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Show HN: Kis.tools – A directory of tools that work
Hey HN! Tired of hitting "Sign up for free" buttons only to discover the real limitations after creating an account? Or finding a "free" tool that adds watermarks to everything? Yeah, me too.
I'm building kis.tools, a curated directory of tools that:
Work instantly - registration only when technically necessary, have genuine free functionality, keep interfaces clean and focused, process data locally when possible, keep promotional messages or ads minimal and unobtrusive
Think of it as a home for tools like Eric Meyer's Color Blender (running since 2003!) - tools that do one thing, do it well, and respect users enough to let them try before asking for anything in return.
Every tool is personally tested and described honestly, including limitations. No marketing fluff, just straight talk about what works and what doesn't.
Would love your feedback and tool suggestions, especially mobile apps - seems like every 'free' app nowadays sells its core functionality through in-app purchases.
- SomeHacker44 2y agoMaybe it is not working on mobile firefox, but the list is anemic at best and wrong frequently. How is SyncThing a text tool? And video tool? For the desktop?
- bloomingkales 2y agoMobile scrolling breaks for me too. Off topic for OP, I kinda want to use this UI to browse HN or a lot of sites.
- onuradsay 2y agoThanks mate, let me think about this, maybe I'll come up with such a tool one day.
- onuradsay 2y agoI have fixed the Firefox issue. As for SyncThing and similar file sync/sharing tools, they're currently a bit tricky to categorize since they can be used to share all kinds of file types. Maybe I can create a dedicated category, but still not sure. Do you have any suggestions?
- OskarS 2y agoSite doesn't work right in Firefox, the text is all cut off in the sidebar. First time I've seen that in a while!
- leosanchez 2y agoPDFGear is awesome. Has a PDF editor built-in [1]. [1] Editing might not work perfectly
- onuradsay 2y agoYeah, totally agree! I actually found it while working on creating this directory.
- janfoeh 2y agoThe `ul.items` is broken in desktop Safari 17.6. From a quick look, it seems fixable just by removing both `min-height` and the `overflow: hidden` declaration from `li.item`.
- onuradsay 2y agoYeap, that was the issue, thanks mate.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ementally 2y agoHave you looked into https://stirlingpdf.io/ https://stirlingpdf.io/ as an open source alternative to PDFgear?
- onuradsay 2y agoYeah, this one is a really good fit. Already added it to the directory, thanks for the suggestion.
- jackstraw14 2y agoWish I had found some of these tools years ago. Thanks for sharing!
- onuradsay 2y agoYou're welcome mate!
- rudasn 2y agoThanks for making it function without JS!
- Paradigm2020 2y agoLooks nice, love the intuitive layout already saw an app I want to try out. Quick feedback: - include the mac/windows/apple/android... on the first screen - have all 5 options visible at all time but only use the color logos when it exists - "switch" categories on the left side, desktop/mobile/... on top (there should be more categories and the devices will only ever be 6 - hopefully) Maybe include a $ sign ? Maybe include a form to submit apps ? Keep up the great work !!!
- onuradsay 2y agoThank you for your feedback. Having the platform logos on the list is a great idea, so I've added them to the list. I'm still thinking about the categorization structure. I want to keep the number as low as possible, but yesterday, it appeared that the current categorization by output type (text, image, etc.) doesn't work well for some tools, especially those related to sharing and communication. $ sign is again a good idea. Maybe I can add new tags like, free, freemium, ads etc. You can submit apps here: https://kis.tools/submit https://kis.tools/submit