file names when saving web pages

[firefox37]

Hi! Up until recently, when saving web pages, a meaningful file name would automatically appear, as it does with Google Chrome. However now the file names are a few meaningless letters. I remember having this problem with Firefox years ago, and the solution was a plug-in, which worked perfectly. However, when I went to the plug-in page, I didn't see any that seemed to deal with this situation. Please tell me what to do, because I save large numbers of web pages, and if I'm forced to type in my own names it'll be too time-consuming and I'll be compelled to use Chrome, which doesn't have this problem, and in fact doesn't even require a plug-in to accomplish proper file-naming, but does it automatically.

[Gingerbread Man]

Hello,

If you want to save the web page using its title rather than the file name on the server, you could just be patient for a little while until Firefox 18 is released around January 6th.
Bug 254139 - File | Save Page As should default to <title>, not filename

Otherwise, try the following extension.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/file-title/

[firefox37]

Gingerbread Man, I added the extension you linked to, and it works impeccably! I salute you! (May I ask you a question though? I checked, and my other three browsers, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Opera, all do this as a default operation. Why on earth would Firefox require an add-on when without it the file name is completely meaningless and gives you no clue as to the content of the saved web page? What is the reason Firefox has chosen as its default file-naming method something that yields utterly useless results? That seems so un-Firefox-like.)

[Gingerbread Man]

You're welcome.

Like I said, the page title will be the default file name when saving starting with Firefox 18, which is slated for release around January 6th. So in a little over a week, an extension will no longer be required for this feature.

As for why this issue wasn't fixed earlier though it was reported back in 2004, I don't know and it seems irrelevant at this point. You could read the bug report I linked to if you want to know what went on behind the scenes.

[firefox37]

Thanks for the information Gingerbread Man. Obviously you're someone with a hands-on, practical relationship with Firefox, so I can well understand why you consider my question "irrelevant". But for me, just an outside observer (and of course user) of Firefox, questions that are "irrelevant" pragmatically can be fascinating philosophically. And this is one of them.

And the reason it's fascinating is this: any time supremely rational people do something (apparently) supremely irrational it takes your breath away, and you can't catch it until you get an explanation. The naming system that will be changed come January 6th has persisted for years even though it offers no obvious benefits and unendurable liabilities. In fact, for years I didn't use Firefox because I didn't know about the extension, and it was completely unbearable to have to constantly be making up and typing in titles of my own. The very fact that there was an extension proves that this was a problem for other people besides myself. (And how could it not be?) So given this situation, why was there no effort made to incorporate this feature into Firefox as the default naming method? Why would such rational people put in place an irrational naming system and then leave it in place after its inadequacies became crystal clear?

Anyone whose curiosity has been piqued by this question and who has discovered the answer, PLEASE TELL ME, I'M DYING TO KNOW!!!

P.S. Gingerbread Man, will you be annoyed if I call your icon "incredibly cute"?

[LoudNoise]

Seems like three reasons. First, it appears it came from the original Netscape code. Before 2004 it may have simply not been an issue. Second, it was an issue that only seemed to pop up every two years so it never became that big of issue an when there were a hell of a lot of more important things to be done. Third, the first two attempts to fix it died incomplete and therefore could not be added.

[firefox37]

If my persistence is annoying, please disregard my questions, but LoudNoise I don't understand why the add-on that solved the problem with each new version of Firefox couldn't have been added-on before the version was released. Did the add-on require so much work that it would have significantly delayed the release of each new edition of Firefox?

As for your comment, "there were a hell of a lot of more important things to be done", I think this file naming problem is extremely important. Why? Well, I'm sure there must be plenty of people like me, who routinely save 30 interesting web pages a day, and taking the time to delete the gibberish from the file name line, then think about the content of the web page and decide how to appropriately summarize it (and many times in my case it was a very complicated web page in physics, medicine, etc.), and then type in that summary, without making typos, could easily consume twenty minutes a day, and I'm being conservative in my estimate--twenty minutes that are essentially squandered, since you're doing something that Internet Explorer and Chrome didn't require you to do. As I said, for at least two years I wanted to use Firefox but was prevented from doing so by this obstacle, since I didn't know about the extension, and saw I was consuming valuable time doing the file naming myself. I despised Internet Explorer but was forced to use it solely because of this problem. And I know that a friend of mine, like me a saver of many web pages a day, was overjoyed when I told him of the file extension that let me use Firefox. He too had been condemned to using Internet Explorer for this one and only reason. So, I don't think you can dismiss this as unimportant.

[LoudNoise]

If my persistence is annoying, please disregard my questions, but LoudNoise I don't understand why the add-on that solved the problem with each new version of Firefox couldn't have been added-on before the version was released. Did the add-on require so much work that it would have significantly delayed the release of each new edition of Firefox?

As for your comment, "there were a hell of a lot of more important things to be done", I think this file naming problem is extremely important. Why? Well, I'm sure there must be plenty of people like me, who routinely save 30 interesting web pages a day, and taking the time to delete the gibberish from the file name line, then think about the content of the web page and decide how to appropriately summarize it (and many times in my case it was a very complicated web page in physics, medicine, etc.), and then type in that summary, without making typos, could easily consume twenty minutes a day, and I'm being conservative in my estimate--twenty minutes that are essentially squandered, since you're doing something that Internet Explorer and Chrome didn't require you to do. As I said, for at least two years I wanted to use Firefox but was prevented from doing so by this obstacle, since I didn't know about the extension, and saw I was consuming valuable time doing the file naming myself. I despised Internet Explorer but was forced to use it solely because of this problem. And I know that a friend of mine, like me a saver of many web pages a day, was overjoyed when I told him of the file extension that let me use Firefox. He too had been condemned to using Internet Explorer for this one and only reason. So, I don't think you can dismiss this as unimportant.

This is simply speculation on my part, kindly don't think I know anything specific about why this wasn't fixed in 2004. That said the problem didn't get a bandwagon behind it. Should this have caused you uneasiness and problems before now I would celebrate the fact that it has been solved and your troubles will be forgotten shortly after January 6th. As fully noted and pointed out by Gingerbread Man this will not be an issue in short order. Why the sin has not been corrected sooner is anyone's guess but you and your friends no longer have to use I.E. or Chrome in nine days.

[dross]

Actually this made things harder for the whole department that I work in. We need to save files down with the actual file name. Is there anyway to change this back in the about:config so that we don't have to copy and paste every time?

[Gingerbread Man]

P.S. Gingerbread Man, will you be annoyed if I call your icon "incredibly cute"?

Thank you

Is there anyway to change this back in the about:config so that we don't have to copy and paste every time?

Unlikely. The developers don't add preferences unless absolutely necessary.

• Save Link As will save using the file name.
• View Source will also save using the file name. If you're handy with a keyboard, you can press Ctrl + U, Ctrl + S, Enter, Alt + F4 to quickly save the page and return to it.
• You should also be able to save using the file name with an extension like Scrapbook. If you frequently save pages, having Scrapbook is a good idea regardless.
  https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/scrapbook/

[Mysteron347]

Is there anyway to change this back in the about:config so that we don't have to copy and paste every time?

Unlikely. The developers don't add preferences unless absolutely necessary.

• Save Link As will save using the file name.
• View Source will also save using the file name. If you're handy with a keyboard, you can press Ctrl + U, Ctrl + S, Enter, Alt + F4 to quickly save the page and return to it.
• You should also be able to save using the file name with an extension like Scrapbook. If you frequently save pages, having Scrapbook is a good idea regardless.
  <span>[url]<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/scrapbook/[/url]

" class="smarterwiki-linkify">https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/scrapbook/[/url][/list]</a></span>

AAAArgh! So you've changed behaviour which has been established for a decade with no 'restore original' functionality, then claim that a 4-keystoke procedure rather than the original 2 is "quick?" Truly reminicent of the attitude of that organisation that shouldn't be named in polite company!

I'm with dross - I've written a large number of batch routines to process saved pages over the years and now I find I have to teach each of them to read different space-and-special-character-infested filenames?

[Gingerbread Man]

AAAArgh! So you've changed behaviour which has been established for a decade with no 'restore original' functionality [...]

Mozillazine is not Mozilla. You're addressing a community of users. The same is true for the official support site: only once in a blue moon does a developer stop by to comment there.

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