Status Bar

A status bar is a small area at the bottom of a window. It is used by some applications to display helpful information for the user. For example, an open folder window on the desktop may display the number of items in the folder and how many items are selected. Photoshop uses the status bar to display the size of the current image, the zoom percentage, and other information. Web browsers use the status bar to display the Web address of a link when the user moves the cursor over it. It also shows the status of loading pages, and displays error messages.

If you don't see the status bar in your Web browser or another program, you may be able to enable it by selecting "Show Status Bar" from the application's View menu. If this option is not available in the View menu, the program may not use a status bar. Some programs use a "status window" instead to show the current activity in the application. The option for displaying this window is usually found in the "Window" menu.

Published: 2009