How can I remove the status bar for IE6 WinXP SP2 users?

February 4, 2005 9:03 AM

I am managing the production of a web application, which, for various reasons, must happen in a window with no status bar. Unfortunately, some security patch for ie6 with winxp sp2 renders the javascript that turns off the status bar ineffective. Any solutions?
posted by sauril to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Why "must" it? I don't honestly think a solution that isn't a hack would exist. If you do find one, that's great, but you're just pushing water uphill. Browsers are moving away from allowing remote applications complete control over window placement and attributes, with good reason.
posted by odinsdream at 9:07 AM on February 4, 2005

There's no elegant solution for this, and it's a bad thing to try and do.
posted by angry modem at 9:15 AM on February 4, 2005

Unless you want to go really nuts and paint a transparent full screen window (if IE even allows for that hack anymore), there's no way to force the lack of a status bar.
posted by mathowie at 9:21 AM on February 4, 2005

kiosk mode? May or may not be helpful depending on the specifics of your application, since it's actually turned on when a user starts their browser, but it would work. More info would be helpful.
posted by GeekAnimator at 9:27 AM on February 4, 2005

Generally, the status bar is beyond the control of a web site. It is the responsibility of the user agent. No such concept as "status bar" exists in any RFC or HTML specification.

But.... you could use the honor system. Have an entry page that says "Turn off your status bar, then click here. I really mean it. If you click without turning off the status bar, something will go terribly wrong."

Also, I'd like to second the question, why must it? Inane customer specification?
posted by recursive at 9:29 AM on February 4, 2005

If it's for aesthetic reasons, kinda impossible, as stated above - if it's for "don't want users to see certain data" reasons, you can always manage the status bar display pretty easily.
posted by kokogiak at 9:32 AM on February 4, 2005

Unless you get into sophisticated web browser identification, you can't do it. And if you do detect the browser and refuse to send the page for non-MSIE browsers, you eliminate a big chunk of your potential users.

Too bad, so sad.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:41 AM on February 4, 2005

This is pretty much what I was afraid of.

The reasoning behind it is simple: It's a web version of a predominantly desktop and client-server product, so we want it to look as little like a 'web page' as possible. Also those pixels could be put to better use.

Right now we've got a hack to change the css so everything displays properly in ie6, and it looks like we're going to just display blank to the status bar to hide inner workings.

The app works fine in Mozilla and Safari, this was the last display bug to clean up.

Thanks for the help, everyone.
posted by sauril at 9:51 AM on February 4, 2005

If the status bar has to stay, why not use mouseover events to display help messages there? Like "Enter your phone number in this format: +1 (XXX) YYY-ZZZZ"
posted by shepd at 10:21 AM on February 4, 2005

shepd, that's a great idea!
posted by sauril at 10:52 AM on February 4, 2005