Over the past week I started working on an AIR Application for both Windows and Mac OS to be able to download files from online. The main idea behind the project was to no longer have to use Firefox just to download files. I say that because I use Safari and have a hard time switching to anything else because I am a heavy MobileMe user with having my iPhone and computer completely synced over the air. If you aren’t a Safari user then I shall inform you of what I consider a flaw.
Safari likes to treat certain files in certain ways where other browsers don’t. When it comes to ZIP files, Safari sometimes automatically decompresses the file, creates a folder of the contents of the ZIP, and deletes the ZIP file altogether. Not moves it to the trash, but straight up deletes it. This pisses me off majorly because I don’t want the browser doing things like that automatically and not giving me the option to turn it off as a basic preference. It does have a preference on automatically opening files, but it still treats those certain file types a certain way. Other files like movies and music, it plays within the browser if you have the proper video/audio codecs installed. But I want to download the file, not try to stream a potentially large movie in the browser that isn’t embedded in someones site.
So my solution to this “problem” was to create an AIR app that would let me download the files I want and download them the way I want without having to open a second browser just to download a file and then close the browser. Anyway, the application I created is GetItNow Downloader and you can grab it from my AIR Apps page.
