The other day I released Doodle CSS. It's a simple hand drawn HTML/CSS theme. You can use it make a web page look like a hand drawn mockup.
Since then it has garnered an astonishing ~500 GitHub stars, blowing past all of my other open source project repos. It made it to the front page on Hacker News and friends tell me it got featured in multiple tech newsletters.
It only took me a couple of days to put together Doodle CSS. The idea is one I've had for a long time though. The right combination of knowledge and motivation finally arrived last week and spurred me into action to implement it.
What a strange world it is building in public. Imagine spending your whole life as an open source developer with low-key popular niche repos, and then a literal scribble that took two days to make is what everyone latches on to.
It's useful feedback though, and that is the value in building in public. It seems like I've hit upon some deep seated doodle desire with this release. I feel like there is something bigger here I should develop. I will think about this some more.
For now I am happy with this as an open source project that other people are enjoying, and I'll admit the brief glow of popularity is very enjoyable.