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Show HN: ImportDoc – Use the content from a Google Doc in any web page

118 points by aev3O 7y ago

quickthrower2 7y ago
I’m seeing so many google docs/sheets ideas on HN lately. Maybe there’s a new trend! This on, the database one and someone linked to one that turns it into an AppStore ready app!
- monkeydust 7y ago
  Also noticed this recently - whats driving this? Non-developers looking to prototype or build actual products without developer involvement? Democratisation of technology?
  - r_singh 7y ago
    Attempts to make web page building (a whole lot) more accessible.
  - curiousgal 7y ago
    Just sheer blindness to Google's eagerness to kill products.
    - formercoder 7y ago
      Sheets and Docs are the primary office apps used internally by thousands of Googlers. Seems unlikely that Google would kill them and give everyone Microsoft products.
  - tehf0x 7y ago
    Very easy to set up a small database that non-tech people can also access. It's also a very light-weight way to implement a CMS with users and version control etc.
  - hanniabu 7y ago
    It's a nice solution if you don't have any experience with a database. I know this has been my reason to use it in the past.
  - rev12 7y ago
    I would say ease of use and cost. A friend of mine has been using Google Sheets for years to power some small bits of data on his website. Maintaining and running his site costs nothing but the domain since he uses Netlify for CI w/Github and hosting with Google Sheets for dynamic data. His "credits" section and song list uses Google Sheets: https://www.pontusrufelt.com https://www.pontusrufelt.com
- thatsnice 7y ago
  I also posted one recently, a plugin to connect to APIs directly in Google Sheets [1]. The primary use case I had in mind was for people looking to grab data from various APIs, in which case it's pretty clear why someone would want to directly access the output in Google Sheets. However, I was surprised to discover a lot of people are actually using it as an alternative to CMSes like Wordpress, like bolting it together to other plugins and sheets to create their own apps. It's a trend for sure, I think it all falls under the "low code/no code" movement. [1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/api-connector/cebnahebbbnlmnkembopbfdkkgoingkp https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/api-connector/cebn...
- lewisjoe 7y ago
  I made http://hexopress.com http://hexopress.com to run my blog from Google Docs. Simply because it's neater to have all my docs in one place. Also, I could blog right from my comfort area, instead of using the editor that comes with different blogging platforms. Most importantly, I want my data to stay where I want it to be, instead of getting scattered across apps. I've written more about this here - http://hexopress.com/@joe/blog/2017/03/05/hello-world/ http://hexopress.com/@joe/blog/2017/03/05/hello-world/
  - max_likelihood 7y ago
    I just wanted to say that I've used Hexopress in the past and really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work!
    - lewisjoe 7y ago
      Glad to know that you enjoyed it. Thanks!
herohamp 7y ago
HN hugged? I get a network error when I click login. A network error has occurred Dismiss
- aev3O 7y ago
  Hey, I built this. Login seems to be working fine at the moment. Mail me at contact@importdoc.com if you're still having issues.
scotchio 7y ago
Love the concept, but I am waiting for Notion.so API to fully migrate to this type of perfect/simple blog back-end. The engineers at Zeit have a concept of this WITH magical SPR https://zeit.co/blog/serverless-pre-rendering https://zeit.co/blog/serverless-pre-rendering
- aev3O 7y ago
  Glad you posted, that was a big inspiration for this project!
mikece 7y ago
Something I've been wanting to write but will quite honestly never have time is a lightweight replacement for WordPress where all editing happens locally in an Electron app and a static site is published/rsynched to a web server with backups stored in a git or hg repo. The big nut to crack, in my mind, is to support multiple distributed content editors at once, which is why I was thinking that the publish action is really pushing to Git and invoking an API on the web server to do a `git fetch` or equivalent. Does anyone know of a project that does what I'm describing? ImportDoc sort of does this but with a reliance on Google Docs it's not 100% portable.
- swalsh 7y ago
  Damn, that's a great idea. I'm going to seriously look into building that. I think the power of this, is it gives the tools the ability to grow as the team does. Initially it's a simple wordpress like get it done thing. But then as the team grows, they can start building and customizing their own content pipeline without having to go through a massive redesign. The downside, is the power of wordpress is the ecosystem. Trying to compete with it in 2019 is no small task.
- mxuribe 7y ago
  Well, not exactly electron-based, but Lektor (python-based) for the most part DOES provide conceptually what you asked for: * lightweight replacement for wordpress * static site generator * ability to deploy/publish through various channels such as rysnc, github, gitlab, etc. * not dependent on google docs. Here are the details around Lekot's deployment options (you'll want to review the left-hand nav under this section too): https://www.getlektor.com/docs/deployment/ https://www.getlektor.com/docs/deployment/ I've been using hugo for my personal site, and it has been ok-ish...but I will be moving to Lektor...because jinja templating seems to be easier for me to understand as opposed to hugo's/Go's templating. But, this is of course a personal choice, and YMMV. Cheers!
  - mikece 7y ago
    The idea I've got is that anyone could use the editor/publisher I'm trying to describe after watching a 10 minute YouTube video and pulling down the Electron app. Another goal would be to help people in repressive regimes spread news and information that the government wants suppressed: that's why I was thinking of building this on a git/hg model but with all of the hairy aspects of distributed source control abstracted or made easy so the content creators can focus on creating content instead of learning MIS minutiae.
max0563 7y ago
All these ideas are cool, but I am not sure how I feel about further locking myself into the google ecosystem.
Shinchy 7y ago
I've always found the Sheets Solution to be a little bit better as it feels more like a database. It also allows you to store lots of data in different ways, but maybe a google docs / sheets solution would be the best all round for something such as a blog.
pg_is_a_butt 7y ago
I made something like this until Google shut it down. You are not allowed to cache and reserve google doc content like this. You are going to get shut down.
lordpankake 7y ago
We did this a couple years ago! It works similarly, plus our version is open source (not sure if their one is). Runs on Google Apps script, but you could use it on any hosted js service really. https://github.com/PeterTheHe/GoogPress https://github.com/PeterTheHe/GoogPress
ninetax 7y ago
Really cool. So the doc has to be sent to the importdoc.com servers first? Is there anyway around that?
jhunter1016 7y ago
There needs to be more of these types of solutions. Though, I'd like to see people moving away from Google as a whole. There is a decentralized publishing platform called LetterMesh (https://lettermesh.com/ https://lettermesh.com/) and it uses the content from (disclaimer: this is my company) Graphite Docs (https://graphitedocs.com https://graphitedocs.com)
jonnydubowsky 7y ago
this has become one of those HN threads that just keeps on giving. thanks for recommendations for publii lektor, googpress, staticgen and hexopress, and the parent article on import doc. There is a geshtalt emerging in this space that makes me hopeful and curious to see where it leads?
vipbababd 7y ago
this has become one of those HN threads that just keeps on giving. thanks for recommendations for publii lektor, googpress, staticgen and hexopress, and the parent article on import doc. There is a geshtalt emerging in this space that makes me hopeful and curious to see where it leads?
vipbababd 7y ago
I’m seeing so many google docs/sheets ideas on HN lately. Maybe there’s a new trend! This on, the database one and someone linked to one that turns it into an AppStore ready app!

