I'm building Darkslide (https://darkslide.app) - the keyboard-centric photo editor. It is an early, rough, and completely free macOS app looking for feedback from anyone who shoots photos and hates Adobe.
The project was born out of two main ideas:
1. Exploring a keyboard-centric UX: I enjoy vim motions and wanted to see if a purely keyboard-focused approach to photo editing is actually valuable. I can basically sum it up as "vim for photos"—the most stereotypically over-engineered developer solution to a creative problem, so feel free to roast me for it.
2. Killing the catalog: I hate how Lightroom or Capture One forces you to manage a .library file, or how others rely on sidecar files. Darkslide manages adjustments automatically behind the scenes. You can just move or duplicate your original photo file in your OS, and the app handles the edits correctly without corrupting a catalog.
How it works (90-second demo): Edit one photo, "yank" the edits, select 200, paste, and export. https://youtu.be/4R9l4fgsvT4
Try it out: You can download the current macOS DMG directly here: https://darkslide.app/download/Darkslide.dmg
I am not selling anything right now—this is a validation test. Whether you edit photos as a professional or just a hobbyist, I would love your feedback. Is this keyboard-driven approach something you would actually use?
Thanks for taking a look. If you want to share feedback - feel free to connect: https://x.com/rmn_vlkv
P.S. Keep in mind that macOS will prevent the app from opening right now because Darkslide isn't notarized yet. You can use this solution in your terminal to run it: xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Darkslide.app