Anyway to revert Safari 5.1 to a proper downloads folder?

I'm not sure to understand you, but it seems you cannot see the downloadig file as before, with the Safari icon in the middle and a filling bar down? I installed safari 5.1 too, and i can see it as usual on download folder, as well as on the pile, with Snow Leopard. So, the issue deals with Lion, not Safari.

Anyway, I'm also having problems with ClickToFlash, dragging and dropping a link into a "pestaña" (dont' know the English name, maybe thumb? the ones on that bar with different pages in the same window…), the ortographic checker, just noticed, and opening on Dashboard as a web clip. The best for me is going back to 5.0.5, mean while.

Again, it seems to deal with a Lion issue. It's very strange, as you said it seem Safari's but on Snow Leopard the Safari downloading window appears as always. By now, I'm downloading 10.6.7 update combo for going back to Safari 5.0.5. Could not install it with my actual 10.6.8!

Let's hope Apple solved all these issues soon!

Certainly, it is not an issue but a new Safari's characteristic only for Lion.

"Downloads Popover

It’s even easier to keep track of your downloads with the new Downloads popover in Safari on Lion. When you download a file, an arrow button appears to the right of the Smart Search Field and shows you its progress. Click the button to see the popover and everything you’ve downloaded. You can drag downloads to the desktop or clear them from the popover."

I guess you must get accustomed to this new popover. Anyway, you can open your Download folder on Finder for tracking your downloads; this is pretty close to what you used to do on Snow Leopard with Safari's download window.

I totally agree. This is one of those bizarre interface changes that make me scratch my head and think "who wanted this?". Safari's download window had important functionality that is not duplicated in the new pop-up. Plus it's also just plain intrusive and annoying that you can't move it. Finally, it seems to be buggy, after downloading about a dozen items, new downloads only appear in the list as they are downloading, and then disappear immediately. So I'm hoping there's some hidden terminal command out there to enable the prior functionality of a dedicated downloads window. Because this new functionality is just plain half-baked, and is not by any means "easier". At the very very least, it should be an option for user's to choose, not the ONLY alternative for viewing downloads. Bad Apple!

Just another reason to stick with Firefox I guess...

The reason for no Downloads window is because Safari, under Lion, has to be able to go full screen. Thus, you wouldn't be able to see other windows. This is definitely a Lion change. Safari 5.1 in Snow Leopard still has the Downloads window.

I use the donwload panel to paste file's url to download. Now, in Lion is not posible because the Download panel is no visible if there is not file downloading.

:-(

Only for this... the new interface is good for me, the fullscreen feature is really good implemented by Apple.

Soul of Wit wrote:

The reason for no Downloads window is because Safari, under Lion, has to be able to go full screen. Thus, you wouldn't be able to see other windows. This is definitely a Lion change. Safari 5.1 in Snow Leopard still has the Downloads window.

Okay. That's exactly why we are looking for a hidden terminal command or preference option to re-enable the prior Download window functionality in Lion. It would be trivially simple for Apple to detect whether Safari is actually running in Full Screen mode and adjust the interface functionality accordingly (I'd bet a single if-then block would do it). There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to enforce such an interface change on Lion users across the board.

Removing user choice does not make things "easier"...

And a further thing they broke was the ability to view .pdf's in the browser...

See Adobe's comments on the subject:

With today’s release of the Safari 5.1 browser, we wanted to alert you of some compatibility issues and workarounds that relate to Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Adobe Reader and Acrobat are not compatible with the Safari 5.1 browser, announced today.

go to:

http://blogs.adobe.com/adobereader/2011/07/compatibility-advisory-regarding-adob e-reader-plug-in-and-acrobat-plug-in-with-safari-5-1.html#comment-1616

Captnpetee wrote:

And a further thing they broke was the ability to view .pdf's in the browser...

But only if you're using Acrobat, so this is entirely Adobe's fault. Apple's built-in PDF browsing works just fine in Safari. Adobe, as usual, just couldn't be bothered testing and fixing their software before Lion came out -- see http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/905/cpsid_90508.html for an embarrassingly-long list of Adobe/Lion issues.

I neglected to mention that I'm not on Lion, but on 10.6.8. And there, even with plug-ins removed, etc., etc., Safari will not render a .pdf in a usable fashion.

Furthermore, I take exception to your argument. Until I see evidence that Apple told Adobe, "Here's an issue we have with this new software upgrade we're planning to release, and since our user base is so very invensted in many of your software products will you please repair while we hold off releasing until corrected," and to that Adobe's response of "go pound sand," I'll hold Apple accountable. Quit being such an Apple shill.

Captnpetee wrote:

I neglected to mention that I'm not on Lion, but on 10.6.8. And there, even with plug-ins removed, etc., etc., Safari will not render a .pdf in a usable fashion.

Then there's probably some other issue with your Mac, because nobody else seems to be having problems rendering PDFs in Safari 5.1 on 10.6.8. Worked just fine for me before I upgraded to Lion, too.

Apple had no need to have a specific conversation with Adobe. Apple told all software developers at the same time that a major update was happening, and they've all had access to the new SDKs since then.

Users that are particularly invested in a particular company's software should of course, hold off upgrading their operating system until they know that particular company's software works on the new version of the operating system. That's always been the case whether the operating system in question is MacOS, Windows, Linux, Solaris, BSD or anything else, so you can hardly blame Apple for that either.

As for being an Apple shill, given who I work for (and no, I'm not going to say here), that's rather unlikely 🙂

Sorry, signed in with the wrong AppleID to post that reply (I wish Apple would let me merge them), but for the avoidance of doubt, it really was me who posted it 🙂

I found this plugin. Haven't tried it with Lion/Safari 5.1 but works with Snow Leopard 10.6.8/Safari5.1/Firefox 4.0.1

http://www.schubert-it.com/pluginpdf/ It's free for "Personal Use"