IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Tell HN: Merry Christmas

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. ASCII Art Christmas Trees

Users overwhelmingly shared elaborate ASCII trees, often programmer-themed (e.g., balanced binaries, MCTS, Doom BSP).
"Class ChristmasTree extends Tree{}" -Insanity
"Pinus newickii" -culi
"MCTS: Monte Carlo Tree Santa" -phyalow

2. Holiday Greetings and Festivity

Dominant well-wishes, cheers to HN community, and personal holiday notes.
"Merry Christmas y'all" -agentifysh
"Merry Christmas to the awesome hn community!" -lschueller
"Special thanks to @dang and team for keeping this community a great place" -coffeemug

3. HN Christmas Theme and Site Updates

Excitement over red/green numbering and header change, plus restart discussions.
"Fun seeing HN restart to switch to the Christmas theme" -tekacs
"I'd rather restart once (ok, twice) a year than keep that code around in production." -dang
"Dear Santa, for Christmas can we get a prefers-color-scheme: dark mode for HN" -The_President

🚀 Project Ideas

ASCII Art Accessibility Converter

Summary

  • A web tool or browser extension that converts ASCII/Unicode art (like Christmas trees) into descriptive alt text or spoken summaries for screen readers, solving the frustration of art being read character-by-character.
  • Core value: Makes festive HN threads inclusive without losing visual fun.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Screen reader users, HN commenters sharing art
Core Feature Paste art → AI-generated description (e.g., "A balanced Christmas tree with star topper and trunk") + optional image render
Tech Stack React, OpenAI API or local LLM like Llama, Puppeteer for screenshots
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • "Lovely idea but please spare a thought for people using a screen reader! Imagine having ASCII art spelt out to you character by character" - gerdesj.
  • HN loves accessibility hacks; high shareability in holiday threads.

Persistent HN Christmas Theme Extension

Summary

  • Browser extension to toggle and persist HN's Christmas theme (red/green numbers, header) beyond the short period, addressing users avoiding refreshes or missing it.
  • Core value: Extends seasonal joy indefinitely with one click.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience HN daily readers nostalgic for themes
Core Feature Injects CSS/JS for Christmas colors; auto-detects or manual toggle; works post-Jan 1
Tech Stack Chrome/Firefox extension API, vanilla JS/CSS
Difficulty Low
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • "Sometimes after Christmas, I avoid refreshing an HN tab, so I get to see the theme just a little bit longer" - koito17; existing extensions mentioned but room for polished one.
  • Viral potential on HN; users already build similar (e.g., freedomben).

Mobile ASCII Tree Renderer

Summary

  • Web app or extension that renders and fixes ASCII/Unicode trees for mobile (portrait/landscape), preventing tofu or misalignment issues.
  • Core value: Ensures art looks perfect on phones without reformatting.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Mobile HN users sharing/viewing art
Core Feature Input art → auto-adjust spaces, font fallbacks, monospace preview/export
Tech Stack Svelte/Vue, Canvas for rendering, monospaced web fonts
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • "That's the first tree that rendered properly on my mobile" - user_7832; "No numbers in Chrome on iPhone" - BubbleRings; Braille messes up on rotate - farmerbb.
  • Practical for HN mobile-heavy crowd; could integrate with comments.

HN Dark Mode with Seasonal Variants

Summary

  • Browser extension providing dark mode for HN, with Christmas variant (festive reds/greens on dark bg), fulfilling long-standing requests.
  • Core value: Comfortable reading + holiday cheer year-round.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Night owls, mobile users on HN
Core Feature Toggle dark/Christmas dark; respects system prefers-color-scheme
Tech Stack WebExtension, Tailwind CSS for themes
Difficulty Low
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • "Dear Santa, for Christmas can we get a prefers-color-scheme: dark mode for HN" - The_President.
  • HN threads explode on dark mode; seasonal twist adds uniqueness.

LLM-Powered Festive Art Generator

Summary

  • Web tool using LLMs to generate custom ASCII/Unicode Christmas trees (balanced, Merkle, fractal, etc.) with accessibility descriptions baked in.
  • Core value: Endless variety for HN threads, screen-reader friendly from start.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience HN users posting trees yearly
Core Feature Prompt like "Doom BSP tree" → art + description + copy button
Tech Stack Next.js, Grok/Claude API, monaco-editor for tweaks
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Freemium API calls

Notes

  • "This really is a job for a LLM" - gerdesj; many trees (MCTS, Newick, etc.); LLM tests failed quines but basic gen works.
  • HN geeks love generators (redblack builder, BASIC gist); discussion fuel.

HN Holiday Mutual Aid Matcher

Summary

  • Anonymous platform for HN users to request/offer holiday help (meals, gifts, advice), inspired by past threads, matching via simple profiles.
  • Core value: Revives atdrummond's tradition scalably, combats loneliness.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Lonely founders, newcomers (e.g., koito17, ProofHouse)
Core Feature Post need/offer → AI-moderated matches; crypto payments optional
Tech Stack Supabase, Vercel, OpenAI for anon matching
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Loneliness shares (ProofHouse alone, koito17 first solo Christmas); atdrummond's help threads remembered fondly.
  • Builds HN community spirit; potential for yearly virality.

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