[Nfb-web] ASCII Downloads

[J-Squared]

Peter,
I've never seen a website that will automatically prompt you to download an 
ASCII text file. I'd consider taht people would probably like the option to 
hit enter on the file and read it without downloading it. Many sites with 
downloadable text files add a line explaining to right-click and select save 
as to save the file. As you mentioned, you could also zip the files. The 
Braille Monitor does this, with regular text copies as well as a zipped 
version.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net>
To: <nfb-web at nfbnet.org>
Cc: <blindwebbers at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 8:50 PM
Subject: [Nfb-web] ASCII Downloads


> Good evening folks,
>
>    I'm working on a Web site on which I must place downloadable ASCII
> Files. Whenever I attempt to download an ASCII File by hitting enter
> Internet Explorer displays the file's contents on the screen rather than
> bringing up the file download dialogue box. If I attempt to download a 
> file
> created in any other format such as Ridge Text, or MSWord the download
> dialogue box appears and I can type in the path to where the file is to be
> saved on my system. The only way to do this with an ASCII file is to 
> select,
> "Save Target As" from the context menu so the file will appear in the file
> download dialogue box rather than its contents being displayed on the
> computer screen should one attempt to download it simply by hitting enter
> rather than using the Save Target As choice from the context menu.
>
>    The only way I've been able to make these files come down by hitting
> enter to bring up the file download dialogue box to avoid using the 
> context
> menu is to zip up these files. I'd like to know if there is an element I 
> can
> add to the ASCII download links to tell a Web browser to download ASCII
> Files rather than display their contents on the screen to avoid having to
> zip up these files, or requiring site visitors to use the context menu? 
> Any
> other fixes or work-arounds for this one will be much appreciated. Take 
> care
> everyone and have a great week.
>
> Peter Donahue
>
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