One awesome thing about working at a startup is that you get to focus very deeply on the problem you're trying to solve. On the other hand, if you've taken the leap and founded a startup, it's probably because you tend to see solutions and opportunities everywhere. It can be really hard to focus on one thing when you often have ideas for services that you'd like to use, or better yet, build.
Dan and I regulary talk about services that we wish existed but we simply can't work on due to our commitment to Devver. The other day we were discussing one problem we wish someone would solve: why can't we easily post nicely formatted code in our blog posts?
All I want is this: I copy/paste some code into a web site, choose the programming language, copy some widget code and paste that code into my blog. The code is indented and formatted, has syntax coloration, wraps correctly (for any iPhone readers) and can be easy copied/pasted. Including line numbers (that don't mess with copy/paste) is a bonus.
In other words, I just want Pastie in my blog posts.
Yes, I know there are a few really nice projects that you can install on your server that will do all this. But we could all host our own video as well, but it's just easier to upload and embed a video on YouTube or Vimeo.
This wouldn't just have to be for the good of humanity either. Such a service could make money off ads (each widget could have a link to the full-screen code on the main site, which could have ads for programming jobs, books, and conferences) or even sell off the data about which programming languages were most popular (in blogs and on the main site).
Maybe there is a solution for this (if there is, please let me know in the comments. I'm more than willing to publicly display my ignorance in order to learn about it), but if there is, I don't see it widely being used and it's not easy to find on Google. If there isn't (yet), please go forth and build. I'll be anxiously waiting.
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