The status bar of a view (a list, tree or thumbnail view, currently) is the area just below the view, which is colored gray, if the view shows all its items, or white, if it doesn't. It's a flexible element and should not be seen as an inactive area. As a matter of fact, it resembles more the area above a view showing the view selector, the search bar and possibly additional view controls.

The status bar should, in general, capable to:

• always indicate the number of selected and the total number of items, e.g. "35 contacts, 15 selected", "42 pages ,0 selected" or "68 messages, 68 selected".
• show up with different background colors
• host labels and small UI controls

Visually, it should be as wide as the content area of the view above it, so that we can achieve the effect of an "endless sheet of paper" by showing the bar with a white background color.

Some examples

The mockups on filtering and searching in a list or tree show visualize a status bar showing a message - it ensures that the user understands that the current view shows a filtered set of items only. There, the status bar shows in the yellow of the system warning messages and shows a message text with a link causing the filters to be removed again.

Another example can be found in the following visual: http://wiki.magnolia-cms.com/download/attachments/53258368/Desktop_SG_09_AssetMgmt_MT.png?version=1&modificationDate=1343747055000

Here, the status bar is shown in its white variant and also features a breadcrumb (just as an example, this is actually not needed now).

The status bar might also host additional elements and controls, such as a batch action facility if multiple items get selected. Here's an example for the messages list in Pulse: http://wiki.magnolia-cms.com/download/attachments/53258368/Desktop_SG_05_Pulse_MT.png?version=1&modificationDate=1343746824000