this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
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I'm making a FOSS all-in-one file converter app - looking for opinions! (files.catbox.moe)
submitted 2 weeks ago by popcar2@programming.dev to c/opensource@programming.dev
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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.

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[–] TriangleSpecialist@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

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 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Appreciate the feedback!

[–] Batmorous@piefed.social -2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

my idea of a good GUI

Examples?

[–] TriangleSpecialist@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If I feel like trolling a bit, I'd say this:

But in all seriousness, I just don't like the modern minimalistic styles and sliding animations and whatnot. I would not push something like the image above onto a user, but I'd be perfectly happy using that, personally.

For an actual answer, I've been getting into trackers lately on what little free time I have and am really enjoying milkytracker's interface:

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Dang... Thanks for the reminder about Milkytracker. I gotta dig into that... Also, I'm fine with that top GUI as well, haha! Unclear boundaries are visually tricky to me, too.

[–] TriangleSpecialist@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Yup there is a bit of that, and also for me, although I readily admit the above is a bit cluttered, there is something nice about having the information laid out in a plane rather than nested in a hierarchy of menus.

Obviously, that's not always possible, but I find sometimes that, for the sake of each pane appearing "simple" and "clean", I need to hold more context in my head of where things are, and how deeply nested they are.