Nowadays? I would probably have chucked $5 or $10 towards the dev.
I remember switching to a new computer at work and noticing something was weirdly missing without being able to put my finger on it. It wasn't until one of those moment where I used to use the extension that I noticed it wasn't yet installed on this machine.
data:text/html,<html contenteditable>
You could probably set that as the URL of your home page to get the behavior you described.
I add a style="height:100%" in the HTML tag so that clicking anywhere puts focus on it for editing. You could add other styling and initial content as desired.
There are local-first file based solutions (like classic TiddlyWiki) that could work for you,.. but at that point maybe you meant to open your favorite text editor or IDE.
I kind of like that this simple solution always opens a scratch buffer and I have to put it somewhere else to save it (never saved accidentally).
It also keeps the source formatting (or with ctrl-shift-V ignores it), which can be useful aside from the note taking itself.
data:text/html,<div contenteditable style="height:100%"><script>addEventListener("beforeunload", (e) => {e.returnValue = "?";})</script>
For notes that I've refined and want to hold on to, I tend to use a physical notebook. I enjoy the kinesthetic process of writing by hand so I still use that for more permanent notes.
I will try to create a chrome-extention for NoteUX hopefully soon.
you can follow me or directly reach out to me on twitter too x.com/nabeelHQ
I've made this a while ago for myself to take quick notes while browsing the web, so I'm publishing this in case anyone finds it useful:
> minimalistab is an extension for Chrome that replaces chrome://newtab with a blank WYSIWYG editor for taking notes.
https://github.com/hakaneskici/minimalistab
Here's the primary trick [1] behind the scenes that makes this possible:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dhgibmcoiahciekchd...
I used to use an extension called papier that had a simple interface, just the right amount of configurability and a beautiful design (particularly good color schemes). The extension got removed because of its incompatibility with the new manifest V3.
The current alternatives are either too involved with too much configuration options (i.e. distractions) and not very attractive, minimalist designs.
With your app, you're almost there. If you can get the correct balance right, you could fill the gap in that niche.