Eng:Project Downloading (1.4)

Project Downloading occurs when a Scratch project is downloaded from the Scratch Website and opened in the Scratch program. This opens many opportunities, such as remixing or learning from the scripts that the project contains. The amount of downloads of a project is shown in the Project Statistics. This feature was replaced with the See Inside feature in Scratch 2.0.

How to Download Projects
If a user views a project's page on the Scratch Website and looks to the upper-right corner, he/she will see a box that allows him/her to download the project. It lists how many sprites and scripts the project contains, allowing a faint idea of how large the project is, however, it does not show how large the project file is. It also displays a version number on the top right of the download pane showing what version of Scratch the project was created in. To view the project without any obsolete blocks, it's recommended that you have the version shown, but a newer one will work too.

If the first link is clicked while the user is logged in, depending on the user's web browser, a download window may or may not appear and/or give options for the downloading user. If the user is not logged in, a window will appear asking them to log in. If a user does not wish to log in, but wants to download a project all he/she has to do is add /downloadsb to the URL.

Benefits of Downloading Projects
Downloading is useful in a variety of ways:
 * Allowing a user to see how the project was made
 * Allowing users to learn from the scripts that the project contains
 * Allowing users to collaborate on projects more easily
 * Projects can be downloaded, edited and then uploaded as remixes
 * Allowing users to help others with projects
 * Allowing the user to still be able to use the project without having to go online
 * Using a project without the glitches from the Java Player or Flash Player
 * Increasing project speed and performance from offline performance
 * PicoBoards and LEGO Education WeDo Robotics Kits only work offline
 * Playing a project in Presentation Mode or Turbo Mode*
 * Using art and music

*In the Flash Player, there is a full-screen mode similar to Presentation Mode; and a turbo mode option which is faster than the offline one.

Locking Downloads
Many users support the idea of an option to lock downloads on a project it would prevent others from stealing their work, allow private scripting, and so on.

However, the suggestion was beaten down by the fact that is goes against remixing. It is also against the Creative Commons license that all projects uploaded to the website are under.

Several quotes had been mentioned [ here], including:

"But wouldn't the option to refuse download be against Scratch's motto to imagine, program, and share? Honestly, if I didn't want other people taking the art and music form my projects, I would post my projects on my own personal site and set my own Creative Commons/copyright license or not upload my project to the Scratch website at all."

- cheddargirl

Despite the explanations, the idea is still heavily supported because of the ease of preventing plagiarism. Some people have attempted to make projects that are undownloadable, but none of them work very well. Some methods force Scratch to close if it is offline.

Top Downloaded row
There used to be a row on the Front Page called "Top Downloaded Lately", that showed the projects with the highest download count. It was removed in the renovations of May 31, 2009.