5 ms·

Ask HN: Rate my app: PNGSquash

43 points by meese_ 17y ago

ido 17y ago
Can we get something that works on linux or windows? Although I guess I can just chain the 4 compressors myself on the command line...
- meese_ 17y ago
  Well I mainly made this to get myself comfortable with Cocoa. Maybe once I'm finished I can try learning something like Qt.
- csytan 17y ago
  Try using the http://smush.it/ http://smush.it/ web app.
  - chuboy 17y ago
    Give punypng a try as well... and make the world more puny. http://www.gracepointafterfive.com/punypng http://www.gracepointafterfive.com/punypng
chaosmachine 17y ago
Nice app. I use pngout from the command line, so this might save me some typing. Feature suggestion: Tell me which of the 4 compressors gave the best result. Also, since the point of testing 4 png compressors is to get the smallest size possible, why not use "smallest" as the default setting?
- meese_ 17y ago
  Feature suggestion: Tell me which of the 4 compressors gave the best result. This is a good idea, but I can't technically do this currently. The compressors are run one after another (it's essentially like "pngcrush infile outfile && optipng outfile && advpng outfile && pngout outfile"), so there is no real "best result", it just gets a bit smaller each time. Also, since the point of testing 4 png compressors is to get the smallest size possible, why not use "smallest" as the default setting? That's a good point, I've just committed the change :) Thanks for the suggestions!
  - fhars 17y ago
    Have you tested that the sequence is optimal? What if pngcrush changes the image in a way that will make on of the later steps miss it's most promising optimization? Oh the joys of combinatorial explosion...
miles 17y ago
After running PNGSquash on a directory containing 10 PNGs totaling 456KB (which had already been optimized with pngcrush from the command line), it shrunk them to 432KB using the smallest squash level. The processing time was around 4m20s on a MacBook Pro with 3GB RAM. A similar tool is ImageOptim http://pornel.net/imageoptim/en http://pornel.net/imageoptim/en , an open souce GUI for the following PNG / JPG optimizers: AdvPNG, OptiPNG, PngCrush, JpegOptim, jpegtran, and optionally PNGOUT. Just curious about PNGOUT - did you get permission to bundle it with your app? Their license http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense seems pretty restrictive: "Redistributing, repackaging, or reusing the PNGOUT or KZIP executable is prohibited without the express consent of Ardfry Imaging, LLC, and a formal business agreement."
- meese_ 17y ago
  The processing time was around 4m20s on a MacBook Pro with 3GB RAM. Is this good or bad? One possible speedup I could use is to compress more than one image at a time, although the progress indicator would probably have to become asynchronous. Just curious about PNGOUT - did you get permission to bundle it with your app? Their license http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense seems pretty restrictive: "Redistributing, repackaging, or reusing the PNGOUT or KZIP executable is prohibited without the express consent of Ardfry Imaging, LLC, and a formal business agreement. No I didn't, thanks for pointing this out. I'll remove it for now; didn't realize their license had that restriction. That's pretty lame :\.
  - weaksauce 17y ago
    Could you not take the ffmpegX route and have the people download the pngout on their own? If they do not download it you can still make the program work without pngout but for the people that want the smallest filesize they can take the additional steps to download it and put it in the correct location. Also, I think that having it finish quicker is >> correctly indicated timeline.
    - derefr 17y ago
mcastner 17y ago
I compared ImageOptim and PNGSquash and PNGSquash made both files about 4KB smaller than ImageOptim did, both were using the highest optimization settings for smallest file size. I had PNGOUT installed too. I like PNGSquash and I think I'll use it to optimize all my images. The only features I'd like included that ImageOptim does have are the ability to drag a folder into the window, so I don't have to pick out the pngs from a project I'm working on, and an auto-updater. Growl support would be nice as well. For an auto-updater framework I like Sparkle a lot: http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ Also, I agree with weaksauce's comment, you could just have the user download and install pngout separately, just tell them to drag it to /usr/bin and look in that folder for it, that's the usual location for it anyways. ImageOptim does this already.
jasonkester 17y ago
I'd love to, but I can't: - You linked me to a source control repository instead of a product page. - There's a download button, but it seems to want to give me source code. - reading comments here, it seems that the source is actually only compilable on a Mac. In short, you have not produced an App. Even if I wanted to use your product, and had the right system to use it on, I couldn't. If you want this to be software the people use, you'll need to register a domain name and build a site for it. That site will need to describe what it does (which, incidentally, your github description fails to do), and provide me with a prominent Download button that links to an installer or at least an executable. Once you do that, please post it back here, and I'll be happy to give you feedback.
- miles 17y ago
  You linked me to a source control repository instead of a product page. Have you never downloaded apps from SourceForge, Google Code, GitHub, etc? It's really not that unusual or difficult. There's a download button, but it seems to want to give me source code. No, the download button gives you PNGSquash.tar.gz, which contains PNGSquash.app, the application, not source code. Since you are opening it on an operating system other than OS X, it opens like a directory when double clicked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APP_(file_format) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APP_(file_format) reading comments here, it seems that the source is actually only compilable on a Mac. Yes, it is a Mac app - at the top of the page it says "Description: A PNG compressor app for OS X." And no, it does not require compiling if you download the binary (the huge "Download" link next to the logo). In short, you have not produced an App. Yes he has. Witness all of the comments from folks who have used it. Even if I wanted to use your product, and had the right system to use it on, I couldn't. You could learn to do it in a few seconds: http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_OS_X#Application_Bundles http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_O... That site will need to describe what it does (which, incidentally, your github description fails to do) Again, at the very top of the page: "Description: A PNG compressor app for OS X." provide me with a prominent Download button that links to an installer or at least an executable. That is already the case.
  - jasonkester 17y ago
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

