this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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[–] Xeroxchasechase@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're welcome to contribute your experties.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 38 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I wish I could, but this is a systemic problem, not a problem with one individual project.

Is the mindset that anyone looking for open source, FOSS, or Linux stuff is already tech-savvy enough to know exactly what they are looking for based solely on a text description?

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

What? There are hundreds of thousands of FOSS projects with great presentation. GIMP is the exception these days, not the rule.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 hours ago

For sure, I don't mean to blanket all FOSS projects under the same observation. But I've seen some projects where the idea is brilliant, and it fills a gap that no other software can, but they have piss-poor instructions (or none at all) and hardly describe what the project is or does. You only learn about them by chance, which is a real shame.

Here's another example: Navidrome (https://www.navidrome.org/) is an awesome, self-hosted music streaming software.

But their homepage doesn't have a screenshot, so you have no idea if the UI is just command prompt, ugly, unintuitive, or the best thing ever. Even the "learn more" page has no screenshots unless you really go digging.

Compare that to another FOSS self-hosted music streamer: https://ampache.org/

Simple website, but at least you can see exactly what to expect from the UI. Huge advantage even if they two apps do the exact same thing (both based on the Subsonic backend).

[–] sushibowl@feddit.nl 67 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think it's more so that the kind of people contributing to these projects are on balance not that interested in doing the marketing work.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do the operating systems the contributors use not have a screenshot function?

I mean, seriously, simply highlighting a few features would make a massive difference.

I speak for all projects, not just GIMP.

[–] PeachMan@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (3 children)

These projects are run by volunteers, they don't have the unlimited budget for designers that Adobe does. And to be honest, it kinda seems like you're just criticizing them for no good reason. Have you personally designed and built a website that doesn't suck?

[–] fubbernuckin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

they don't have the unlimited budget for designers that Adobe does.

presses screenshot button

[–] PeachMan@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Ah yes, it's a good thing that the only skill required to make a nice website is taking a screenshot

[–] fubbernuckin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago

Not criticizing the website design. I don't expect them to have an expensive flashy website. I am criticizing you for equating the snipping tool with having an unlimited budget for designers like adobe does. It does not take a team of designers to add a screenshot to your website showcasing a feature.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 points 17 hours ago

is taking a screenshot that hard?

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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.

[–] PeachMan@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

IF YOU HAVE EXPERTISE, THEN CONTRIBUTE, DAMMIT: https://developer.gimp.org/core/wgo/

They don't need somebody to tell them their site sucks. They need somebody to HELP them make it better, to DO the work that you seem to be implying is very easy! They're literally begging for it on their website.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 points 18 minutes ago

It's like you need high-level programming training to even understand how to contribute to their project. Where's the "Edit" button, for example?

I've contributed dozens of hours to other projects (namely OpenStreetMap), but it's DEAD SIMPLE to contribute there.

[–] juli@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

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

then contribute, it's called "open source" for a reason or at least raise an issue where the maintainers can see? Not on some random link aggregation platform about an announcement?

[–] Zeoic@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Contributing is exactly what he is doing. You dont have to make a PR to contribute to a project, he is trying to bring awareness to an issue he is passionate about. Him sparking the conversation can make waves much larger than he can manage by doing the screenshot marketing for projects himself one at a time. There are way too many projects for one person acting alone to make a real dent.

[–] PeachMan@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Contributing doesn't happen on Lemmy lol

[–] Zeoic@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

idk, he got those words into atleast 200 peoples heads from here, and probably many more that didn't vote on it. I would say getting that many people to think about it is pretty good for the couple minutes it took to write that comment down.

[–] PeachMan@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

200 people that aren't contributing. They actually have a page on their site encouraging people to get involved in the site design: https://developer.gimp.org/core/wgo/

[–] nomugisan@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 17 hours ago

How do you contribute when there's the Wikipedia effect?

[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

You can if you wish. You just choose not to. Like so many of us. If more did volunteer, the problem would disappear. It's that simple.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

Basically, yes.