Firefox/Projects/Download manager improvements

The goal for this project is to improve the download experience in Firefox, as well as have better defaults and a more streamlined approach to file handling.

• Champion: limi
• Project Lead: TBD
• Project Members: TBD
• QA: TBD

Status

• ON RUNWAY
  • Proposal has been finalized, ready for implementation
• Tracking bug for all UI changes: bug
• Proposal: http://limi.net/articles/improving-download-behaviors-web-browsers

Goals

• Replace the download manager window with a panel, and have a better download progress indicator
• Move download history to main history window
• Improve MIME type default behaviors, download instead of asking when safe, move “advanced” options to “Save As”
• Make common file types/protocols in the Applications pref pane more accessible
• Unify security questions on executables where we can (ie. move to OS-level where supported)

Secondary goals:

• Inline display of content we know how to handle (ie. text/*, image/*)
• Cursor indicator for links that result in protocols/files

Testing

• Ensure that security concerns are still addressed with the new behaviors