118 points by aev3O 7y ago

I’m seeing so many google docs/sheets ideas on HN lately. Maybe there’s a new trend! This on, the database one and someone linked to one that turns it into an AppStore ready app!

monkeydust 7y ago
Also noticed this recently - whats driving this? Non-developers looking to prototype or build actual products without developer involvement? Democratisation of technology?
- r_singh 7y ago
  Attempts to make web page building (a whole lot) more accessible.
- curiousgal 7y ago
  Just sheer blindness to Google's eagerness to kill products.
  - formercoder 7y ago
    Sheets and Docs are the primary office apps used internally by thousands of Googlers. Seems unlikely that Google would kill them and give everyone Microsoft products.
- tehf0x 7y ago
  Very easy to set up a small database that non-tech people can also access. It's also a very light-weight way to implement a CMS with users and version control etc.
- hanniabu 7y ago
  It's a nice solution if you don't have any experience with a database. I know this has been my reason to use it in the past.
- rev12 7y ago
  I would say ease of use and cost. A friend of mine has been using Google Sheets for years to power some small bits of data on his website. Maintaining and running his site costs nothing but the domain since he uses Netlify for CI w/Github and hosting with Google Sheets for dynamic data. His "credits" section and song list uses Google Sheets: https://www.pontusrufelt.com https://www.pontusrufelt.com
thatsnice 7y ago
I also posted one recently, a plugin to connect to APIs directly in Google Sheets [1]. The primary use case I had in mind was for people looking to grab data from various APIs, in which case it's pretty clear why someone would want to directly access the output in Google Sheets. However, I was surprised to discover a lot of people are actually using it as an alternative to CMSes like Wordpress, like bolting it together to other plugins and sheets to create their own apps. It's a trend for sure, I think it all falls under the "low code/no code" movement. [1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/api-connector/cebnahebbbnlmnkembopbfdkkgoingkp https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/api-connector/cebn...
lewisjoe 7y ago
I made http://hexopress.com http://hexopress.com to run my blog from Google Docs. Simply because it's neater to have all my docs in one place. Also, I could blog right from my comfort area, instead of using the editor that comes with different blogging platforms. Most importantly, I want my data to stay where I want it to be, instead of getting scattered across apps. I've written more about this here - http://hexopress.com/@joe/blog/2017/03/05/hello-world/ http://hexopress.com/@joe/blog/2017/03/05/hello-world/
- max_likelihood 7y ago
  I just wanted to say that I've used Hexopress in the past and really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work!
  - lewisjoe 7y ago
    Glad to know that you enjoyed it. Thanks!

