Hi,

Just wish to make a few general observations/comments about FDM for the developers...

After using FDM3.9 for about a year or so.. I kinda "feel" FDM 3.9's GUI is a bit overly complex than it has to be... Many people, like myself prefer the simple GUI of GetRight, especially the Options | Configuration, which is based/lifted off of an older version of Firefox/Thunderbird's GUI.

The Configuration Options for FDM 3.9 are all over the place, not consistently/intuitively organized, it seems.

BitTorrent "webseed" support is also missing... The ability to save/export incomplete segmented downloads (which tracks incomplete segments of individual files) and "Recover Lost Downloads..." are two other GREAT features I REALLY miss that was in GetRight.

GetRight is pretty much abandone-ware it seems, they still charge for registration but neither support it or make it compatible w/ latest Windows Cient/Server OS or latest browsers.

Since I haven't looked at many Download Managers, other than started using GetRight during the dial-up days and onward....

I would love it if you test-drive a couple of CURRENT/RECENT feature-rich Windows Download Managers (they are the most mature & feature rich, it seems) and bring forth the best features/intuitive GUI that they offer onto FDM 5.0. I've used only GetRight, but others/co-workers highly recommend "Download Accelerator Plus" (http://www.speedbit.com) & Internet Download Accelerator (http://www.westbyte.com/ida/). The two are STILL updated & supported, but also costly.

In the future, a Linux compatible version would be awesome as well, since this is almost a re-write. Like others, I'm in the process of moving all my servers to Linux. And download jobs are good for 24/7 online servers to save electricity... Most clent OS/workstations consumes MUCH more electricity than my server (hot CPU/GPU). Hate to start a virtual machine on a server just to run a specific piece of software.

Anyhow, thanx alot for making such a great piece of software freely available for use.

take care,

-Simon

Hello, some thoughts I've had after testing FDM 5 ...

Suggestions for improvement:

— Allow choice to turn off hover functionality of right-most button (popup menu).

Benefit: Clicking to show the popup could be made so that if the user's cursor hovers off the button area it will stay open even when the cursor is not over FDM but will close when the application looses focus / user clicks elsewhere on FDM. Hovering can be irritating as you have to be sure to be precise in not leaving the correct cursor zone and it can also pop up by accident getting in the way of download list items.


— Allow two viewing modes similar to uTorrent.

The current design reminds me of uTorrent's simple view mode. This can be toggled to show the more functional column and row view which personally I prefer. The FDM 3.x way is much better when it comes to sorting information and being able to compare data from each download; size, date, name etc. The current design makes comparing this data hard as the information is not uniform so the text under the download bar is different lengths which can make finding what you want harder than it need be.

Something I posted on another thread wrote:Each download as you show is grouped in a "bubble" which crams the important information in smaller font underneath the title. It's much harder to distinguish the information clearly. The current column based layout is more functional and easier to interpret and also takes much less space.

I made an example of how both views could be used in one design:
The problem that remains is that these download entries take up much more space than a traditional row list. I have thousands of downloads in the list, 6 downloads fit into the vertical height visually of 2 downloads in the new design.


— Advanced settings could be more clear.

I find the advanced settings text seem to me to be busy on the eyes. Maybe slight alternating row colours (darker than current hover whitish colour) would be useful as the dotted row lines aren't dark enough on the blueish-grey background.


— Less harsh gradient colouring (such as the main toolbar). More subtle gradients are better like those shown when hovering over a download 'bubble'.
— Advanced options always expanded (option).
— Auto-shutdown if enabled to show an icon on the GUI/system tray.
— Allow double-clicking of each download to open it rather than just the green icon on the right.

And finally some obvious ones:
— Enable text field for searches.
— Drag and drop to main window/drop box.
— Close to system tray.
— Shift-clicking a range of downloads (only Ctrl works now).


So far so good:

— Right-click context menu is attractive, functional and clear. I suspect inspiration from Chromium with this.
— Colour coding is going well, less having to read and just 'know' by looking.
— Right-most button popup menu is good.


FDM 3.x in my eyes looks neat and functional whilst being compact. I'd would have preferred polishing the graphics there and time being spent on code. This new interface could be a bundled addon (not for FDM Lite) that people could switch to this new 'mode' if they want. The design seems finger friendly, not all of us will use Windows 8 with our fingers, 2 modes would be best. I really think the inclusion of a 3.x non-simplified and compact mode should not be understated.

