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Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

forums.dropbox.com

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Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#31

Post by mparlane »

runn1ng wrote: post #28
mparlane wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9910153/20111022_131203.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3wlvb7h36o5uvb/20111022_131203.jp... There are your two links. One is a public folder the other is not. One takes you to a web browser before you can even get the link. One does not. Guess which one I would rather have. And now guess which one they are removing :(

Add "?dl=1" to the second one it is a simple link again https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3wlvb7h36o5uvb/20111022_131203.jp... Magic!

To get it I have to have my browser open. An extra completely unneeded step IMO.

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#32

Post by runn1ng »

A hint to everyone:

If you got the link, made by "Get link", and you don't like the innecessary preview in browser, just add "?dl=1" to the end of the link

example: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1axoy96uwa80wko/matfyzak%20%281%29... - ugly preview page https://www.dropbox.com/s/1axoy96uwa80wko/matfyzak%20%281%29... - sane PDF link

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#33

Post by [deleted] »

mparlane wrote: post #23
atarian wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get still get a link via right-click menu (at least on Mac OSX) for any file in your Dropbox folder (including the ones outside of the Dropbox > Public folder).

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9910153/20111022_131203.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3wlvb7h36o5uvb/20111022_131203.jp... There are your two links. One is a public folder the other is not. One takes you to a web browser before you can even get the link. One does not. Guess which one I would rather have. And now guess which one they are removing :(

[deleted]

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#34

Post by chucknelson »

bane wrote: post #22

This is a move absolutely in the wrong direction. I'm sure the idea is to push more eyeballs across the DB logo and grow the userbase. But to those users, DB will look like yet another fileshare a la megaupload/filefront/whatever and not something particularly special. Here's some better ideas: - harden up the way users want to use the public folder and make it more like a CDN - Add another price tier if they must to…

"Let users host web sites out of their public folder! Hand craft HTML still has a place among basic users who just want to put up a web page about their dog!"

I'm not sure about that. Isn't that what all of the free blogging services and/or facebook are for?

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#35

Post by jncraton »

phwd wrote: post #6

Dropbox public folders for new accounts will be phased out. As mentioned in the link, all current users can continue to use it.

It seems like most people here seem to be missing this fact.

From the Dropbox staff response:

"All current users retain their Dropbox Public folder, and it's function continues."

This news was intended for developers who rely on Public for app functionality. The public folder is not going away for existing users.

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#36

Post by villagefool »

bane wrote: post #22

This is a move absolutely in the wrong direction. I'm sure the idea is to push more eyeballs across the DB logo and grow the userbase. But to those users, DB will look like yet another fileshare a la megaupload/filefront/whatever and not something particularly special. Here's some better ideas: - harden up the way users want to use the public folder and make it more like a CDN - Add another price tier if they must to…

>> - put media specific folders in the public folder (maybe at different price tiers) and turn it into a flickr/soundcloud/youtube competitor!

Is it really a good idea to open multiple fronts against services which are 'pro' at what they do?

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#37

Post by coolnow »

Does anyone else think this can be easily fixed with a Powershell (or batch) script? Preconfigure it with your public folder url "id" and make it so it copies the generic url to the clipboard (complete with filename) and just appends a "?dl=1" at the end. Make a shortcut to the script and send it to the context menu.

Don't say Dropbox creates a unique token for every link made, which means in that case, we'd have to create a link through Dropbox first. Anyone see any huge flaws in this? (first post)

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#38

Post by losvedir »

Wow, how are people using their "Public" folders? I'm honestly surprised at all this outrage.

I was unaware you could share any folder/file before so I just played around with it. From your file manager, right click any dropbox file or folder and select 'Get Link'. The browser will open and send you to a page displaying all those files and folders. You can copy/paste that link to anyone.

Is the only difference that in the case of linking to a single file, rather than a full directory, the link clicker now sees a preview of the file (with a big Download button) instead of downloading it directly.

Isn't that actually an improvement, so the linker isn't just blindly trusting and downloading a file from some random link? That seems ripe for abuse, if users got used to that mindset.

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#39

Post by jellicle »

This is a major downgrade in the Dropbox user experience. It makes it more confusing to know what is shared WITH THE ENTIRE WORLD and what is not, which is a tremendously important thing to know. Simultaneously, it makes it more difficult to share files. Dropbox "gains" by adding their splash screen into the file download process, but every user of the product loses. This is a decision made by the marketing department.

A major step backwards for Dropbox.

Re: Dropbox' Public/ folders will be phased out soon

#40

Post by aw3c2 »

bane wrote: post #19
atarian wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get still get a link via right-click menu (at least on Mac OSX) for any file in your Dropbox folder (including the ones outside of the Dropbox > Public folder).

The problem is that you could share a link and it'd be seamlessly downloaded by a receiver of the link....you could even use them to handle images in web pages for example. Now? The person who is receiving the link has to go to a web page, then click download. It's an unnecessary extra step and a downgrade in the user experience. Even worse, it's now harder to keep track of what you have shared and what you don't. Fr…

Dropbox is much different from Megaupload. On Dropbox you get a direct link and you know whose directory you download from. On Megaupload the uploader is anonymous (to the downloader) and you do not get a direct link.
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