Request: Auto-hide/auto-reveal option for statusbar

[RedBearAK]

Widescreen displays, especially on laptops, have limited vertical space versus the amount of horizontal space. Most displays are still 16:9, very few are even 16:10, and 5:4 or 4:3 are long gone.

The Cutefish dock has options to move it to the left or right side, which is great for a laptop, and also has auto-hide/auto-reveal options. So the dock doesn't take up unnecessary vertical space even if left on the bottom edge with auto-hiding enabled. It goes away when you don't need it, and pops up when you do.

On macOS it used to be very difficult to auto-hide the menu bar, but several years ago with the release of "El Capitan" Apple finally implemented an auto-hide option for the menu bar, and I've been using it ever since. Also, in GNOME distros, like Ubuntu, there is no built-in option to hide the top bar, but there are extensions like "Hide Top Bar" that allow the same feature, and it can be configured to hide the top bar and reveal it by bumping the top of the screen with the mouse. Something similar can be done on KDE Plasma desktop panels, as I've experienced with KDE Neon.

I would very much like to see a feature like this get added to the Cutefish statusbar top bar/panel. It allows for applications to maximize windows to the full size of the screen, without using the overly restrictive Linux "fullscreen" mode that is invoked with F11. The true fullscreen mode has its uses, but it tends to block access to things like docks and top bars until you exit the fullscreen mode. It also tends to suspend screensavers and automatic power-off of the display. Good for watching movies, not so great for just general use of multiple applications. If applications are able to just maximize in the usual way, but to the entire screen size by auto-hiding the top bar, the user doesn't need to deal with those restrictions, but can still access almost the same amount of usable space within the application window as when the F11 fullscreen mode is used. It can be a tremendous enhancement of the experience of using widescreen displays.

For this feature to work effectively, it needs a small delay built-in so that it doesn't pop up unnecessarily if your mouse cursor just happens to briefly bump the top of the screen. Something like 50-100ms would be a good default, or alternatively, a "pressure" trigger that requires the mouse cursor to attempt to move a certain number of pixels "past" the screen edge before the statusbar will appear. The bar also needs to be able to slide down over any maximized window without causing the windows to move out of the way, just like a dock would pop up over an application window without forcing the window to move. I have seen a couple of top panels in other desktop environments that didn't implement this correctly, and they were unusable in the hiding mode.

Some users will probably want a "Smart Hide" option just like the one available with the dock, but I've never liked how those hiding modes behave. I would prefer the true auto-hiding mode that I use with the Cutefish dock. I want the dock and top bar to just go away until I call on them, regardless of whether there are any windows on the screen or overlapping that area of the screen. But some users obviously use their system differently and prefer the "intelligent" hiding modes, so both should be available.

A good place for the hiding options would be to add them in the "Dock" settings and make it "Dock and Status Bar" settings.