Re: [Usability] Downloads recommendation

[Björnke von Gierke <bvg mac com>]

Sorry for originally sending this message directly to Lars Weber, 
didn't look at the recipient before hitting send, I am sorry.

Actual message:

I think this is a horrid idea, reasoning below.

On Freitag, Jan 2, 2004, at 15:18 Europe/Zurich, Lars Weber wrote:

> ...
> Unsorted files would be any files that the user hasn't yet stored at a
> specific location.  They would be displayed inside normal folder 
> windows
> as usual.  The difference to other folder windows would be that such
> windows would not actually have associated user-visible folders in the
> filesystem: the files inside such folders would only exist as long as 
> the
> windows themselves exist.

This will confuse the user. Every other Window has a associated folder. 
This will introduce a inconsistency. Also what happens when you close 
the window? For the files not to be lost, you would need extra 
dialogues, furthering the non-standard way this behaves.

> Example:
>
>   1. Person clicks on link to tar-file in web-browser -> A small
>      file-manager window appears displaying the tar-file.

IMHO the best way to handle download of files in a browser is to 
automatically download to the desktop without any dialogue. Maybe make 
it a setting, so that you can choose your own folder to download to. 
This is by the way the new behaviour of Firebird, called 
"AutoDownload". All your extra step will not be necessary anymore.

>   2. Person moves the window aside and continues to read the web-page.
>
>   3. After forgetting about the download the person wants to shut down 
> the
>      computer and go for a walk.
>
>   4. When closing the window out of a habit, a dialog appears asking 
> the
>      person whether to really move the downloaded file to the trash... 
> the
>      person decides to take care of the download later and clicks 
> Cancel.
>
>   5. Person logs out and shuts down the computer.
>
>   6. After next login the window with the tar-file is still where the
>      person left it.
>
>   7. Person double-clicks the tar-file to see what exactly it contains.
>
>   8. After deciding that it wants to keep the tar-file, the person 
> renames
>      the file to something more descriptive and then drags the file to 
> a
>      folder on it's desktop -> The file-manager window disappears.
> ...