Ask HN: How do you find tools?

[vaporup]

Hi,

I wondered how you discover new tools or find existing ones for your needs very quickly?

Using Google or searching in Github can become quite time consuming.

Currently I use

  - Hacker News (of course)
  - https://www.libhunt.com
  - https://sysadmin.libhunt.com
  - https://awesomeopensource.com
  - https://directory.fsf.org
  - https://repology.org
  - https://debtags.debian.org
  - Awesome Lists on Github
  - YouTube Channels where
    tools are shown/recommended...

[matrix8967]

This maybe a bit redundant -- but IMO it's always worth a quick stop at `https://alternativeto.net/` since you can specify OS & License types, etc and read a few reviews.

I've also started to find some neat stuff with `https://github.com/trending` - has been good for finding some good jumping-off points for subjects where I don't always have my finger on the pulse.

It's nice to get out of the echo-chamber and see what the other side of the shop is innovating. It helps me solve problems in ways I might not have come up with - and I've thankfully made lots of friends in Art, Design, UI/UX, and FrontEnd now because of it...so it's easier to keep up with for me now.

I don't think that's an especially hot take on HN though, but just putting it out there in case someone needed to hear it.

[Komodai]

AlternativeTo is terrible, riddled with fake reviews and so blatant as well.

[matrix8967]

I don't entirely disagree.

[MattyMc]

Google search: '[topic] awesome'. For example, 'react awesome' or 'web dev awesome'. Next, look for a github repo. You can also add "site:github.com" to your search, such as, "image editing awesome site:github.com".

This was a great tip given to me by a friend. I've found some amazing tools and resources because of it.

[sleepymoose]

You mean you've found some... ~awesome~ tools from it?

[MattyMc]

One could say that :)

[mdaniel]

Don't overlook the "topics" of GH and GL; they (currently) require the repo owner to apply those labels, so it can be hit-or-miss but often works pretty well

* e.g. https://github.com/topics/aws

* https://gitlab.com/explore/projects/topics/aws

[marc_io]

Web Tools Weekly is a good one [1]. I've discovered – and used – all sorts of useful tools through it since I signed up.

https://webtoolsweekly.com/

[akudha]

There are sites like stackshare.io Many of these are quite shallow content, but they should be good for a quick search

[dolmen]

I write my own.

[zzo38computer]

I also write my own; often the existing ones are not good enough, or I cannot find any, etc. But, sometimes I will find something suitable in the package manager.

[patoroco]

Link?

[annagrigoryan2]

twitter, producthunt, hackernews mostly. But twitter is more spot on.