I had the idea for BIGWORDS.PAGE when I wanted to display a message on a tablet that I had remote management control over, but no physical access. Configuring it to be a kiosk browser is easy, but how do I get the browser to show my message? So I made the URL be the message.
It uses a URL fragment to configure the message. Browsers don't send URL fragments to the server, so I never see your message. There's no backend, and no storage.
All parameters are documented, so generating a message link is easy. There's also a built-in editor to make it extra easy.
There are a few extra features like slides, animations, and countdowns and timers. QR codes too. Not too fancy, but hopefully enough to be useful.
I know the uses for this are pretty niche. But it may be one of those things that you keep as a nugget in your brain, a tool in your back pocket. Not something you use often, but when you do it makes things just a little bit easier.
It's open source (MIT), and self-hostable if that's your thing.
LLM-speak is a huge turn off to me (and a lot of other people here, from my interactions), so the fact that your submission title is AI-generated is... sorry, I have no words. I don’t even care that much about the code, but please write prose by hand, in your own voice, if you want us to read it.
Edit: rephrased the last sentence. Also, here’s my take on the title:
> Show HN: Bigwords.page – turn any screen into a sign, controlled by the URL params
Let me guess, you saw the `–` and thought "Clearly no human uses the em dash. It must all be AI".
I looked over the website and their github page and saw no indication of AI usage. I'm not saying it wasn't used, but unless you have actual evidence, then please point it out.
Donald Knuth once said "Jon Bentley probably hit the nail on the head when he once was asked why literate programming hasn’t taken the whole world by storm. He observed that a small percentage of the world’s population is good at programming, and a small percentage is good at writing; apparently I am asking everybody to be in both subsets."
Get off your high horse. Not everybody studied to write prose, not everybody was born American to begin with. If LLMs helps programmers get heard - good. That's probably the best usage for them anyway.
In Firefox, scrollWidth includes spaces that extend into the margin, so it's possible for text to fit perfectly on the screen, but scrollWidth > clientWidth. Fix here https://saej.in/posts/screaming/
In the make one by hand section, you probably don't need to tell people %20 is a space. If they type it in naturally, the browser should encode automatically
I had this idea ten years ago. Told my parents it’d be nice to say “have a good day” and my moms initial reaction was she’d say “** you”. End of that idea.
Completely different architecture, but would be amazing if another device could control what message (or photo, embedded video) is displayed.
There's a huge industry around digital signage and I've always felt it could be replaced with a simple Chromium kiosk + auto-refreshed webpage content. There's really no need for expensive HDMI connections or custom video streams when we already have browsers.
I use to try and coordinate game nights across the world, and a url with the Unix timestamp of the event and a countdown showing how many days and hours worked quite well.
I think BIGWORDS.PAGE would be a great companion to a web browser app on those TV devices. I haven't found any good web browser for AppleTV, but if somebody has a browser/kiosk app that let's you send a URL from your phone, that would be really great!
Unfortunately Apple TV doesn't support WebView. I'm procuring a second-hand device so I can test my app there. I'm thinking of rendering it on the server and sending a series of images. Not sure of the cost, though.
That's the OG (Open Graph) Image. It's an image built into the site that's used as the thumbnail for shares on social media and messaging apps. (More info on OG Images here: https://layerre.com/glossary/open-graph-image/)
How could I change the image to be less intrusive? I can't have it show an image of the message you're trying to share, because the server never sees that message. But can I make the default image nicer on the eyes.
I had the idea for BIGWORDS.PAGE when I wanted to display a message on a tablet that I had remote management control over, but no physical access. Configuring it to be a kiosk browser is easy, but how do I get the browser to show my message? So I made the URL be the message.
It uses a URL fragment to configure the message. Browsers don't send URL fragments to the server, so I never see your message. There's no backend, and no storage.
All parameters are documented, so generating a message link is easy. There's also a built-in editor to make it extra easy.
https://bigwords.page/#Hello,%20HN!&bg=ff6600&fg=000000&font...
There are a few extra features like slides, animations, and countdowns and timers. QR codes too. Not too fancy, but hopefully enough to be useful.
I know the uses for this are pretty niche. But it may be one of those things that you keep as a nugget in your brain, a tool in your back pocket. Not something you use often, but when you do it makes things just a little bit easier.
It's open source (MIT), and self-hostable if that's your thing.
Let me know what you think.
We had similar ideas! Except mine is less customizable, I never thought to add formatting.
https://github.com/abejfehr/bigtext
https://www.abefehr.com/bigtext/
I love it!
In fact I employed the same idea for the slide stack site I use for teaching. Not exactly "URL is an app" but "URL is a slide"
https://okaleniuk.codeberg.page/blackboard/_1.html?sequence=...
The same consideration applies. No backend, no storage, also no user data collection, no authorization, no hurdles in general. Everyone can use it.
Great execution.
Really nicely done
Curious, did you use AI model?
> The URL is the app
LLM-speak is a huge turn off to me (and a lot of other people here, from my interactions), so the fact that your submission title is AI-generated is... sorry, I have no words. I don’t even care that much about the code, but please write prose by hand, in your own voice, if you want us to read it.