Thanks for your work and consideration (:

I also hope FreeDownload Manager 5.0 would remove its "calling home" aka "FDM Community" feature....

In a previous post, I mentioned it causing all sorts of issues w/ IDS system as well as Windows 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 firewalls....

at the thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15611

-Simon

Just installed (fought the flu last week >.< )

One thing - when giving the users a choice on what to do if the file name already exists, you've left out an important choice - ask every time.

Sometimes I want to rewrite, sometimes I want to cancel, and sometimes I want to rename - I don't want to have to stop every time, then restart after I make my decision.

Also, it seems Fx integration is broken again.

Looks like Torrent integration is broken in the latest build (downloading links via Google Chrome, when clicked they are not added to FDM).

Simon wrote:I also hope FreeDownload Manager 5.0 would remove its "calling home" aka "FDM Community" feature....

In a previous post, I mentioned it causing all sorts of issues w/ IDS system as well as Windows 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 firewalls....

at the thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15611

-Simon

yes, I think it was removed.

vaneo wrote:Dear Users!

Christmas is wonderful time for giving gifts! And our development team has also prepared one for all FDM users and fans. The last design draft presented several months ago has been refined and improved. Based on this work, a prototype of the new software has been recently created.
Presenting the FDM 5.0 Alfa version on this Forum, we just want to gather some statistics and your feedbacks concerning the new look of our program.

For all old FDM design fans, we've just released the new 3.9.2 version which can be downloaded from our official download page.
You can install and try our new FDM 5.0 version without uninstalling the old one.

The new FDM 5.0 has been designed to bring all the best from its old 'big brother', as well as to simplify the downloading process in general. Besides working on the modern and intuitive HTML5 interface, our development team made an effort to improve the overall FDM functionality. For instance, full Unicode support was added. Settings page was also redesigned: most experienced settings were moved into the 'Advanced' section.
What's more, a built-in support page was added to allow our users contact our support team directly from the program's interface. Please feel free to send us any bug reports, questions, as well as express your ideas regarding the adding new features by using this form.

As I have mentioned above, it's only a prototype version, and we need some more time to bring it to the conditions compared with the 3.9 version and to implement new features that are most required by FDM users. However, I am sure, we will be able to do all the best thanks to your active collaboration.

Download FDM 5.0 Alfa

WARNING! DO BACKUP YOUR FDM 3.x *.sav SERVICE FILES BEFORE INSTALLING FDM 5!

Fabulous! But how about FDM server? As I said before it doesn't work with port forwarding. It makes FDM special compare to other download managers, but you always neglect this section.

For torrent download in 3.9 there is the possibility to use a torrent on the computer here there only the possibility tho use a link it's restrictive ! it's will be better to have the choice to use torrent link on web or take it on the computer. Thx

Hely wrote:For torrent download in 3.9 there is the possibility to use a torrent on the computer here there only the possibility tho use a link it's restrictive ! it's will be better to have the choice to use torrent link on web or take it on the computer. Thx

Hi!
Did you tried using OpenFile button, which is embedded into URL field?
Did you tried drag&drop?
Did you tried specifying path for the torrent-file manually into URL field?
FDM5 has simplified and universal source field, it supports several web-protocols, including file://
Thks!

Looks great
I hope the new version will fully support IE10, including the Enhanced Protection Mode

when new version fdm 5?

- Without Magnet support;
- I can´t set up the default downloads folder;
- It doesn't work in Firefox.

Beautiful interface.

Hi, I would like to thank all users for good wishes and constructive criticism.
I would like also to ask you to leave all your feedbacks at special Support page, which is built in to the FDM.
Unfortunately, forum is not the best place to gather and categorize all thouhghts and ideas. It's vere easy to lose usefull proposals between thousands of comments.
The new support contains its own rating system, that will highlight the best and more popular ideas.
Please, feel free to ask your questions, register problems and suggest proposals right there.

New FDM5.0 build 1237 is available here: Download FDM 5.0 Alfa

Thanks,

Nice I'll test it now !! I love Free Download Manager, it's the best !!!

FDM 5.0 build 1237 JIS AWESOME JUST CAN'T WAIT FOR THE FINAL RELEASE.

HOW CAN I MINIMIZE IT TO TRAY ????????


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