169

I'm currently working on a file converter app that lets you easily convert your files in bulk without needing to mess around with 500 settings or confusing command-line apps. It's mostly a replacement for all those "convert X to Y" websites.

This is just a front-end for ffmpeg and imagemagick, but the goal is to make something so simple even my parents could use without uploading sensitive files to shady websites on the internet. I've looked around, and I found all the local GUI converters like Handbrake are unwieldy to use, especially if you just want to convert in bulk.

The project is still very early, but I'd like some feedback:

  1. Does anyone think this project is worth finishing, or are there too many GUI file converters out there already?

  2. What do you think about the UI so far?

Cheers.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] TriangleSpecialist@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago

Hey, I'm clearly not in the target audience, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

I think your motivation is great, I absolutely loathe these websites you mention and, if my mother was prone to doing these operations on her machine, I'd worry quite a bit.

By virtue of that alone, I believe this is a worthwhile endeavour and you should keep at it.

But to answer more specifically your points.

  1. I don't know about the state of other GUI tools. Maybe the problem has more to do with exposure than lack of choice? I don't think more choice is necessarily bad, the real issue is managing to put it in front of the people you're targeting.
  2. That goes to my second point. I could subjectively give you my opinion on it, but it would be better to have it tested by someone who fits the bill of intended user. I don't know how many of these people you'll find on Lemmy tbh.

Personally I... am not a fan of the interface but, I am a grumpy middle aged person who started on computers way too young on an Atari running Atari TOS... So my idea of a good GUI would probably send horror shivers down a lot of people's spines. There are objectively good points to yours: it looks snappy, reactive, there are not a lot of buttons or options so as not to overwhelm, and an easy and clear way to open the file explorer. Looks like a great proof of concept that you can keep polishing and iterating on as you go.

Good luck with it!

[-] popcar2@programming.dev 4 points 1 week ago
[-] Batmorous@piefed.social -2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Would be cool to have a toggleable option between using Modern GUI and Classic GUI to add on top of what TriangleSpecialist said about not liking Modern GUIs

load more comments (4 replies)
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
169 points (100.0% liked)

Opensource

4538 readers
213 users here now

A community for discussion about open source software! Ask questions, share knowledge, share news, or post interesting stuff related to it!

CreditsIcon base by Lorc under CC BY 3.0 with modifications to add a gradient



founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS