Joomla’s media manager can manage files across different folders but is a hermetically sealed black box which has been around since the Mambo days. It neither allows extending it, nor can it be easily re-used by other extensions.
For DOCman 2.0 we needed a file manager that is more flexible, modern and extendable. Over the past months we re-built the media manager from the ground up. We took out the aging iframe techniques and static structure and replaced it with a brand new component. Meet FILEman.
In addition, the first beta of FILEman also includes on the fly thumbnail generation, and has the same security features as the Joomla media manager.
Key Features
1. AJAXified for speed
The FILEman user interface is built with AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3 technologies. These include file uploads, deletes, and file listings. You can easily drag and drop files for upload. There is no page reload necessary.
2. Thumbnail generation
Before FILEman, it was almost impossible to browse folders because of the huge number of images loaded. We are now generating thumbnails from images and loading them all at once. This saves a lot of bandwidth and computing power and makes user experience a lot more responsive.
3. Multiple and remote file uploads
FILEman has an uploader that lets you upload multiple files at once. It shows upload progress information and also allows you to transfer files from a remote location. You only need to specify the URL and FILEman does the rest for you.
FILEman will be released as a separate component. A first beta version will be made available to Joomlatools customers through our Member Center before the end of the year.
You can already try FILEman on our Joomla 1.7 demo site. Let us know how you like it!