Live data from Hacker News

A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

github.com

41–50 of 156 posts

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#41
post #31

Many in here don't understand why you need this if it's a CLI app which obviously means you could probably monetise this and earn a living from it.

If it’s monetized, I doubt many users would get it. There’s already many web based YouTube downloaders (that are free); Just Google “download youtube”. Sure, youtube-dl supports a hell of a lot more than just YouTube, but not everyone knows that.

I assumed that most of the web based ones were using youtube-dl behind the scenes.

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#42
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't get these kind of comments. This person's javascript knowledge enabled him to develop this multi-platform app, it looks and feels great and does its job. Yes, it uses a lot of memory (140mb by just opening it) but how long does this stay actually open? You download some videos and close it in a few minutes. It's not a persistent use case like a chat client. youtube-dl is a 10 year old project. Where are…

It's a CLI app, it doesn't need "an app" for it.

A lot of people prefer 1-2 mouse clicks instead of typing in dozens of characters, needing to memorize arguments and options. Try to download a specific resolution as a novice user. Especially if you are disabled and can't type easily.

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#43
post #30

An idea that anyone is free to take: JSON-definable UI for command-line apps. Define checkboxes for flags, inputs for arguments, buttons for commands and file pickers / droppable wells for file input. Allow some customization of layout of these elements. Have in-app "store" to download these JSON definitions, maybe even suggest them based on `which` output. Electron app, obviously.

I've been asking HN for this some time ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27820141

Also see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28461133

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#44
post #30

An idea that anyone is free to take: JSON-definable UI for command-line apps. Define checkboxes for flags, inputs for arguments, buttons for commands and file pickers / droppable wells for file input. Allow some customization of layout of these elements. Have in-app "store" to download these JSON definitions, maybe even suggest them based on `which` output. Electron app, obviously.

So like a modern day VB3 but built on Electron. Would be nice to have!

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#46
a bit OT but I'm curious what's current status and usage data for YouTube-dl and its popular forks (e.g. yt-dlc, yt-dlp)?

They all seems to be active to different degree(last commit is 2mth, 2w, 2d ago)? and not merging backing to each other?

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#47
post #30

An idea that anyone is free to take: JSON-definable UI for command-line apps. Define checkboxes for flags, inputs for arguments, buttons for commands and file pickers / droppable wells for file input. Allow some customization of layout of these elements. Have in-app "store" to download these JSON definitions, maybe even suggest them based on `which` output. Electron app, obviously.

Why JSON? Just use a simplified subset of HTML and ignore styling+scripts for commandline. And for GUI/Web you can still offer the full HTML+CSS+Scripting-experience.

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#48
post #30

An idea that anyone is free to take: JSON-definable UI for command-line apps. Define checkboxes for flags, inputs for arguments, buttons for commands and file pickers / droppable wells for file input. Allow some customization of layout of these elements. Have in-app "store" to download these JSON definitions, maybe even suggest them based on `which` output. Electron app, obviously.

I've been asking HN for this some time ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27820141 Also see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28461133

It seems to me that a lot of these projects aim to deliver really "good" apps: native UI, table output, etc… Results are great, but the UI building complexity also becomes quite high.

I think that's the wrong goal. The goal should be really simple definitions and ok quality apps. Simple JSON (or XML, don't care).

    { control: checkbox, flag: c, label: "Compile" }

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#49
post #31

Many in here don't understand why you need this if it's a CLI app which obviously means you could probably monetise this and earn a living from it.

How did you reach that conclusion from your premise?

I read it as half-sarcastic.

A sincere half is that technical users can't quite understand what less-technical users would appreciate.

The tongue in cheek half of "why not just..." will always smell a bit like the infamous comment discussing how DropBox doesn't provide value, since anyone could set the same kindof thing up themselves.

Re: A cross-platform GUI for YouTube-dl

#50
I built my own personal version where it runs in the background and automatically downloads stuff I like (I highly curate my likes) or send to select playlists. Too often I go through my favorites and see deleted videos so I just cooked up something one weekend. I have an entire hard drive dedicated as an offline archive where I can playback at anytime, search the library and it even alerts me if any video or audio I saved was deleted (I have quite some rare pulled videos). It will also grab the subtitles/transcript if available, description and top 100 comments (if a tutorial etc).

https://i.imgur.com/yxlRTI8.png

Post reply on HN