u/Status-Class-6542

Hey folks!

I recently built a small Chrome extension for screen recording.
The idea was pretty simple: I wanted a recorder without a ton of extra features, settings, editing tools, AI stuff, etc.

You open it,
choose what you want to record,
hit record, and that’s basically it.

I mostly made it because a lot of screen recorders I tried felt more complicated than they needed to be for something I just wanted to use for quick recordings.

It’s still a small project and I’m improving it, so I’d really appreciate some outside feedback.

If you try it, let me know:

does it feel simple enough?
is there anything annoying or confusing?
is there something absolutely necessary that’s missing?

Also curious if people actually prefer a very simple recorder like this, or if most users expect more features.

Here’s the extension if anyone wants to try it:

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/recording-software/khlnejhlnacgeimaanaicfncpjeoaibk?hl=en

Now it isn't.
A few years ago if you could build software you had a huge advantage. Developers were the bottleneck.
Now AI can put together a working MVP in one evening.
So if your only skill is "I can build this" you're becoming as valuable as the tool doing most of the work.
The hard part moved.
Now it's figuring out what to build.
Who actually wants it.
How to get people to use it.
How to make money from it.
A lot of developers always skipped that part because it felt like business.
But that's where the opportunity is now.
The nice thing is you can learn it.
You weren't born knowing how to code either.
Building keeps getting cheaper.
Thinking like a founder doesn't.
PS if anyone knows good courses for developers who want to learn the business side I'd love some recommendations.

Every day I heard the same questions.
-How do I record my screen?
-Can I record with sound?
-How do I use Loom?
-Where does the video get saved?

So I decided to make the simplest screen recorder possible.

Before building it, I tried around 20 popular screen recorders.

Almost all of them try to do everything. But most people just want to press one button and start recording.

So I took a different approach.

While I was building it, I asked my coworkers to use it while I watched without saying anything.

If someone couldn't find a button or got confused, I changed the interface.

Then I did it again.

This is what I ended up with:

-One popup with a single Record button

-Google's built-in screen picker for the whole screen + microphone.

-A simple permissions page that clearly shows what's already allowed and what's missing.

-Easy instructions if you forgot to allow the microphone or system audio.

-A small floating widget that you can hide without losing it.

-The widget is draggable, so you can move it if it's covering something.

-When you stop recording, the video is automatically saved as MP4, because a lot of people don't know what to do with WebM files.

I even gave it a simple name: Recording Software.

My coworkers love it, and now people outside the office have started using it too.

I'm still improving it.

If you record your screen often, what would you remove?

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/recording-software/khlnejhlnacgeimaanaicfncpjeoaibk?hl=en

And what would you add?
Thanks!

People say they own a Chrome Extension business.

it’s not true

Google can kill your distribution whenever it wants. Maybe by mistake. Maybe because of a new policy.
That's why I think the real job isn't building the extension.

It's building your own user base outside the Chrome Web Store.

Email list.
Community.
Anything you actually own.

thoughts from another universe.