Why downloading them and not using them directly from the server?

Rolf

And, what kind of files are they? Text files, images, xml files, binaries ...?

Rolf

I want to download them because my goal for an app I am trying to write is to have it basically be a distribution method for sketches. Me and a friend are producing an interactive ezine with processing and I am trying to make an app that would display the sketches you have downloaded(well a jpeg preview of the sketches) and when you click them the sketch would open. and then there would be a button to check for new sketches online and download them and the image files associated with them to the data directory. 

loadImage() and loadStrings() accept URLs.