

New Firefox download manager appears in UX build - 11031a
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/new-firefox-download-manager-appears-in-ux-build-2011097/

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mixmastamyk
Doesn't look as good as the Download Status Bar
([https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/download-
stat...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/download-statusbar/))
which I've been using for years. They could have just copied or bundled it.

~~~
ericras
The problem with that is it takes away vertical space, the exact reason I hate
hate hate the Chrome download bar.

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mixmastamyk
Not everyone is on a netbook these days. Even when I use my old sony-tr I much
prefer the status bar to another window. I configure it to go away after 15
seconds after finishing, and there is a "mini" mode as well if you're on a
crippled machine.

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testcock1
The only time I've ever been remotely satisfied with the download manager in
Firefox was when I completely replaced it with an add-on, so I'm looking
forward to this change.

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mtogo
Thank christ, the download manager is one of the last remaining bad parts of
Firefox.

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SoftwarePatent
For anyone who doesn't know this already, running the nightly builds of
Firefox is ridiculously easy. Just visit this page.

<http://nightly.mozilla.org/>

On OS X, I have the stable Firefox.app and bleeding edge Nightly.app installed
side-by-side, and never have any problems.

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xtal
This is the Nightly UX build, which appears to be something else?

I use Nightly and don't have this feature.

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antipax
Uh, looks exactly like the new Safari downloads window.

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paulrouget
<http://limi.net/articles/safari-downloads/>

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pazimzadeh
Apple was probably more inspired by their own iPad popovers, which they seem
to have implemented in several other apps as well.

iCal: <http://cl.ly/9xSk>

iPad:
[http://developer.apple.com/library/iOS/documentation/UserExp...](http://developer.apple.com/library/iOS/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/Art/popover_flatten.png)

~~~
dekz
From parent article: >That’s why it’s so exciting to see our designs being
adopted by other browser makers.

Is this designer claiming the design is a Mozilla original and not essentially
exactly what's been a UI design in the iPad since release? Or am I reading too
much into this?

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Palomides
I am genuinely curious how this is better than what is currently in place;
could someone explain?

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sirn
I believe the current problem is that Mozilla has removed status bar so
there's no way to know if a file is downloading without a separate window
being constantly open. The way to open up download window is not very
accessible either, especially on Windows where menu bar is hidden. (OK, you
can still access it from the access button on the top left, but still...)

I'm not sure how Mozilla will handle the file saving dialog, but with the
current UI, there are two window popups in order to download something: the
file saving dialog and the download window itself (which user may choose to
open or close it, but require to do so every single time he downloads
something). That means before they hide the status bar, you have three UI
pieces just for managing a download, with two being intrusive.

The new approach will reduce that intrusiveness interaction to minimum, will
have an indicator on active window as long as something is active in the
download list and will put everything in a single place rather than all over
the UI.

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albb0920
I thought this was first planed for firefox 6.
[http://www.browserscene.com/2011/04/firefox-6-download-
manag...](http://www.browserscene.com/2011/04/firefox-6-download-manager-
slated-for.html)

