Indistinguishable from Jesse

Uploading to web sites is a pain.

• You have to navigate through your file system hierarchy to select the file, even if it's "right there" in another application, a Terminal window, or a Finder window.
• If you want to upload a bunch of files, you have to go through these steps to each file.
• If you want to upload a screenshot or a blob of text, you have to use another application to save it, navigate Firefox's file picker to the same folder to upload it, and finally delete the file.

Firefox 2 contained a shortcut that helped with some of these cases: you could type or paste a complete path instead of clicking the "Browse" button. This helped if you started in a terminal window, or if you wanted to upload a bunch of files with similar names. It didn't do tab-completion, it wouldn't notify you if the file didn't exist, and it was a significant security hole. But when we removed it from Firefox 3, counter bug 374011 gathered 42 votes and 99 comments.

How can Firefox make uploads take fewer steps? Join the brainstorming right now on Air Mozilla or #airmozilla, or add your comments below.

For inspiration, see:

• My extension ideas in bug 374011
• GrabUp, a Mac application that streamlines the sharing of screenshots.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Ask the world, Mozilla, Security, User Interfaces. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.