Edit: rephrased the last sentence. Also, here’s my take on the title:
> Show HN: Bigwords.page – turn any screen into a sign, controlled by the URL params
Let me guess, you saw the `–` and thought "Clearly no human uses the em dash. It must all be AI".
I looked over the website and their github page and saw no indication of AI usage. I'm not saying it wasn't used, but unless you have actual evidence, then please point it out.
6 replies →
Wait how is "The URL is the app" LLM-speak? Genuine question, sounded fine to me when I read it, not sure what a better way to phrase it would be
10 replies →
Donald Knuth once said "Jon Bentley probably hit the nail on the head when he once was asked why literate programming hasn’t taken the whole world by storm. He observed that a small percentage of the world’s population is good at programming, and a small percentage is good at writing; apparently I am asking everybody to be in both subsets."
Get off your high horse. Not everybody studied to write prose, not everybody was born American to begin with. If LLMs helps programmers get heard - good. That's probably the best usage for them anyway.
3 replies →
Yeah, the issue here is that the URL is not the app.
This is basically a differently-shaped https://github.com/antonmedv/textarea
Cool idea, but agree that fixing actual mistakes in the title is a worthwhile use of time.
https://bigwords.page/#smol!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!...!
You seem to have the same bug I had when I first implemented https://screaming.saej.in/
In Firefox, scrollWidth includes spaces that extend into the margin, so it's possible for text to fit perfectly on the screen, but scrollWidth > clientWidth. Fix here https://saej.in/posts/screaming/
Who remembers https://bigassmessage.com/
epilepsy warning for the 'MAGIC' style :(
In the make one by hand section, you probably don't need to tell people %20 is a space. If they type it in naturally, the browser should encode automatically
Hook it up to voice control so I can put an iPad in the back window of the car and tell other drivers… things.
I had this idea ten years ago. Told my parents it’d be nice to say “have a good day” and my moms initial reaction was she’d say “** you”. End of that idea.
Ouch, life long child trauma created. No idea is good enough to impress mum.
Won't it say
> You are a poo-emoji bomb-emoji #!! driver
?
I am exercising my Fifth Amendment right to silence at this time.
I considered something similar with LED lights but I deemed it illegal in Germany
Completely different architecture, but would be amazing if another device could control what message (or photo, embedded video) is displayed.
There's a huge industry around digital signage and I've always felt it could be replaced with a simple Chromium kiosk + auto-refreshed webpage content. There's really no need for expensive HDMI connections or custom video streams when we already have browsers.
Damn, you triggered my old memories of clicking one of these on some old forum: https://disco.[EPILEPSY WARNING]fleo.se/hello
"Nothing else: no lists, tables, links, quotes, images or rules."
Claudish needs to be cleaned up.
I love solutions like this. Make the URL the entirety of the data needed. Awesome
I did a similar thing to share files via a URL :)
https://urlfile.app
Cool project. But why not built with php so I can simply throw it on my running web server?
It's a static site.
I use a similar thing but designed to be as few steps as possible:
https://bigtext.k55.io/
The URL is the state but clearly there is an actual app here
You right. But I only had 80 characters to work with.
I used to order drinks like this when the bar was full
I use to try and coordinate game nights across the world, and a url with the Unix timestamp of the event and a countdown showing how many days and hours worked quite well.
Suggestion: make it a GoogleTV / AppleTV app so users can set it up in a few clicks and transform any screen laying around into a sign.
I built https://signagesync.app for my cafe. It can be used to create a video wall (combine multiple screens to make a bigger screen).
I think BIGWORDS.PAGE would be a great companion to a web browser app on those TV devices. I haven't found any good web browser for AppleTV, but if somebody has a browser/kiosk app that let's you send a URL from your phone, that would be really great!
Unfortunately Apple TV doesn't support WebView. I'm procuring a second-hand device so I can test my app there. I'm thinking of rendering it on the server and sending a series of images. Not sure of the cost, though.
I like this site because it exemplifies DOTADIW, do one thing and do it well.
Brilliant
I like that the fragment is basically argv for a static web app.
how to hide or change the gigantic preview when sharing on apple messages? id prefer to change it, the default is obtrusive
IIRC with any link thru Messages, before sending, you can press and hold it and it'll give u the option to send just as a text link
Love this and I already have a use for this
how to hide the Preview when sharing on messages? id prefer something more neutral.
That's the OG (Open Graph) Image. It's an image built into the site that's used as the thumbnail for shares on social media and messaging apps. (More info on OG Images here: https://layerre.com/glossary/open-graph-image/)
How could I change the image to be less intrusive? I can't have it show an image of the message you're trying to share, because the server never sees that message. But can I make the default image nicer on the eyes.
This is a new project and a great place to start.
So many fun rabbit holes from here with the different ways to get this working (and keeping displaying) on a chromecast, etc.
Nice work! This is great.
Really clever! Definitely feels like positive hacker creativity. Thanks for making it open source.
this is actually awesome, i've had something similar on my todo list forever. thanks!!! https://bigwords.page/#%E2%9D%A4%EF%B8%8F
Site is blocked - getting an SSL warning on Firefox.
Really well done, can think of a few times this would have been useful in the recent past. Would be great for conferences in particular!
Love this. Simple idea. Nice execution.
I've used something like this on a phone to tell another car something was wrong with their vehicle.
> The URL is the app
We used to call them websites