Do consider alternatives. Also remember, hiding information from the user until they click or hover the right spot in a deadly sin of GUI design.