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“Right click and save as” needs to go away

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Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#101

Post by afandian »

MRSallee wrote: post #57

"Right click" is meaningless to Mac laptops and every mobile device. For that reason alone, I dislike using the text "Right click to save." I dunno how I feel about forcing a download without a bit more clarity to the user.

I'm on a Mac laptop and an Android phone and it's very meaningful to me. I think it's fairly well understood that "right-click" means "context menu". On the Mac I access the context menu by two-finger clicking or by holding ctrl when I click. On my Android mobile device I tap and hold.

Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#102

Post by thwarted »

steveklabnik wrote: post #55
tripzilch wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when I want to look at a PDF in browser does that ever happen? > but the web app/page is forcing me to save it to disk and then re-open it in another app. because SumatraPDF actually loads faster than Adobe's browser plugin. Plus it's more secure, lacking all the weird scripting crud that shouldn't be in a document format anyway, smaller and open source. Only downside is that it can be really, really, really yellow…

> does that ever happen? Yes, I do this all the time. I read a _lot_, and I often don't want to save the file on my hard drive unless I'm going to refer to it again in the future. And if I do, I can just choose "Save" at that point.

I set my default download location to /tmp, which on my OS is automatically cleaned up. If I want to keep something I move it to my home directory after looking at it. Otherwise, I can just forget about it.

Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#104

Post by thomasluce »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #13

There are already ways to force browsers to download using HTTP headers. The author says this is a "server-side solutions to front-end problem", okay. But anyways, when pages use this already, it OFTEN pisses me off, when I want to look at a PDF in browser, but the web app/page is forcing me to save it to disk and then re-open it in another app. What we _really_ need, that we _don't_ have a way to do right now -- is…

I don't think that it is a "server-side solution to a front-end problem". I believe that the right-click/save-as pattern was a front-end solution to a server-side problem. The problem is developers not knowing how to properly set their content type and disposition headers.

Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#106

Post by mschuster91 »

derleth wrote: post #52
mschuster91 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, exactly this extension I talk about in another reply - but I don't use Firefox any more because it creates disk load and swaps heavily on a 5400rpm disk, and it locks up while waiting for disk i/o every ten seconds (every tab switch, in essence). Chrome's single-process-per-page model is better, because the OS can do proper swapping.

Interesting in that I've seen the exact opposite: Chrome hits the disk a lot harder, especially on startup, compared to Firefox.

This is true, the cold startup takes longer in Chrome than in FF. But if you're short on RAM (I usually hit 2-3GB usage without a browser running) and the OS starts swapping when you open tabs (I have ~30-40 open regularly), then the difference appears.

Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#107

Post by dgesang »

mchanson wrote: post #48

Who was still using 'Right click and save as'?

I do! Why?

* I just want to save the file, not view/open it.

* I can quickly determine where I want a file to be saved.

* I can rename the file instantly.

* Some files are huge, so I rather save than view.

* Bulk-Downloading many files at once.

Just because you don't need it in your daily work flow doesn't make it obsolete for everyone else.

Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#108

Post by i_like_robots »

raverbashing wrote: post #35
jrochkind1 wrote: post #13

There are already ways to force browsers to download using HTTP headers. The author says this is a "server-side solutions to front-end problem", okay. But anyways, when pages use this already, it OFTEN pisses me off, when I want to look at a PDF in browser, but the web app/page is forcing me to save it to disk and then re-open it in another app. What we _really_ need, that we _don't_ have a way to do right now -- is…

Which is funny, because I absolutely loathe opening in the browser, I prefer saving it. Chrome and FF PDF viewers are better, but with Acrobat it was a bag of hurt. Also, see: saving is the more generic answer. Save and you can see it, open it and before the Chrome 'save' button you had to re-download it.

I'd also rather download and open in Sumatra but this is a handy feature I wasn't aware of. Opening the link in a new tab will not force the download (Chrome) unlike changing headers and masquerading the file as an application.

Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#109

Post by skore »

chrisfarms wrote: post #18

One small nitpick: please please don't make all your files download with a single filename. In the article it gives an example of "fixing" a hideous generated filename like "203759-fs3.pdf" to download as "invoice.pdf". Yes this is a little nicer, but please be _even_ nicer and put other relevant info in the filename, "invoice-2013-01-01.pdf" is infinitely more useful to me. Context: My bank forces statement download…

> Yes this is a little nicer, but please be _even_ nicer and put other relevant info in the filename[...]

Aye - another one of my pet peeves is "logo.png". WHICH logo!?

Re: “Right click and save as” needs to go away

#110

Post by anonymfus »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #27
Poyeyo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Opera already does that.

Right, some browsers do, some don't. (I used to be able to _get_ Firefox to, with the right config, but stopped being abel to figure out how, then switched to chrome where i haven't figured out how either). But what we need is a standard cross-browser way to request this behavior (prompt for download vs show), that by default standards-compliant browsers will comply with (I'll allow for users over-riding this default…

>But what we need is a standard cross-browser way to request this behavior (prompt for download vs show), that by default standards-compliant browsers will comply with (I'll allow for users over-riding this default behavior with configuration, if the browser wants to support that, sure).

It would be annoying too. If I want to open bunch of such links as background tabs then I would need to temporally change this setting and don't forget to return it.

From usability standpoint (ignoring security and performance considerations) it's better to show me content and save button simultaneously. Then why do it only when site author wants it? Saving images is common operation and it would be better to show save button for every non-dynamic content.

Why modern browsers don't have save button (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/Opera_3.62.pn... ) on toolbar by default and want users to use menus for such common operation? Because designers don't have a place to put it without reducing usability for most common scenarios of browser use. Also save button was not replacement for "Save as" in context menu.

Do we have solution for situation when application is complex enough that there is bunch of operations which are used rarely but must be easily accessible in one click and could be context-dependant?

Yes. Microsoft's Ribbon.

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