858065 - Add an option to automatically open "about:downloads" when a download starts

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Downloads Panel, enhancement)

Description

[Iceberg]

As an alternative to the panel that opens under the download button, add an option to directly open the tab (or window) "about:downloads" when a download starts.

Comment 1

[enrico]

That's necessary!

Comment 2

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

So there is a choice here, either we open a window (the Library) as it was before, or we open a tab (either the Library or about:downloads), or even a pinned tab.

Now the fact is that the Library will be moved to a tab, soon or later, so it's very likely opening a window is not much future-proof.

On the other side many of the people willing the "window open on first download" want it cause they hate losing downloads when closing browser with downloads ongoing. The window satisfies this request, a tab wouldn't.

Comment 3

[enrico]

Why not a tab that stays open? 

If there aren't any download ongoing it closes as the browser is closed.
If there are downloads ongoing and you close the browser, the window gets minimized, all tabs are closed except for the Downloads one.

It could work.

Comment 4

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

(In reply to enrico from comment #3)
> Why not a tab that stays open? 
> 
> If there aren't any download ongoing it closes as the browser is closed.
> If there are downloads ongoing and you close the browser, the window gets
> minimized, all tabs are closed except for the Downloads one.

What if the user actually wanted to close the browser? Should he explicitly ask to close the tab?  May confuse some users. Btw, should probably be evaluated at a UX level, there could be better options we are not aware of.

Comment 5

[enrico]

(In reply to Marco Bonardo [:mak] from comment #4)
> What if the user actually wanted to close the browser? Should he explicitly
> ask to close the tab?  May confuse some users. Btw, should probably be
> evaluated at a UX level, there could be better options we are not aware of.

Actually, it would be like the previous download manager, only with a tab. 
There probably are better options, I just said the first and most obvious idea that came to my mind.

Comment 6

[Faus-74]

That's necessary

Comment 7

[[:thunderbird64bit]]

Irrinunciabile!

Comment 8

[Alan York]

I'd like to be able to see downloads in a separate window again - I find this is the best way to be able to actively keep an eye on downloads while also doing other tasks (a tab or the panel do not allow for this, and the toolbar button cannot show enough details to be useful). While the library does offer a sort of download window, I find it's overkill for downloads - I'm only interested in the download activity, for me there's no relation to history/bookmarks and so the sidebar is just wasted space.

Having the option to open about:downloads in a new window when a download starts or when the Downloads button is chosen would be, for me, a reasonable replacement for the old window, however, I'd like the new window to be a minimal window (ie. just dedicated to downloads similar to the old one, no menu/toolbar/sidebar etc.)

Comment 9

[Iceberg]

(In reply to Alan York from comment #8)
> I'd like to be able to see downloads in a separate window again - I find
> this is the best way to be able to actively keep an eye on downloads while
> also doing other tasks (a tab or the panel do not allow for this, and the
> toolbar button cannot show enough details to be useful). While the library
> does offer a sort of download window, I find it's overkill for downloads -
> I'm only interested in the download activity, for me there's no relation to
> history/bookmarks and so the sidebar is just wasted space.
> 
> Having the option to open about:downloads in a new window when a download
> starts or when the Downloads button is chosen would be, for me, a reasonable
> replacement for the old window, however, I'd like the new window to be a
> minimal window (ie. just dedicated to downloads similar to the old one, no
> menu/toolbar/sidebar etc.)

You explained perfectly my request.

Comment 10

[somelinguist]

It would be great to be able to show about:downloads in a small, dedicated window for downloads. That would be a perfectly acceptable replacement for the old window.

Also, it would be nice if the items in about:downloads had buttons for pausing a download. I know I can do it via right click, but there's plenty of space for a button.

(In reply to Alan York from comment #8)
> I'd like to be able to see downloads in a separate window again - I find
> this is the best way to be able to actively keep an eye on downloads while
> also doing other tasks (a tab or the panel do not allow for this, and the
> toolbar button cannot show enough details to be useful). While the library
> does offer a sort of download window, I find it's overkill for downloads -
> I'm only interested in the download activity, for me there's no relation to
> history/bookmarks and so the sidebar is just wasted space.
> 
> Having the option to open about:downloads in a new window when a download
> starts or when the Downloads button is chosen would be, for me, a reasonable
> replacement for the old window, however, I'd like the new window to be a
> minimal window (ie. just dedicated to downloads similar to the old one, no
> menu/toolbar/sidebar etc.)

Comment 11

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

(In reply to Alan York from comment #8)
> and the
> toolbar button cannot show enough details to be useful

Which details would you like to see there?

Comment 12

[Alan York]

Well, I prefer being able to see the name, completion and speed of each download as the window provides. If someone can fit that into a readable toolbar button I'll be impressed. :P Seriously though, the toolbar button just isn't my kind of thing (and the fading arrow effect is annoying) and as soon as I don't need it for panel access I'll be removing it.

Comment 13

[Alan York]

(In reply to Marco Bonardo [:mak] from comment #11)
> (In reply to Alan York from comment #8)
> > and the
> > toolbar button cannot show enough details to be useful
> 
> Which details would you like to see there?

Having tried the 'Download Statusbar' addon, I should revise my reply a bit - actually it doesn't seem so unreasonable that useful download information could be fit into a small sized, always present indicator, though it still requires a fair bit more space than the download panel's toolbar button alone (especially for multiple files), isn't as easy to show/hide on demand as a window, and appears in every window which is a bit of a waste and distraction.

Considering the recent heated discussion on removing the ability to hide the tab bar - a change which would have made me stop using firefox for good if it wasn't for the fact someone has already made an addon to enable it again - I think the real issue here is that most users don't know what addons are and aren't capable of doing. While I personally disagree with the way Firefox is currently going (seemingly following one group's ideas of what UX is, turning it into a poor clone of Chrome, which I find completely unusable) I can understand that from the coding/maintenance perspective it makes sense to get rid of features which aren't required as long as they're still possible via addons.

Would it be possible for someone to enable the ability to see downloads in a tidy window like the old one via an addon? If so, then I guess there's no real need to actually reimplement it into the core of Firefox. However, I feel it would cause a lot less hassle - both for developers and users - if, when a change which is likely to result in disruption for some users is made, someone were simply to say (perhaps as a part of the release notes?) whether the functionality could be restored with an addon, and perhaps to provide such an addon where it's not too much effort.

Comment 14

[Alan York]

To clarify - for the 'would it be possible to...' part, I mean the full functionality of the old window (separate relevant window, opens automatically on starting a download, still functions when all other windows are closed)

Comment 15

[Alan York]

In responding to bug 838681 I've realised that it's not really clear how the download panel and download library are intended to be used compared to the download window. Initially, based on appearance and some functionality, about:downloads is most similar to the old download window - however, it's quite different as it's intended more as a form of history. I can't speak for the others requesting this, but what I'd be looking for is not to have about:downloads in a window (I think that would cause some private browsing issues), but to have the download panel in a window, and to have options to make the download panel's list have similar functionality to that of the old download window's list (without interfering with history)

Comment 16

[Maverick]

I would like to add that it would be good to:

- Change the "Show all downloads" button behavior in order to open an "about:downloads" tab instead of the Library
- Add an option to switch to "about:downloads" in the sidebar (in the dropdown list which has Bookmarks, History and Synced Tabs)

This would be great to have on Firefox 57 with it's great new UI :)