1140698 - On Android L every download gets its own notification in the notification bar

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: Download Manager, defect)

Description

[Jan Manthay]

Attachment: downlarr.png

Just updated my Moto G to Android 5.0.2

Downloads with Firefox now create a new arrow for every download.
So while I download 3 files, i have 3 animated arrows, and when the downloads are finished, I have 3 fixed arrows.

This is now the behavior as with 4.4.4 where I always only have one arrow.

Comment 1

[Aaron Train [:aaronmt]]

What does Chrome do?

Comment 2

[Jan Manthay]

Chrome has one single animated arrow for all ongoing downloads, but then one arrow for every single finished download.

So:

During the downloads: 1 arrow
After the downloads: Multiple arrows

My opinion?
There is no need to show multiple arrows after the downloads are finished. One should be enough, cause when I open the notification bar, I see all downloads anyway.

Comment 3

[:Margaret Leibovic]

I don't think this is an issue specific to Android L, it sounds like it's just how our download notification logic works. We have a one-notification-per-download model.

Comment 4

[Jan Manthay]

Android 4.2.2:
No matter how many active downloads: One animated arrow.
No matter how many finished downloads: One solid arrow.
Multiple ongoing downloads and finished downloads at the same time: One solid, one animated.

Don’t beat me, but I am pretty sure it was the same with 4.4.4.

Android 5.0.2
Multiple ongoing downloads: Multiple animated arrows.
Multiple finished downloads: Mutliple solid arrows.

So there is definitly a different behavior.

Comment 5

[:Margaret Leibovic]

Which versions of Firefox are affected? We had a bunch of downloads changes in Fx37, so I want to know whether or not this is a regression from that.

Comment 6

[Jan Manthay]

Android 5.0.2

36: Multiple solid arrows during download, multiple solid arrows after the downloads.
37: Multiple animated arrows during download, multiple solid arrows after the downloads.
38: No test
39: Multiple animated arrows during download, multiple solid arrows after the downloads.

Android 4.2.2

36: One solid arrow during download, one solid arrows after the downloads.
37: One animated arrow during download, one solid arrows after the downloads.
38: No test
39: One animated arrow during download, one solid arrows after the downloads.

So even on 36, before the changes, there is a different between 4.2.2. and 5.0.2

Comment 7

[:Margaret Leibovic]

Thank you for the thorough testing!

This does sound like an Android L issue then, not an issue related to our downloads changes.

Comment 8

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

Margaret - Feel free to reassign

Comment 9

[:Margaret Leibovic]

Testing on both 4.4 and 5.0, I see one notification per download, both in progress and completed.

I think it would be complicated to change our UX to support a single notification for multiple downloads, since we have actions on each download (pause/cancel for in-progress downloads, and opening the file for completed downloads).

I think our current behavior makes sense, and that we should WONTFIX this bug. antlam, what do you think?

Comment 10

[Anthony Lam (:antlam) Find me, @antlam on Slack!]

WONTFIX right now.

The benefits of managing each download individually still makes sense to me. So, I'm hesitant to unify them without a plan to maintain our current functionality. Maybe in the future we can explore better download management as a part of a larger story.

Comment 11

[Jan Manthay]

Attachment: Screenshot_2015-05-15-13-43-54.png

Hi.
I am not sure if you people do understand the problem that I tried to explain, maybe my lack of english skill is the problem...

It sure make sense to manage every download individually, so you can stop it and so on.

I am missing the right words, I am NOT talking about those things you see when you swipe down on the notification bar.
I am only talking about the black bar on top of the screen, where those arrows appear during a download.

And there is a difference between 5.0 and 4.2 (cant test on 4.4)
And while 4.2 feels "right", 5.0 feels "wrong"
Look at this screenshot, it shows 41 Nightly after many downloads. There is not even enough space for all the arrows. On 4.2 there is only one arrow in the same situation.

Comment 12

[Aaron Train [:aaronmt]]

Thoughts?

Comment 13

[Anthony Lam (:antlam) Find me, @antlam on Slack!]

Hey Jan,

Sorry, I'm still not quite understanding. Are you suggesting we unify the download icons but keep each downloading file separate?

Comment 14

[Kevin Brosnan [Ex-Mozilla]]

Attachment: Expected behavior with mutiple downloads

Shopped a quick image of the expected behavior.

Comment 15

[Anthony Lam (:antlam) Find me, @antlam on Slack!]

If it's just about unifying the icons in the notification bar, I'd be OK with this.