43 points by meese_ 17y ago

ido 17y ago

Can we get something that works on linux or windows? Although I guess I can just chain the 4 compressors myself on the command line...

meese_ 17y ago
Well I mainly made this to get myself comfortable with Cocoa. Maybe once I'm finished I can try learning something like Qt.
csytan 17y ago
Try using the http://smush.it/ http://smush.it/ web app.
- chuboy 17y ago
  Give punypng a try as well... and make the world more puny. http://www.gracepointafterfive.com/punypng http://www.gracepointafterfive.com/punypng

chaosmachine 17y ago

Nice app. I use pngout from the command line, so this might save me some typing. Feature suggestion: Tell me which of the 4 compressors gave the best result. Also, since the point of testing 4 png compressors is to get the smallest size possible, why not use "smallest" as the default setting?

meese_ 17y ago
Feature suggestion: Tell me which of the 4 compressors gave the best result. This is a good idea, but I can't technically do this currently. The compressors are run one after another (it's essentially like "pngcrush infile outfile && optipng outfile && advpng outfile && pngout outfile"), so there is no real "best result", it just gets a bit smaller each time. Also, since the point of testing 4 png compressors is to get the smallest size possible, why not use "smallest" as the default setting? That's a good point, I've just committed the change :) Thanks for the suggestions!
- fhars 17y ago
  Have you tested that the sequence is optimal? What if pngcrush changes the image in a way that will make on of the later steps miss it's most promising optimization? Oh the joys of combinatorial explosion...

miles 17y ago

After running PNGSquash on a directory containing 10 PNGs totaling 456KB (which had already been optimized with pngcrush from the command line), it shrunk them to 432KB using the smallest squash level. The processing time was around 4m20s on a MacBook Pro with 3GB RAM. A similar tool is ImageOptim http://pornel.net/imageoptim/en http://pornel.net/imageoptim/en , an open souce GUI for the following PNG / JPG optimizers: AdvPNG, OptiPNG, PngCrush, JpegOptim, jpegtran, and optionally PNGOUT. Just curious about PNGOUT - did you get permission to bundle it with your app? Their license http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense seems pretty restrictive: "Redistributing, repackaging, or reusing the PNGOUT or KZIP executable is prohibited without the express consent of Ardfry Imaging, LLC, and a formal business agreement."

meese_ 17y ago
The processing time was around 4m20s on a MacBook Pro with 3GB RAM. Is this good or bad? One possible speedup I could use is to compress more than one image at a time, although the progress indicator would probably have to become asynchronous. Just curious about PNGOUT - did you get permission to bundle it with your app? Their license http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense http://www.advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngoutkziplicense seems pretty restrictive: "Redistributing, repackaging, or reusing the PNGOUT or KZIP executable is prohibited without the express consent of Ardfry Imaging, LLC, and a formal business agreement. No I didn't, thanks for pointing this out. I'll remove it for now; didn't realize their license had that restriction. That's pretty lame :\.
- weaksauce 17y ago
  Could you not take the ffmpegX route and have the people download the pngout on their own? If they do not download it you can still make the program work without pngout but for the people that want the smallest filesize they can take the additional steps to download it and put it in the correct location. Also, I think that having it finish quicker is >> correctly indicated timeline.
  - derefr 17y ago

mcastner 17y ago

I compared ImageOptim and PNGSquash and PNGSquash made both files about 4KB smaller than ImageOptim did, both were using the highest optimization settings for smallest file size. I had PNGOUT installed too. I like PNGSquash and I think I'll use it to optimize all my images. The only features I'd like included that ImageOptim does have are the ability to drag a folder into the window, so I don't have to pick out the pngs from a project I'm working on, and an auto-updater. Growl support would be nice as well. For an auto-updater framework I like Sparkle a lot: http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/ Also, I agree with weaksauce's comment, you could just have the user download and install pngout separately, just tell them to drag it to /usr/bin and look in that folder for it, that's the usual location for it anyways. ImageOptim does this already.

jasonkester 17y ago

I'd love to, but I can't: - You linked me to a source control repository instead of a product page. - There's a download button, but it seems to want to give me source code. - reading comments here, it seems that the source is actually only compilable on a Mac. In short, you have not produced an App. Even if I wanted to use your product, and had the right system to use it on, I couldn't. If you want this to be software the people use, you'll need to register a domain name and build a site for it. That site will need to describe what it does (which, incidentally, your github description fails to do), and provide me with a prominent Download button that links to an installer or at least an executable. Once you do that, please post it back here, and I'll be happy to give you feedback.

miles 17y ago
You linked me to a source control repository instead of a product page. Have you never downloaded apps from SourceForge, Google Code, GitHub, etc? It's really not that unusual or difficult. There's a download button, but it seems to want to give me source code. No, the download button gives you PNGSquash.tar.gz, which contains PNGSquash.app, the application, not source code. Since you are opening it on an operating system other than OS X, it opens like a directory when double clicked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APP_(file_format) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APP_(file_format) reading comments here, it seems that the source is actually only compilable on a Mac. Yes, it is a Mac app - at the top of the page it says "Description: A PNG compressor app for OS X." And no, it does not require compiling if you download the binary (the huge "Download" link next to the logo). In short, you have not produced an App. Yes he has. Witness all of the comments from folks who have used it. Even if I wanted to use your product, and had the right system to use it on, I couldn't. You could learn to do it in a few seconds: http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_OS_X#Application_Bundles http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_O... That site will need to describe what it does (which, incidentally, your github description fails to do) Again, at the very top of the page: "Description: A PNG compressor app for OS X." provide me with a prominent Download button that links to an installer or at least an executable. That is already the case.
- jasonkester 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]