[Ext] Download Manager Tweak extension

Lost User 8448 · Post by **Lost User 8448** » February 19th, 2004, 7:32 am

andman42 wrote:I was not a big fan of the new download manager in 0.8, so I decided to try and improve it. I wanted to make the download window a little smaller and more aesthetically pleasing. I thought the original wasted too much space, and I didn’t like the URLs for Cancel, Retry, etc.

I did a little hacking and ended up with a working download manager that was more pleasing to me.
A screenshot comparing the old download manager to my new one can be seen here: <a href="http://fire.prohosting.com/andman42/downloadmgr.html">downloadmgr</a>

You can download extension's installer here: <a href="http://fire.prohosting.com/andman42/downloadmgr_02.xpi">downloadmgr_02.xpi</a>.

Let me know what you think. Any comments or suggestions?

<img src="http://artsandmagic.bravehost.com/downloadmgr.gif">

Oh.....Dont have the option "delete from system"....

GCG · Post by **GCG** » February 19th, 2004, 8:19 am

WOW! It works with the Mac version of FireFox. Very nice work! Thanks! :turn-l:

intatia · Post by **intatia** » February 19th, 2004, 10:54 am

Why should it be in the core? That'd be bloat, many people prefer the looks of the current one and find this one rather squished. We don't need two! It works fine as an extension doesn't it?
At least give Ben a chance to actually finish the download manager.
The only real hack I see needed with the current download manager is a close button and something done about the background which I believe from other posts is the cause of extreme cpu usage when scrolling when it's open as a tab.

shoestring · Post by **shoestring** » February 20th, 2004, 1:16 am

Bethrezen wrote:hi

...

2 add the url that you are downloading from this can be usefull info

3 add the location to where the file is being downloaded again can be usefull info

Yes, and yes, and copyable to clipboard too (Yeah I know about Properties).

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » February 20th, 2004, 4:47 am

Could you make an Pinestrip (Mac defualt theme) version of it too?

Stefan · Post by **Stefan** » February 20th, 2004, 5:49 am

EdgeOfEpsilon wrote:I do agree, however, that it should clip the filename after a certain length, adding a "..." at the end. Say, 100 pixels minimum for the meter?

Why not something like this instead?

Benefits:
* Allows longer filenames
* All downloadprogressionbars are equally long

For the record, I actually like the buttons at the bottom approach of the original a bit better, since that is better in sync with the rest of the interface. The 10px (beige part) padding on the outside makes things look a lot more polished too. Apart from that this is a really good improvment from the default that I hope will get adopted in CSV.

Also featurerequest: Option to have the downloadinfo open in a tab instead of a window...
Suggested place for preference would be to alter the current text in downloadprefs from:
[ ] Show download manager window when a download begins.
to:
[ ] Show download manager when a download begins in a [Dropdownbox]
(options: New Window|Sidebar|New Tab)

sboulema · Post by **sboulema** » February 20th, 2004, 5:52 am

looks very good

Paradox52525 · Post by **Paradox52525** » February 20th, 2004, 6:13 am

I agree with the buttons on the bottom thing. I just think it looks better. I modified the overlay here to put them on the bottom and also place the options button on the right side:

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~jkeis10/dldialog.JPG" width="533" height="262" border="0" alt="" title="" />

I think it looks better.

MoNkaholic · Post by **MoNkaholic** » February 20th, 2004, 7:22 am

Stefan wrote:Why not something like this instead?

Really should stick to having the download data place under the meter, if only for legibility.

Stefan · Post by **Stefan** » February 20th, 2004, 7:25 am

MoNkaholic wrote:stick to having the download data place under the meter

???

Could we have that in english please?
Whats the "download data place"?

andman42 · Post by **andman42** » February 20th, 2004, 10:07 am

Stefan wrote:Why not something like this instead?

I actually tried this and don't think it will work out. The problem is having the download status information (e.g. bit rate and time remaining) on top of the progress meter. It looks ok in Windows XP, but as the green status bar fills up, it gets hard to read the status information. The bigger problem is that in other versions of Windows, the status information is <i>very</i> difficult to read. Perhaps this was what MoNkaholic was refering to.

I also tried having the entire background of the download be the progress bar as suggested earlier. I thought it sounded like a good idea, but in practice it wasn't. Using the standard Windows XP green progress bar makes it very difficult to read the text and just looks really bad.

I think the best option may be to make entries for active downloads slightly taller than those of finished downloads so that the downloadname, progress bar, and download status can all be stacked vertically.

Shinjanji · Post by **Shinjanji** » February 20th, 2004, 11:35 am

First off, I'd like to say that I really like this version over the original download manager...
However, I have a few suggestions/requests that might be nice to implement, if you wish to do so:
How about being able to choose where the progress bar is? That way, everybody can be happy, instead of having to live with the bar in a fixed place....
I think it would also be nice if there was an option to change the progress bar's color... That way, people who perfer it behind thier text and such can still be able to read the text

Also, how about including options for what particular status counters are shown? (so you could, say, hide something like the estimated time left, or show download time thus far)
Here's a big one: Being able to choose between having it automatically appear in a new window, the sidebar, or a new tab... That would be nice, since some people would much rather use it without opening a new window (like me)
I think that implementation of several options is good, since it allows more people to be fully satisfied with the plugin... That's why I like the Tabbrowser Extensions plugin, since it allows me to have my own personal tab-browsing experience...
That's also why I like Firefox more than any other browser I've tried, cause of the customizeablility factor.

intatia · Post by **intatia** » February 20th, 2004, 3:50 pm

Paradox52525 Ooh, this new look is getting closer and closer to what I want.

Don't suppose you could move the options button along and put a close button there? And then the padding around the edges other people are asking for..

Stefan · Post by **Stefan** » February 20th, 2004, 4:09 pm

andman42 wrote:I actually tried this and don't think it will work out.

I know you are wrong in your assumption and the reason I know that is becuse there are plenty of other windows apps that use exactly this method to show download progress. In fact pretty much every DC app does this since it's an excellent way to compress a lot of info in a small space.

Here is eg an image of DC++ (on W2k) doing the same.

Any problems reading the text?
And again remember, this sceenshot is from W2k, not XP, so it's certainly doable on all platforms.

intatia · Post by **intatia** » February 20th, 2004, 4:18 pm

But how well would that go with themes?

[Ext] Download Manager Tweak extension

Re: new download manager?