Mozilla Links has posted details and a few screenshots of how Firefox 3's new download manager will look and function. In general, users will gain more control over their downloads, actions such as opening a file have been changed from text links to icons to comply with the rest of Firefox's design paradigm of buttons for actions, words for website links. Users will also be able to click an (i) icon on completed downloads to view details such as the website the download came from, the location of the downloaded file on local computer and when the download finished. Chronic downloaders will also appreciate a new search box, and an option to show the download manager in the status bar or sidebar is also being considered.
Overall these look like some strong features for a much-needed upgrade to the download manager, but we would still like to see a little more innovation here. For example: the download manager in Camino, a Mac OS X browser that uses the same Gecko rendering engine as Firefox, can not only clear the download manager's list of files, but also move those files to the trash. And what about actual download file management features, such as moving files to specified folders or importing into apps based on file type (ZIP, audio, video, etc.)?
If you're itching to try out these new features, Mozilla Links says this new download manager should be available in tonight's nightly build.
1 comment:
Great work.
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