Use JavaScript to Change the Window Status Message

By  on  

Though I don't normally recommend modifying the browser's default behaviors, changing the window's status bar does have its place. The window status bar can pass descriptive information about the element the user is hovering over or can hide the URL from users that don't understand source code enough to figure it out for themselves.

The JavaScript

window.status = 'Hello!  You are hovering over me.';

Recent Features

  • By
    CSS Filters

    CSS filter support recently landed within WebKit nightlies. CSS filters provide a method for modifying the rendering of a basic DOM element, image, or video. CSS filters allow for blurring, warping, and modifying the color intensity of elements. Let's have...

  • By
    From Webcam to Animated GIF: the Secret Behind chat.meatspac.es!

    My team mate Edna Piranha is not only an awesome hacker; she's also a fantastic philosopher! Communication and online interactions is a subject that has kept her mind busy for a long time, and it has also resulted in a bunch of interesting experimental projects...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    CSS 3D Folding Animation

    Google Plus provides loads of inspiration for front-end developers, especially when it comes to the CSS and JavaScript wonders they create. Last year I duplicated their incredible PhotoStack effect with both MooTools and pure CSS; this time I'm going to duplicate...

  • By
    dat.gui:  Exceptional JavaScript Interface Controller

    We all love trusted JavaScript frameworks like MooTools, jQuery, and Dojo, but there's a big push toward using focused micro-frameworks for smaller purposes. Of course, there are positives and negatives to using them.  Positives include smaller JS footprint (especially good for mobile) and less cruft, negatives...

Discussion

  1. Thanks, but it wont work in IE7… Just IE6..

  2. Thank you for mentioning this Selim. It looks as though IE7 has disabled this functionality.

  3. Yes, unfortunately custom status messagges are removed from ie7. I have searched it for a month ago :)

  4. thank you, i really appreciate all your tuts

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!