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Browsers (or site owners) could probably do a better job of differentiating links with download attributes. Maybe on mouse over show a little download cursor or

Browsers (or site owners) could probably do a better job of differentiating links with download attributes. Maybe on mouse over show a little download cursor or something.

mschuster91 13y ago
In the "old times" Firefox asked me whether I wanted to download and then open, download into temp and then open, or download into a to-be-selected folder; with an addon I could force browse render as an option, too. Yet, this required two mouse clicks in the "worst case" that the default selection didn't fit. I think the best solution is: if no download attribute set and Content-Disposition is not "attachment", then render in the browser. If either condition is met, open a popup with large buttons immediately executing the action: download to default folder, download to temp (which will be deleted upon next browser start), download to specific folder, render in browser (if there's a registered handler plugin for this mimetype). Maybe add a checkbox "Open after download has finished", and maybe also add one "Try multi-stream download" (because many sites still limit single-stream bandwidth). Even more maybe, for video files add a "Preview with VLC" and fetch the required parts (header and final part of video) first, so I can stream and keep the file for later usage.
- Too 13y ago
  Firefox still does exactly what you ask for exactly the same way it did in the "old times". Just go to Options->General->Downloads, tick Always ask me where to download files Internet Explorer also works like this practically eliminating step 1,2 and 4 from your scenario above.
NathanKP 13y ago
To show an icon on hover over a link on the browser side it would require browsers to make an HTTP HEAD request for each link to see if it has the "Content-Disposition: Attachment" header. That would add a lot of overhead to the page load, so I don't think it would be added to any browser. However, it seems like a good candidate for a browser plugin for those who have fast connections and don't mind.
- btipling 13y ago
  Note I said in case the download attribute is set on the link, in which case, no, it would not require any request, it just follows the instructions set in the HTML.
- FuzzyDunlop 13y ago
  with the HTML5 option you could just use CSS: a[download]:after { /* add an icon or something */ }

Browsers (or site owners) could probably do a better job of differentiating links with download attributes. Maybe on mouse over show a little download cursor or something.

mschuster91 13y ago

In the "old times" Firefox asked me whether I wanted to download and then open, download into temp and then open, or download into a to-be-selected folder; with an addon I could force browse render as an option, too. Yet, this required two mouse clicks in the "worst case" that the default selection didn't fit. I think the best solution is: if no download attribute set and Content-Disposition is not "attachment", then render in the browser. If either condition is met, open a popup with large buttons immediately executing the action: download to default folder, download to temp (which will be deleted upon next browser start), download to specific folder, render in browser (if there's a registered handler plugin for this mimetype). Maybe add a checkbox "Open after download has finished", and maybe also add one "Try multi-stream download" (because many sites still limit single-stream bandwidth). Even more maybe, for video files add a "Preview with VLC" and fetch the required parts (header and final part of video) first, so I can stream and keep the file for later usage.

Too 13y ago
Firefox still does exactly what you ask for exactly the same way it did in the "old times". Just go to Options->General->Downloads, tick Always ask me where to download files Internet Explorer also works like this practically eliminating step 1,2 and 4 from your scenario above.

NathanKP 13y ago

To show an icon on hover over a link on the browser side it would require browsers to make an HTTP HEAD request for each link to see if it has the "Content-Disposition: Attachment" header. That would add a lot of overhead to the page load, so I don't think it would be added to any browser. However, it seems like a good candidate for a browser plugin for those who have fast connections and don't mind.

btipling 13y ago
Note I said in case the download attribute is set on the link, in which case, no, it would not require any request, it just follows the instructions set in the HTML.
FuzzyDunlop 13y ago
with the HTML5 option you could just use CSS: a[download]:after { /* add an icon or something */ }