How we build a highlight-taking DApp and you can too

Khoa Nguyen
Nov 1 · 5 min read

Introduction

Recently I and my friend wanted to build an app that can save the inspired and outstanding highlights when we’re surfing the Internet. After a few days of building, we launched it and you can try it here

In this post, I want to share our thought process as well as how we come up with the idea, and how we build the product. Hope that this post can help you.

The idea

There are some types of apps that help you save content online:

  • Bookmark app like Get Pocket. This type of app saves your list of URLs. Then, the user accesses the list later in a dashboard. Besides, these apps can recommend users related content base on user’s data
  • The highlight text app. These app highlight many texts with a url. But you have to go to this URL again to view the highlights.
  • Note apps like Workflowy, Notes on Mackbook. These apps have a lot of ‘fancy’ features like synchronization, multiple users working on a note. We don’t need these features.

Accidentally, I often read articles on Medium and use the highlight feature of Medium. It’s clean and simple.

When you highlight a word, sentence or paragraph, this element will be in green color and be more outstanding. The more the reader highlights the same element, the more memorable it is.

Then you have a highlight list in your profile for later access.

Highlight features on Medium

Base on this UX of Medium, we come up with the idea to let this highlight feature can be used on all website, not only in Medium.

How we name the app

After determining what to do and make a list of features, we have to do an important job, the naming phase 😂. It’s crucial because the name is the first thing appear in front of the user.

The first way for naming is by using a no-meaning word like Google or combine words like MOMO (money mobile).

The second way is using the combination of noun and verb:

Because it is a highlight app, some considerable nouns I can use:

  • highlights, notes, word, text, content

Some verbs:

  • highlight, spot, mark, tag, underline, peak

I unexpectedly think that we have to select and make the text bold before highlight it. So I think naming base on how users use the app will be a good choice.

That’s how the name Embolden.IT was born. Because ‘.IT’ is a country-domain level of Italia, so we made a small change to EmboldenIT.com

Features, UI/UX

EmboldenIT Google Chrome Extension
  • You can log in to the app to review your highlight, delete or search them.
  • You can share your list of highlights to your friends
  • About UI, we use a dynamic background. It means the background of the page will change every time you visit your highlights. This tiny and fresh adjustment boost your emotion as well 🕺
Dynamic background

The blockchain technology

Nowadays, companies store your personal data when you use the centralized applications. These companies can collect and store your data for many purposes.

The first purpose that everyone can realize is advertising. It’s you is the ‘product’ of Facebook or Youtube. These apps understand your favorite content and interactions so well to recommend you the ads or products.

If you stop using these apps, these companies have full control of your data as well. You can pull your data back.

With a small application like a bookmark or highlight apps, you can recognize that these apps also read your personal data to give you related content or placing ads, banners in front of you.

The blockchain movement triggers the decentralized application (DApps) development.

When you log into a DApp, you create data but that data is encrypted and stored with your identity. When you log out of an application, the application no longer can read that data so it can’t make use of it to build up a profile of you or sell your data to other companies. Your privacy is preserved. — Blockstack.org

Before building the EmboldentIt with blockchain, we also built an invoicing app using blockchain as well. The problem is that the government hasn’t allowed the legitimacy of blockchain yet.

So we form an opinion about making something less complex with blockchain so that users can adapt the technology.

Why is it call adoption? Because users have to be familiar with a new way of login to DApps or new ways to protect their account and personal data.

When users are more familiar with DApps, these changes assist for blockchain platforms and blockchain developers and vice versa. They will build more DApps for end users.

By the way, the blockchain we implemented is Blockstack. If you’re interested in how to build a DApps like EmboldenIT, I will write a part 2 — a tutorial step-by-step to rebuild EmboldenIT.

Lesson learned

  • Build an app that solves your problem.
  • Build the app that you can use. It means you are the first user!
  • Launch ASAP to get user feedback than thinking about future fancy features that no one cares about.

The wishlist features

  • Plugin for Firefox and Safari
  • Random highlights (if users want to share)
  • Text to speech highlight. This feature helps you to listen to your highlights as a podcast.

Anything else? Feel free to receive your comments 😍

Conclusion

In this post, I share about the process we build the EmboldenIT app. Hope this article can help you.

I hope that EmboldenIT can be your everyday highlight-taking app. We really welcome your feedback.

Besides, you can give us feedback on EmboldenIt ProductHunt page.

Thank you for reading!

Enjoy emboldening!

Khoa Nguyen

Written by

I'm a blogger, an instructor and a developer. I help founders build their MVP and startup at https://niviki.com.

The Product Manger Studio

The Product Manger Studio - We write about product

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade