First, who keeps their download history so long that they need a SEARCH BAR to find the file that they downloaded? I've noticed that they've gotten rid of the clear downloads button and it seems like the devs are encouraging people to keep long download histories which is not good because it also increases memory usage.
Second, we don't need a line to tell us which downloads are completed and which ones are not. After all, the ones that are still downloading have a progress bar and the ones that have completed say Done. Simple as that. These lines are an eyesore.
Third, the icons on the right of each download are a fantastic idea, BUT the information icon is pretty much useless in its current form. The buttons in the information menu do not signal their intention clearly. Sure a tech-savvy user can think it cool that clicking on the path of the file will bring up the file's location, but normal users do not. They have no idea what it does exactly, and when they have no idea they shy away from it. There is also no icon to remove the entry.
Here's my proposal:
1.) Keep the search bar, but implement it the same way as the Ctrl-F Find bar. That way normal users won't have to bother with it, but those who have extremely unusually long download histories can simply type Ctrl-F and search away. The search results should also replace everything in the download window, including the active downloads (unless they're part of the search results). It makes no sense when you're trying to search your downloads and your active downloads remain on top as though part of your search. These search results can be cleared by clearing the text in the find box or by clicking the red x on the far left of the bar (much like the Ctrl-F bar).
2.) Either get rid of the lines that say completed and active or BETTER YET separate the downloads into tabs much like the addons manager, with active downloads in one tab and completed downloads in another tab. That way people can maintain long download histories if they want to, without cluttering up their active downloads list. Also it would make searching the download history much more pleasant since the search results aren't placed under the active downloads as they are now but put in another tab.
3.)Improve the information icon by launching the properties dialog box (the same one that they had in Firefox 2). Add a button that says "Copy Link" beside the Internet path and "Open Location" beside the actual file path on the hard drive. Also a red remove icon would be nice for the completed downloads.
Just my 2 cents for the day
