You may have noticed that the Lichess.org logo of the web site has been slightly altered. That's because it's the tenth of May, LiChess Tools day!
It was one year ago today that LiChess Tools was first published on GitHub. It was like the birth of a child, having spent a few weeks in gestation as an extension I would only use for myself. It was doing just the simplest of things at the time:
- opening friends box automatically on page load
- making sound alerts when friends started playing
- pressing Ctrl-Right to choose a random variation from current position in analysis or study
- sticky Preview mode in studies
- setting a minimum engine depth
It had the Preferences in the extension popup, because they were so few. The code was so awful that I didn't dare tell anyone about it.
Now this has become a behemoth with close to 100 different tools and bright prospects for the future. The code probably still sucks, though.
I would like to thank the community, such as it is, because even if only one person was giving me feedback in a month, it could have happened when I was feeling low or stressed or unmotivated and it would perk me up immediately. So *thanks a lot, guys!*
For some weird reason (all passionate devs are weird) there was nothing more motivating than some kid wanting a feature, first thinking it was impossible, then getting the nagging feeling that I should think about it more, then finding a brilliant lateral solution, implementing it, improving on it, then delivering everything within the hour only to get a bored "thanks" at the end. But that thanks was all I needed to carry on.
There are some great opportunities open to the extension in the near future and hopefully they will make this blossom into something even more special. The next major version (3.*) will probably restructure the features into more mature tools, focus on performance and adding more "epic" features, like:
- full Client Side Analysis - including brilliant/good/best move detection ideas
- a more complete and user friendly Explorer Practice module
- Chessable-like interface for Studies
- spaced repetition features
There is also time for a rebranding. I am tired of people thinking I am talking about the Tools menu in Lichess. Right now the best idea I have is *Prometheus for Lichess*. I just hope Thibault is not going to nail me to a mountain and sic the Lichess owl on my liver. Perhaps you guys can come with better ideas.
Rebranding doesn't come with corporate goals and premium tiers, though. LiChess Tools will always be free, so don't worry.
Thanks again and I leave you with the LiChess Tools hymn, made by AI, so that it's cool: www.udio.com/songs/ssmyXJ7R6r7oEAAZw9bPKF
Happy Birthday, LiChess Tools!
It was one year ago today that LiChess Tools was first published on GitHub. It was like the birth of a child, having spent a few weeks in gestation as an extension I would only use for myself. It was doing just the simplest of things at the time:
- opening friends box automatically on page load
- making sound alerts when friends started playing
- pressing Ctrl-Right to choose a random variation from current position in analysis or study
- sticky Preview mode in studies
- setting a minimum engine depth
It had the Preferences in the extension popup, because they were so few. The code was so awful that I didn't dare tell anyone about it.
Now this has become a behemoth with close to 100 different tools and bright prospects for the future. The code probably still sucks, though.
I would like to thank the community, such as it is, because even if only one person was giving me feedback in a month, it could have happened when I was feeling low or stressed or unmotivated and it would perk me up immediately. So *thanks a lot, guys!*
For some weird reason (all passionate devs are weird) there was nothing more motivating than some kid wanting a feature, first thinking it was impossible, then getting the nagging feeling that I should think about it more, then finding a brilliant lateral solution, implementing it, improving on it, then delivering everything within the hour only to get a bored "thanks" at the end. But that thanks was all I needed to carry on.
There are some great opportunities open to the extension in the near future and hopefully they will make this blossom into something even more special. The next major version (3.*) will probably restructure the features into more mature tools, focus on performance and adding more "epic" features, like:
- full Client Side Analysis - including brilliant/good/best move detection ideas
- a more complete and user friendly Explorer Practice module
- Chessable-like interface for Studies
- spaced repetition features
There is also time for a rebranding. I am tired of people thinking I am talking about the Tools menu in Lichess. Right now the best idea I have is *Prometheus for Lichess*. I just hope Thibault is not going to nail me to a mountain and sic the Lichess owl on my liver. Perhaps you guys can come with better ideas.
Rebranding doesn't come with corporate goals and premium tiers, though. LiChess Tools will always be free, so don't worry.
Thanks again and I leave you with the LiChess Tools hymn, made by AI, so that it's cool: www.udio.com/songs/ssmyXJ7R6r7oEAAZw9bPKF
Happy Birthday, LiChess Tools!
