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nicbars commented on Free YouTube Transcript Extractor   youtubenavigator.com/yout... · Posted by u/nicbars
nicbars · 2 months ago
great stuff
nicbars commented on Free YouTube Transcript Extractor   youtubenavigator.com/yout... · Posted by u/nicbars
nicbars · 2 months ago
I just launched a free tool that I wish existed when I was spending hours manually copying YouTube transcripts for my research projects.

What it does:

1. Extracts full YouTube transcripts instantly

2. Adds clickable timestamps that jump to specific video moments

3. Exports in multiple formats (TXT, TXT with timestamps, SRT subtitles)

4. Works with any YouTube video that has captions

5. Completely free to use

Let me know your feedback :)

nicbars commented on I built a simple (and free) YouTube thumbnail downloader   ytb2mp4.com/youtube-thumb... · Posted by u/nicbars
nicbars · 3 months ago
Hi HN! I just created a super simple, free tool for downloading thumbnails from YouTube videos and Shorts. Paste a link, pick the size, and instantly grab any thumbnail—no sign-up, no hassle.

Would love any feedback or suggestions on how to make it better!

Check it out here: https://ytb2mp4.com/youtube-thumbnail-downloader

Thanks!

nicbars commented on A free, unlimited online PDF converter with Privacy focus   quicklypdf.com... · Posted by u/nicbars
dotancohen · 8 months ago
So the web app actually loads LO components? How about MS Office? Other esoteric formats?

You mention elsewhere that all this can be done offline once the web app has loaded, all these components are pulled in?

nicbars · 8 months ago
I’m not actually loading LO into the browser—those parts run on the server side, so you still need an internet connection for complex document conversions. The offline functionality mostly covers simpler features like merging PDFs or converting images to PDF with WebAssembly libraries in the browser. For MS Office files or other advanced formats, I rely on LO’s server-side engine to handle parsing and conversion
nicbars commented on A free, unlimited online PDF converter with Privacy focus   quicklypdf.com... · Posted by u/nicbars
dotancohen · 8 months ago
I see, thank you!

How do you handle complex office formats with embedded elements? Do you reimplement ODT and other standards?

nicbars · 8 months ago
Thanks for asking! I don’t reimplement those formats myself—LibreOffice does the heavy lifting for parsing and converting office documents with embedded elements. That way, I just leverage an existing engine instead of reinventing the wheel, and it helps preserve formatting as accurately as it can.
nicbars commented on A free, unlimited online PDF converter with Privacy focus   quicklypdf.com... · Posted by u/nicbars
dotancohen · 8 months ago
I haven't tried it yet, but what advantage does this have over pandoc?
nicbars · 8 months ago
Pandoc is awesome for converting text-based formats and markup files, but from my knowledge it doesn’t cover some of the more specialized PDF operations (like merging, splitting, rotating pages, etc.) or handling complex office formats with embedded elements. My tool aims to provide a quick, browser-based way to handle all those PDF tasks—no installation or command-line usage required.
nicbars commented on A free, unlimited online PDF converter with Privacy focus   quicklypdf.com... · Posted by u/nicbars
x187463 · 8 months ago
What's the business model here? I'm assuming there's at least a marginal cost. As somebody who enjoys providing the world with free tools, I'm always curious how others handle the situation. Enshittification is real and comes for us all.
nicbars · 8 months ago
Right now, it’s all covered out of pocket. Long-term, I’m considering optional premium features or very minimal ads, but I’m determined to avoid the usual “enshittification” pitfalls. My goal is to keep the core service free and transparent while staying sustainable in the long run.

u/nicbars

KarmaCake day17October 17, 2024View Original