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There are a lot of websites that I'm not sure if they count as businesses but are reasonably simple: - code prettifiers, - converting from X to PDF, - c

There are a lot of websites that I'm not sure if they count as businesses but are reasonably simple: - code prettifiers, - converting from X to PDF, - converting image formats, - YouTube downloaders, - TimeZone converters, - Online calculators, - SQL formatters And so many more...

eterm 8y ago
Converting X to PDF is far from simple ( I wish it was! ).
- gremlinsinc 8y ago
  It's actually not always hard (depending on use case and what 'x' is) if you use an existing api or something that has already been developed...why re-invent the wheel? wkhtmltopdf is pretty easy to use... there's some other tools...
  - schoen 8y ago
    I think eterm's point is not that there aren't readily-available tools to do it, but that it's hard to do in full generality without loss of information.
    - gremlinsinc 8y ago
      my point was if you just wanted a simple 'online tool' to slap some ads on, or have a fancier upgrade, it's probably doable without a ton of effort..obviously some integrations will be harder than others...
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  From my experience almost nothing around PDF is simple once you scratch the surface...
  - config_yml 8y ago
    simplepdf did a great job, good example of doing something simple that’s actually not that simple
  - HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
    PDFSharp FTW!
- sudhirj 8y ago
  Simple != Easy. Think the question isn't what's easy money - you can have really simple ideas or products that just do one thing, but they're not necessarily easy to do.
latexr 8y ago
> YouTube downloaders Not a good business to go into right now. There have been some recent suspicious crackdowns of those[1]. [1]: https://torrentfreak.com/keepvid-site-no-longer-allows-users-to-keep-videos-180320/ https://torrentfreak.com/keepvid-site-no-longer-allows-users...
- imglorp 8y ago
  On that note, hooktube says they got shut out of the YT API and can only do regular embedded videos now. Kinda no point.
  - ChrisGranger 8y ago
    I still use HookTube to watch age-restricted videos when I don't feel like logging in.
akx 8y ago
I've been working on an omniglot code prettifier ( https://nicen.pw/ https://nicen.pw/ ), but I'm not sure how I could ever make it a business. :D
- gbear605 8y ago
  It's not what I'd personally do, but the traditional solution is advertising.
elago 8y ago
I give a lot of page views to those ad-heavy online unit conversion calculators that are quite simple. While the page itself really just implements basic arithmetic, I have no idea how hard it is to get the 1st result from the search engine when you google "Convert 130 inch ounce to newton meters"

eterm 8y ago

Converting X to PDF is far from simple ( I wish it was! ).

gremlinsinc 8y ago
It's actually not always hard (depending on use case and what 'x' is) if you use an existing api or something that has already been developed...why re-invent the wheel? wkhtmltopdf is pretty easy to use... there's some other tools...
- schoen 8y ago
  I think eterm's point is not that there aren't readily-available tools to do it, but that it's hard to do in full generality without loss of information.
  - gremlinsinc 8y ago
    my point was if you just wanted a simple 'online tool' to slap some ads on, or have a fancier upgrade, it's probably doable without a ton of effort..obviously some integrations will be harder than others...
maxxxxx 8y ago
From my experience almost nothing around PDF is simple once you scratch the surface...
- config_yml 8y ago
  simplepdf did a great job, good example of doing something simple that’s actually not that simple
- HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
  PDFSharp FTW!
sudhirj 8y ago
Simple != Easy. Think the question isn't what's easy money - you can have really simple ideas or products that just do one thing, but they're not necessarily easy to do.

latexr 8y ago

> YouTube downloaders Not a good business to go into right now. There have been some recent suspicious crackdowns of those[1]. [1]: https://torrentfreak.com/keepvid-site-no-longer-allows-users-to-keep-videos-180320/ https://torrentfreak.com/keepvid-site-no-longer-allows-users...

imglorp 8y ago
On that note, hooktube says they got shut out of the YT API and can only do regular embedded videos now. Kinda no point.
- ChrisGranger 8y ago
  I still use HookTube to watch age-restricted videos when I don't feel like logging in.

akx 8y ago

I've been working on an omniglot code prettifier ( https://nicen.pw/ https://nicen.pw/ ), but I'm not sure how I could ever make it a business. :D

gbear605 8y ago
It's not what I'd personally do, but the traditional solution is advertising.

elago 8y ago

I give a lot of page views to those ad-heavy online unit conversion calculators that are quite simple. While the page itself really just implements basic arithmetic, I have no idea how hard it is to get the 1st result from the search engine when you google "Convert 130 inch ounce to newton meters"