Yes, it's inspired by it but I didn't like the fact that all the available options are hidden and I had to search every time I wanted to add something.

With my app, you can organize you favorite gitignores as lists.

That's why I made https://reactivedoc.com/. You can use it to write interactive documentation in markdown and save it as a simple, self-contained, html+js file.

Now I'm working on v2, with cleaner syntax & more widgets (I want to add an embedded web base terminal to run shell commands), you can see an example here: https://reactivedoc.com/editor/

What does it solve that Docusaurus does not solve?

With MDX you can embed JS and/or React in Markdown already

I just needed a quick way to write in MD and have 'templates' with parameters to avoid copy/paste/replace, especially when documenting shell commands.

I'm working on https://reactivedoc.com/ - it's markdown + some custom widgets, and you can export it as a self-contained html file.

I made it to solve my own problems: document commands & scripts and replace parameters with user input values. Soon I will release a new version with simpler syntax.

I needed a way to document my shell scripts (or code snippets) and to quickly replace “parameters”. For example, if you want to download a YT video as mp3, you have to remember this command “youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 <video URL>” . You can use the autocomplete & history in the terminal but you still have to remember parts of the command and replace the old URL with the new one. You can also save it in a text file, and replace <video URL> … too many select/replace/copy/paste ops…

A few months ago I made a good enough solution for my problem https://github.com/alexadam/reactive-doc - it saves ~ 10 minutes/day when I have to run complex devops scripts. And I can quickly share the ‘docs’ because they are just plain html files / or markdown.

Now I just finished the next iteration - better ‘syntax’ for input widgets, runnable @shell commands and a web based terminal https://github.com/alexadam/shell-driver with custom filters and selection actions (useful for me)

Next steps: add more features to the web based terminal -> convert history to scripts, autocomplete with parameters, command palette & context aware menus, multiple terminals (with tabs or panels). I also want to add support for React components in the MD editor.

Time is money and https://reactivedoc.com/ saves me ~500 minutes/month and I also have a paying user. I made it because I needed a simple, self-hosted tool to create documentation with "parameters". The output is a self-contained html file. Coupled with an external runner, it's a great automation tool for simple tasks.

I'm working on an app to create custom notebook layouts by drag-and-drop graphical widgets with the option to print on demand the result: https://notebookeditor.com/

I have a lot of ideas on how to improve it and I think there are many use cases, especially for creating custom educational materials. But I haven't found the product market fit until now and I don't have a clear plan on how to monetise it.

The 'front-end' product is 80% done but there is no 'back-end' yet - I'm still thinking if I should do it as saas or a standalone desktop/mobile app.

If interested, contact me at: alex @ myhnusername .com

PS. some of the images I used on the website are copyrighted and I didn't ask for permission or give credit. Sorry! I'll fix it asap.

This is fantastic. I'm not applying for the co-founder role, but I've added myself to the mailing list. Brilliant idea.

For what it's worth, I'd do it as a SaaS. 100%. Free to generate PDFs. Pay to print. Take a cut from each printing job, but outsource the printing and distribution.

I suspect you won't find a single mass market for this. The mass market is well served by generically designed notebooks.

Instead, you'll find a number of highly profitable niche markets. (Like the D&D crowd, the design crowd, the hacker crowd, STEM teachers, etc.) Judging by your homepage, it seems you're already on this track.

Because of this, your best bet (once developed or at least in early testing) might be to find a few brand ambassadors from each of those niches: a dedicated gamer, a well-known designer, etc. People who can introduce your product into their respective niches.

I'd also make sure the print quality is on par with Field Notes or Moleskin, to make sure you can command a good price.

Apologies for the unsolicited advice... just really into this idea.

Great advice!

The printing quality & shipping will be a problem and I was thinking to offer the print on demand just as a 'secondary' option, not a feature.

Probably it would be more profitable to create custom widgets and designs for companies or exporting the layouts as standalone, mini-apps - something like an UI/app editor (what you see is what you get) - that are also printable :)

> Probably it would be more profitable to create custom widgets and designs for companies or exporting the layouts as standalone, mini-apps - something like an UI/app editor (what you see is what you get) - that are also printable :)

So under this model, you'd be banking on printers to pay for the software? I could be wrong but I think that would be a mistake. I've worked with a lot of printers and I've never met one that felt like they needed innovation. Printing is an industry that begrudgingly accepts innovation when it's forced upon them.

On the consumer end of things, I suspect you'll struggle to get people to pay much for the use of the software itself. Many people might simply take inspiration from your work, then do it themselves if they're going to print it themselves anyway. But they would likely pay a premium for on-demand printing.

All that being said, I could be projecting. The aspect of this product that I would personally pay for is the ability to have my custom designed notebook printed and shipped to me. That's very valuable to me as a notebook lover. If I print it myself, the quality will suck. If I design it myself, it'll suck.

But if I can use your app to drag and drop beautifully-designed components and then have it magically appear at my door? Take my money, please.

That's my 2 cents, anyway. Good luck! I hope you find wild success with this no matter what direction you take, because the idea is that good IMHO.

I'm not targeting printers and I don't want to depend on them. If a user wants to print on demand his notebook, there will be that option (if possible).

Also, I'm not targeting consumers. Since the engine is already opensource, I don't have a problem making the whole app open.

"I would personally pay for is the ability to have my custom designed notebook printed and shipped to me" -> I think the core feature is how easily you can design your custom notebook. There are already p-o-d services and you can just use Photoshop or Word for editing. But they are too complex.

What I was trying to say is that, maybe, some companies would pay for custom widgets that hook to a db and display nice graphs & tables to quickly create business reports. But I don't think those companies care about p-o-d because they already have their own providers.

So far, the business model is: free everything except for the cloud storage (if any) and premium widgets & layouts. I would not add a premium over the p-o-d price since I have no control over the quality and I would offer it as a 'bonus', like an option to link the app to a 3rd party printer of your choice.

Anyway, thanks for the input, it really helped me! If you want to keep in touch, let me know.

> maybe, some companies would pay for custom widgets that hook to a db and display nice graphs & tables to quickly create business reports.

That's an interesting angle. I have no sense whatsoever about the demand for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a sizeable market for that idea.

> If you want to keep in touch, let me know.

I'd love to be kept in the loop for any updates. If the email list on your site isn't the best list, please add me. My email is my HN username @ google's email platform.

If you want similar thing instantly ive used https://www.trulymine.ink/ in the past. They are pretty but over time i've realized that "one usecase" notebooks are enough for me.

Thank you! Unfortunately that mailing list if full of random emails from people who thought they need an account to access the app.

great idea!

I made an extension to save web pages as eBooks: https://github.com/alexadam/save-as-ebook. You can easily modify it to remove the images (or scale them down) and invoke it automatically on each page visit or refresh.

Looks cool! Is there a way to export the mesh & the texture?

Very cool! Are you the author?

I am not. I just found it and thought it was super interesting.

Caleb Joseph is the original author: https://github.com/calebj0seph

Thanks for posting to HN, blown away by how much interest there's been!

I use Gandi for domains & DNS too. I've never had any problems so far but I don't want any surprises... Where do you want to migrate? What is a better alternative?

I like Cloudflare and find them to be a very good value proposition. They have a domain registrar now as well, though I haven't tried that yet. https://www.cloudflare.com/products/registrar/

Cloudflare DNS is free, and they support DNSSEC (unlike Digital Ocean). The web UI is good, and there's an API, and Terraform provider.

Most providers (notably: AWS) don't support DNSSEC, because DNSSEC doesn't matter.

I moved a couple Namecheap domains to Cloudflare's registrar when they launched, no complaints here. One domain took a bit longer to transfer, but the first took only a few minutes so I didn't mind it at all. I already used them for DNS so it felt like a no-brainer.

I use Hover for DNS and domain registration, never had a problem and their interface and support is top-notch.

Same here. Wondering what alternative there is. Heard good things about https://porkbun.com/

I'm using Porkbun and like it. I've used Namecheap, Cloudflare, Alibaba Cloud, and Gandi. I prefer Porkbun to all of them, but I'm a fan of simple, no-frills stuff.

I've used support twice when transferring domains into Porkbun and they were good. I transferred a domain out and has no issues. Their 2FA options are really good. They frequently have the best prices around (tld-list.com).

I wish porkbun allowed easier DNS record management. It's very cute, but I cant edit a bind style file, which means a lot of extra clicks.

I used to use Gandi for all my domains. I've switched to OVH though. Their DNS also propagates in like a minute.