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Hi guys :)

A few months ago, I posted on Hacker News about a Chrome extension I developed (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29199004).

Details are on my previous post but the short story is that I developed this extension because when I’ve to do intensive research, I’ve a lot of tabs open. But adding each interesting webpage to my bookmarks or my reading list isn’t a great solution because I don’t remember why I saved a specific webpage and what part of the webpage is interesting to me.

With Stringmark, you can save snippets and the URL of any webpage so that you can exactly know why you saved a specific webpage! The first advantage of Stringmark is that it is extremely easy to use: no useless features, no login required! The second advantage of Stringmark is that I have no server costs, which means that Stringmark will never stop working, the premium version is a one-time payment (+ of course there’s a free version).

So I'm posting again on Hacker News because the extension is now available on Chrome AND on Firefox (there were quite a few requests), some bugs have been fixed, you are now able to export and import lists (csv format) and you can also choose to save a list locally or to synchronize it. Of course, I plan to add other useful features so don’t hesitate to give me your feedback/ideas!

PS: “SHOWHN” at checkout for 50% off for those interested :)

I don't know if you'll see this comment... but the Firefox is now out! https://www.stringmark.com/download

Hey guys!

I apologize for the lack of precision concerning where the data is saved.

I'll just copy paste one of my comment here:

"In my opinion, it’s a pain to have recurring cost for small extensions/apps like Stringmark. But as @razemio said, it’s (most of the time) necessary when the service uses a backend. As I said, I want to avoid recurring cost and that’s why I decided to use chrome.storage. Also, as another comment and @razemio said here, the sync storage of Chrome is limited in size: ~100kb which is roughly 370 highlights in Stringmark because the text you are able to save is limited in size (~120 characters). Also, the local storage of Chrome is unlimited in size.

It means that you can have ~370 highlights that are synced through your devices. Honestly, I think that it is enough but you guys are right I should precise it in my website, I’ll update it ASAP!

@bruth that is the reason why the product will never go away since I don’t have backend costs!

In order to attenuate this sync storage size limitation I plan to add these features: Limit the number of highlights per list; Let the users decide to save a specific list locally or using chrome sync; Export lists by email and/or in various file format in order to free up space; Import lists easily

The other solution is to add another premium plan with a recurring cost and where I would use a database backend for these users so that they can really have ‘unlimited’ highlights synced.

Tell me what you guys think about these solutions!"

Thank you :) No dependency on an external server indeed. I'm only using an external small server to check if a user has a premium or free plan!

Oh thanks! What is your prototype?

Can you send a link? I think I'm too young to know furl lol :)

I'm using Stripe!

Wow thank you so much :)

You're totally right.

"In my opinion, it’s a pain to have recurring cost for small extensions/apps like Stringmark. But as @razemio said, it’s (most of the time) necessary when the service uses a backend. As I said, I want to avoid recurring cost and that’s why I decided to use chrome.storage. Also, as another comment and @razemio said here, the sync storage of Chrome is limited in size: ~100kb which is roughly 370 highlights in Stringmark because the text you are able to save is limited in size (~120 characters). Also, the local storage of Chrome is unlimited in size.

It means that you can have ~370 highlights that are synced through your devices. Honestly, I think that it is enough but you guys are right I should precise it in my website, I’ll update it ASAP!

@bruth that is the reason why the product will never go away since I don’t have backend costs!

In order to attenuate this sync storage size limitation I plan to add these features: Limit the number of highlights per list; Let the users decide to save a specific list locally or using chrome sync; Export lists by email and/or in various file format in order to free up space; Import lists easily

The other solution is to add another premium plan with a recurring cost and where I would use a database backend for these users so that they can really have ‘unlimited’ highlights synced.

Tell me what you guys think about these solutions!"

In my opinion, it’s a pain to have recurring cost for small extensions/apps like Stringmark. But as @razemio said, it’s (most of the time) necessary when the service uses a backend.

As I said, I want to avoid recurring cost and that’s why I decided to use chrome.storage. Also, as another comment and @razemio said here, the sync storage of Chrome is limited in size: ~100kb which is roughly 370 highlights in Stringmark because the text you are able to save is limited in size (~120 characters). Also, the local storage of Chrome is unlimited in size.

It means that you can have ~370 highlights that are synced through your devices. Honestly, I think that it is enough but you guys are right I should precise it in my website, I’ll update it ASAP!

@bruth that is the reason why the product will never go away since I don’t have backend costs!

In order to attenuate this sync storage size limitation I plan to add these features: Limit the number of highlights per list; Let the users decide to save a specific list locally or using chrome sync; Export lists by email and/or in various file format in order to free up space; Import lists easily

The other solution is to add another premium plan with a recurring cost and where I would use a database backend for these users so that they can really have ‘unlimited’ highlights synced.

Tell me what you guys think about these solutions!

Thanks for your feedback.

Concerning the free version, I get your point I'll think about it!

Concerning the data : "The data is stored using 'chrome.storage'. So it's either stored locally if you aren't signed in to Chrome Browser or stored in the Google servers if you are signed in. So the sync happens using your Google account. (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/stora...)"

Thank you so much for the ideas :)

Thanks for your feedback pvg!

The data is stored using 'chrome.storage'. So it's either stored locally if you aren't signed in to Chrome Browser or stored in the Google servers if you are signed in. So the sync happens using your Google account. (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/stora...)

Concerning the 'lifetime' word, I get your point. I just wanted to highlight the fact that you only pay once for the premium features and that it's not a 'subscription business model'.

Thanks ezekg! Great idea, I'll think about making a mobile version, thanks :)

Yes... I'll try to make a Firefox version ASAP! (Chrome extensions are compatible with Opera/Edge...)

Thanks! I'll try to make a version for Firefox very soon!

Stringmark maker here!

I developed Stringmark based on my own needs: I sometimes have to do research very intensively and in a very short period of time. Often then, I have a lot of tabs open and every time I come across a sentence/paragraph that interests me, I add the webpage to my Bookmarks or to my Reading List to be able to go deeper later.

But more than 30 bookmarks later, I don't remember why I saved a specific webpage, which sentence or paragraph interests me and I end up losing productivity and time.

Yes, after doing some research I saw some extensions that offers similar features, but all of them have either a complicated user interface, or too many useless features (personal opinion) AND most of them require login…

In my opinion, it should be as simple as using the default Bookmark and Reading List features of the browser.

That's why I developed Stringmark, a small and easy-to-use Chrome Extension that allows you to save a piece of text and the URL from any webpage. And thanks to Chrome Text Fragment feature, your selected text is highlighted when you click on any link from Stringmark.

I already plan to add new useful features and I am of course open for feedback. Please check it out and let me know what you think (no login required)!