Download Manager

This page is primarily related to defining and planning the Firefox 3 PRD line item CON-004a, possibly also involving CON-005a, CON-006a, CON-007a.

Goals & Solution Requirements

P1 Goals:

• Make it easier for users to find files they download from the Web.
  • Add search functionality to download manager
  • Download history should contribute to Places, allowing downloads to be returned as results in History Search, entries in Smart Folders, etc.

• Support mobile users, dial-up users and large file downloaders by allowing pause and resume of downloads
  • Add Pause/Resume support to Download Manager UI
  • Auto-pause/Auto-resume on network failure

• Make it easier to get the status of current downloads
  • Put status indicator into primary chrome
  • Enable download-complete indicator on all platforms

• Make it easier for users to revisit the original source of downloaded files.
  • File location and other details included in download history with one-click revisit

P2 Goals:

• Make it easier to archive/save web pages for offline use and organize those as if they were downloaded content.
  • Enhance "Save Page As..." functionality to be a "one-click" solution
  • Management of saved pages as a single entity through the downloads management interface (as if they were just another downloaded file)

• Make it easier for users to organize files they download from the Web.
  • Add per-file-type MRU memory to "Download to ..." file picker (so MP3s go to the same place, AVIs go to the same place, DOCs go to the same place)
  • Multiple optional customizable download directories -- by default everything would still go to a single default directory
  • Fully automate the save location and manage download library for users (iTunes-style)

• Make it easier for users to flag and download files at a later time.
  • Download queue
  • Multiple download queues
  • Scheduling download queues

• Allow users to automatically download Web feed enclosures (audio, video, images, etc) associated with Live Bookmarks.
  • Option to auto-download Live Bookmark feed enclosures to a specified directory (Web Feeds pref?)

Use Cases to Consider

Primary

• I sometimes visit pages specifically to download things like applications, games, or media files.

• When browsing the web, I often come across content that needs to be downloaded to be viewed, such as PDFs and DOCs.

• I download and print dozens of posted photos of my nephew to show off to friends and family.

• I download and install dozens of new (often alpha/beta) applications and extensions often enough that original sources for these are lost or forgotten.

• I often download the same file twice, either because I forgot that I downloaded this file before, or because I couldn't remember where I'd put it.

• I have a download going when I have to for some reason (restart to apply an update, changing classes, going home at the end of the day) shut down my system.

Secondary/Advanced

• I use Google Image Search to find and download hundreds of images from the web for personal use in scrapbooking. I organize these in a bunch of different ways, but wish there were a more flexible way to group and find them.

• I download a videoblogger's posts to watch offline -- these are daily postings but I'm only on the web via dialup once per week and cannot wait at the machine to download them all one-by-one.

• I download dozens of articles off the Web to use in thesis research. Some articles are PDFs, some are Word documents, some are scanned images from old out-of-print journals, others are HTML with images and multiple pages. I must be able to archive these for later use if necessary, and also must cite them accurately including original download location.

• I download 6 specific TV shows every week via Bittorrent.

• I download at least 10 new (legal!) indy tracks from artist and label sites every day.

• I archive dozens of real-estate listings from MLS.ca -- including private realtor information, maps, and linked photos -- to a laptop for offline use. (Bonus points: automatically updating the archived listings when reconnecting to the network.)

• I download dozens of useful applications and utilities to install or use when diagnosing friends' computer problems. I store these on a USB key so I always have them regardless of network connectivity.

Mockups/Designs

• Dria's Download Manager Mockups -- random ideas for various things related to the above goals.

• Firefox 3 Download Manager Planning Page -- feature planning document for Firefox 3

References

• Download Manager - Comparative Functional Analysis - Dria's recent research
• Firefox:Download_Manager - Ben Goodger's (old?) page
• Download_resuming - Biesi's page