Firefox Download Issue Workaround

Quite some time ago I wrote about an extremely annoying behavior in Firefox 3. The behavior is that, when quitting Firefox 3 while downloading a file, the alert that tells you that there is a download in progress and asks you if you really want to quit, no longer appears. Firefox simply quits during the download, and then attempts to resume when it's relaunched. This is problematic mainly because, even though Firefox will attempt to resume the download, I may have forgotten about it and actually want to continue it now — not when Firefox is relaunched. But Firefox 3 remains silent on the issue, allowing you to quit and stop the download without providing you any options or feedback.

I've recently discovered a way to bring the old behavior back. I think this might only exist in Firefox v3.5 and up, which is why I'm only finding it now. But it's pretty simple. So here goes:

  • Open a new window in Firefox 3.5.
  • In the URL field enter about:config and hit return to go to the config page. (Dismiss the warning, of course.)

    Config Warning

  • Look for the property called "browser.download.manager.quitBehavior". The easiest way to find it is to filter the list at the top.

    Firefox's Config Page

  • Once you've found the property, double-click it and change its value to 2.
  • Restart Firefox.
Now, any time you quit Firefox, if there's a download in progress, you'll be alerted to that fact and asked what you want to do.

Download Alert

Of course I'd love it if the old behavior didn't cancel the download, but at least now I'll get a warning if there's one in progress, which I prefer. And I can always force resume in the download manager.

Gmail Multiple Select

I just discovered this (yes, I am slow): Gmail allows for multiple selection using the same method as the Finder. That is, selecting an email with the email's checkbox and then holding the shift key while ticking another email's checkbox will select a range of emails between the two selections. Very handy!

Shift-Select in Gmail

OGG Theora Converter

John Gruber today opines that there is no GUI interface for the command-line tool for converting Quicktime movies into the OGG Theora format — a very handy thing to be able to do if you want to serve video to Firefox-type browsers using HTML 5's <video> and <audio> tags.

Since this is something I do a lot — wrap command-line tools in Automator wrappers, that is — I thought I'd whip up a GUI method for doing this. So here it is.

The OGG Theora converter

It's a Finder workflow, so download it, unstuff it and put it in:

~/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder

Placing the workflow there will add the item to the Finder's right-click contextual menu. To use the workflow, simply right-click a video you want to convert, navigate to More->Automator and choose "Convert To OGG" from the menu.

Ogg Converter Workflow

While this crunches you'll see a badge in your menubar:

Menubar Progress

Wait a few minutes and you'll see the OGG version appear right alongside your original movie.

complete

And remember, you must first install the OGG Theora converter tool, ffmpeg2theora, for all this to work.

I've made a droplet-style version of this as well. Place this version anywhere — your Desktop, the Applications folder, your Dock — and when you want to convert a video, simply drag the video onto the droplet.

Enjoy!

UPDATE:

Folks, for those of you having trouble installing the workflow version, here's a tip, as mentioned in the comments: Double-clicking the unstuffed workflow will open it in Automator. From here you can choose File->Save As Plug-in...

Installing Workflows the Easy Way

Make sure it's a Plug-in for: Finder, and hit the Save button. It should now show up as an option in the Finder's contextual menu.

And remember, there is a Droplet Version as well whose installation is drag-and-drop. To anywhere!

Hope that helps!

Voice Control Surprise

I think the Voice Control screen on my new iPhone is damn pretty. I doubt I'll use it much as it tends not to work as well in noisy areas, and I live in one of the noisiest areas on the planet. But there's one nice touch that might make the feature that much more worth trying.

Voice Control

Holding the Home button on the phone for a few seconds produces the Voice Control interface. The nice thing is, it works even when the screen is locked. So it's pretty hands-free.

This may be obvious to some, but I, for one, was pleasantly surprised.

You may now go about your regular business.

Go on now. Scoot!