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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 7th, 2023

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  • I don’t give a shit about my car, but I’d love to use this for my bikes! I’m currently using a spreadsheet and self-hosted calendar to keep track, but this would be “easier”.

    I tried the demo, but maybe I missed it: how do you export the data you’ve input, in case you need to move it to somewhere else or if the project stops, and you want to back up the data?

    Data portability is as important to me as self-hosting.



  • I think the point is, you just don’t support products from countries led by dictators. I wouldn’t use an OS from North Korea, no matter how free it was. LOL

    In my case, the US is worse than North Korea, because they threaten the existence of my country (Canada) on a daily basis.

    And for the EU, they have as much reason to distance themselves from Americans than I do.

    There are far too many alternatives from other countries to even entertain an American distro. My opinion, anyway.






  • I think my point was missed. I wasn’t saying that GIMP should copy what Adobe does (I can’t stand Adobe and their “business model” spyware bullshit.

    My point was more to show that Adobe showcases the features of the software, so a potential user knows what it does without needing to go through the trouble of downloading it. It may not be what the user wants, and that’s ok, at least they know!

    But GIMP is so vague in their description and offers no insight to what the app does or looks like. There’s no need to be mysterious.


  • Man, that text does the app no favours. “Image editor” could mean that it crops photos. But GIMP does a hell of a lot more. It’s been “the open-source photoshop” for decades, and they’re really selling themselves short. Screenshots would have made it so much easier to see what the software does.




  • An informed user goes through that much effort. Most users are not informed and will do a quick search, download something that looks remotely what they think they need, and they’re done.

    This is why it’s frustrating that some really good open-source software end up being lost in a sea of other stuff that was easier for someone to download, without doing a ton of research.

    It doesn’t necessarily have to be a website, but a website should be “home base” for a software, company, etc. If not the official website, then the developer has less control over the presentation of their product, which would suck.

    App stores are successful for a reason: they offer a quick, accessible means to find 1000s of apps or desktop software. And if an app has a poor description or piss poor screenshots, they are skipped very quickly.

    The same applies to the UX and UI of an app or website. A poor experience can cause someone to uninstall it (or exit the page), even if it offers them the features they want/need.



  • If I want to know more I would go to documentation or tutorials.

    See, that’s not normal, though. You shouldn’t need to “dig deeper” to find out what a product is or what it does.

    The well-designed homepage should simply tell you that within seconds of visiting. Any additional clicks should only be to “learn more”, but not to learn about.

    If this was an analogy, imagine a street lined with restaurants.

    On one side you’ve got “Vinny’s Italian Pizzeria”, “Joe’s Burgers and Fries”, and “Mary’s Bakery and Treats”. Each has posters of what they sell posted on the windows, and a QR code to their online menu.

    On the other you have “Sal’s Food”, “Frank’s More Food”, “Sal’s”. The windows are either covered in brown paper, or have stock images of “food”, but nothing specific about what they actually make. To learn more, you have to go inside, ask someone for a menu, wait for that menu, then have a look. But the menu lacks photos! You either have to know what they are describing to you in the menu, or you would have to have already dined there before.

    Does the latter experience sound good? Because that’s how too many open-source projects present themselves, and it’s to the loss of the volunteer devs and their potential user base.



  • These projects are run by volunteers, they don’t have the unlimited budget for designers that Adobe does.

    A few screenshots would be nice. Not asking them to make a high-production video intro shot on a cruise ship with RED cameras and featuring an A-list celeb.

    And to be honest, it kinda seems like you’re just criticizing them for no good reason.

    On the contrary. I want to see them reach a wider audience. I want to see FOSS, Linux, and other open-source projects become more accessible and widely available. For me, the way many of these projects present themselves is like gatekeeping to keep people away.

    Have you personally designed and built a website that doesn’t suck?

    Yes, but I won’t doxx myself, so there’s no proof I can give you.

    Regardless, as a user and someone who wants to see open-source projects succeed, my comment should only be taken as constructive criticism.


  • LOL. Brother, I get what you’re saying, but I think you missed the point. If Random User X is just looking for an image editor, and they are presented with a few options they know nothing about. Do you think they’re going to even bother with the one image editor that doesn’t have any screenshots?

    Just another comparison, a little more relevant: https://www.rawtherapee.com/

    You know EXACTLY what it is and what it does within about 2 seconds. That would be more than enough information for someone to at least make the effort to download the software.


  • I think it’s because marketing is expensive

    Perhaps I should clarify what I mean by “marketing”. I’m not talking about spending tens of thousands of Facebook ads, or any ads, really.

    A few screenshots on a product page would be more than enough for some projects. Highlight some key features. Generate interest.

    It’s really low effort stuff that makes a huge difference.