herohamp 7y ago

HN hugged? I get a network error when I click login. A network error has occurred Dismiss

aev3O 7y ago
Hey, I built this. Login seems to be working fine at the moment. Mail me at contact@importdoc.com if you're still having issues.

scotchio 7y ago

Love the concept, but I am waiting for Notion.so API to fully migrate to this type of perfect/simple blog back-end. The engineers at Zeit have a concept of this WITH magical SPR https://zeit.co/blog/serverless-pre-rendering https://zeit.co/blog/serverless-pre-rendering

aev3O 7y ago
Glad you posted, that was a big inspiration for this project!

mikece 7y ago

Something I've been wanting to write but will quite honestly never have time is a lightweight replacement for WordPress where all editing happens locally in an Electron app and a static site is published/rsynched to a web server with backups stored in a git or hg repo. The big nut to crack, in my mind, is to support multiple distributed content editors at once, which is why I was thinking that the publish action is really pushing to Git and invoking an API on the web server to do a `git fetch` or equivalent. Does anyone know of a project that does what I'm describing? ImportDoc sort of does this but with a reliance on Google Docs it's not 100% portable.

swalsh 7y ago
Damn, that's a great idea. I'm going to seriously look into building that. I think the power of this, is it gives the tools the ability to grow as the team does. Initially it's a simple wordpress like get it done thing. But then as the team grows, they can start building and customizing their own content pipeline without having to go through a massive redesign. The downside, is the power of wordpress is the ecosystem. Trying to compete with it in 2019 is no small task.
mxuribe 7y ago
Well, not exactly electron-based, but Lektor (python-based) for the most part DOES provide conceptually what you asked for: * lightweight replacement for wordpress * static site generator * ability to deploy/publish through various channels such as rysnc, github, gitlab, etc. * not dependent on google docs. Here are the details around Lekot's deployment options (you'll want to review the left-hand nav under this section too): https://www.getlektor.com/docs/deployment/ https://www.getlektor.com/docs/deployment/ I've been using hugo for my personal site, and it has been ok-ish...but I will be moving to Lektor...because jinja templating seems to be easier for me to understand as opposed to hugo's/Go's templating. But, this is of course a personal choice, and YMMV. Cheers!
- mikece 7y ago
  The idea I've got is that anyone could use the editor/publisher I'm trying to describe after watching a 10 minute YouTube video and pulling down the Electron app. Another goal would be to help people in repressive regimes spread news and information that the government wants suppressed: that's why I was thinking of building this on a git/hg model but with all of the hairy aspects of distributed source control abstracted or made easy so the content creators can focus on creating content instead of learning MIS minutiae.

max0563 7y ago

All these ideas are cool, but I am not sure how I feel about further locking myself into the google ecosystem.

Shinchy 7y ago

I've always found the Sheets Solution to be a little bit better as it feels more like a database. It also allows you to store lots of data in different ways, but maybe a google docs / sheets solution would be the best all round for something such as a blog.

pg_is_a_butt 7y ago

I made something like this until Google shut it down. You are not allowed to cache and reserve google doc content like this. You are going to get shut down.

lordpankake 7y ago

We did this a couple years ago! It works similarly, plus our version is open source (not sure if their one is). Runs on Google Apps script, but you could use it on any hosted js service really. https://github.com/PeterTheHe/GoogPress https://github.com/PeterTheHe/GoogPress

ninetax 7y ago

Really cool. So the doc has to be sent to the importdoc.com servers first? Is there anyway around that?

jhunter1016 7y ago

There needs to be more of these types of solutions. Though, I'd like to see people moving away from Google as a whole. There is a decentralized publishing platform called LetterMesh (https://lettermesh.com/ https://lettermesh.com/) and it uses the content from (disclaimer: this is my company) Graphite Docs (https://graphitedocs.com https://graphitedocs.com)

jonnydubowsky 7y ago

this has become one of those HN threads that just keeps on giving. thanks for recommendations for publii lektor, googpress, staticgen and hexopress, and the parent article on import doc. There is a geshtalt emerging in this space that makes me hopeful and curious to see where it leads?

vipbababd 7y ago

I’m seeing so many google docs/sheets ideas on HN lately. Maybe there’s a new trend! This on, the database one and someone linked to one that turns it into an AppStore ready app!