Saturday, April 9, 2011

Customizing the Status Bar Text Colors

How exactly do I customize the status bar text colors?  I see green but there's no option for green.

CUSTOMIZING STATUS BAR TEXT COLORS:
Even though it is not a menu option, green text is the default color and it will display all the way from one hundred to zero if the other three colors are turned off by putting their level at 0 percent. Blue text can also be displayed from one hundred to zero if 100 percent is selected for the blue text, and orange and red are turned off by putting their level at 0 percent. Orange and red text can be selected to display beginning at 50 percent.

Here are the four colors and the levels at which they can be displayed:
Green: (Default) 100-0
Blue: 100-0
Orange: 50-0
Red: 50-0

NOTE: If colors compete for the same levels, the colors take precedence in this order:
1) Red
2) Orange
3) Blue
4) Green

In other words, red will override everything, orange overrides blue and green, and blue overrides green.

Experiment and you will see you have a variety of color options at various levels:

FOUR COLORS:
Green,blue,orange,red

THREE COLORS:
Green,blue,orange
Green,blue,red
Green,orange,red
Blue,orange,red

TWO COLORS:
Green,blue
Green,orange
Green,red
Blue,orange
Blue,red

ONE COLOR:
Green
Blue



Why do orange and red only start at 50 percent?

Because it was thought the vast majority of users would not use red or orange above 50 percent, it was a compromise made to keep the size of the app down.


Why not yellow or white for colors?

Yellow and white were both tested but ultimately rejected because they were hard to read for users with white or gray status bars. However, ad-ons are now available for download so that you can have just about anything you want in the status bar! (OK, well maybe not yellow.)