Show HN: I am not a dev, but published a Chrome extension: Cowboy Copy | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I am not a dev, but published a Chrome extension: Cowboy Copy

github.com

12 pointsgeocrasher8 comments

I'm not a developer. Okay, I know Bash scripting. I can dabble in PHP or Python if I have to, and I can fiddle with Arduino C. But... I'm not your typical dev who even knows how to use Git properly.

Despite this, I was able to fork a project, add a single line of Javascript to it, rebrand it, and publish my own: Cowboy Copy. It's a fork of Host Copy, which copies the domain name of the site you're on to your clipboard. Cowboy Copy takes the extra step of removing the "www" prefix, which makes DNS lookups that much easier. I needed it. I made it.

The point is that anyone can. It cost me $5 for a Google Developer account, and a couple hours of my time to figure everything out. And, it was Fun! So that's my message: If I can do it, so can other non-developers.

As someone who's been getting payed to do software development work for some time now, let me tell you that you are indeed a dev.

Don't downplay yourself.

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm also just a dabbler in programming but I was able to make a Chrome extension from zero. It custom filters/highlights html list rows that match provided text. I didn't publish it to the store because it lacks polish - I add/remove strings directly on a JS file and it relays on Jquery (probably could be more optimized) - but for my needs it works like a charm.

A good start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2Z_nKRgDyU

This is great, and exactly what I needed.

Fantastic!

This sounds like a step in a larger tool chain (e.g. making a list of relevant domains for some purpose).

What sort of overall workflow are you using this for?

When I'm working on a website and need to do a DNS lookup for it, it's a pain in the neck to grab the URL from the bar. Copy/pasting it brings http://www plus all the rest of the URL. I just want the domain. This tool does it :)

if you have built project on github, you are dev.

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