Lazy idea man
Winkletter • 18 Mar 2023 •
Programming with ChatGPT has reminded me of an important insight: I am a lazy idea man. Sometimes I follow through on projects, but often my ideas are written down in a notebook and lost to time.
With the help of ChatGPT I managed to finish two ideas that I had sitting around.
- A simple script that picks two random cards from my card set and displays them side by side with links to card descriptions.
- A coloring page flipbook that can flip through different tops, middles, and bottoms to create 1000 variations (10 tops x 10 middles x 10 bottoms.)
The MVP just became a lot less minimal.
If I have time to write the idea out in a notebook, I might as well ask ChatGPT if it can build my idea. If I think of a new feature I want to try a minute later, it will adjust the code with a simple ask.
There’s never been a better time to be a lazy man with many ideas.
Comments
I told it I was using WP and it adapted the instructions. For the random card example, it told me, “You can add this code to a specific page or a WordPress template.” It didn’t go into more detail. I could have asked for specific instructions, but I figured that part out on my own. I ended up adding it with a plugin that managed code snippets, but I realized later I could have just dropped it all in an HTML block in the page. This is what I did for the coloring page flipbook.
ME: I am using WordPress hosted on a shared host for my website. I have a set of pages created that represent the 54 cards in a deck, and I want to set something up so that a reader can navigate to a page that will select a random card from each of the two main categories of cards (story subjects, and discourse formats.) First of all, what would be the simplest way to create something like this? Do you know of a plugin that might do this, or would it be better for me to use a custom plugin, or perhaps something that would let me use JavaScript to do this?
ChatGPT: In your case, using JavaScript to achieve this functionality would be the simplest and most straightforward method. I will provide you with a JavaScript solution that you can add to your WordPress site without the need for a custom plugin. You can add this code to a specific page or a WordPress template.
… proceeds to explain how to set up the HTML and JavaScript while I dance in the background
Oh nice! Wow, your prompting skills is next level bro.
Interesting. From notes to MVP in less than a minute! So you ask ChatGPT to write the HTML code to embed in your site? I noticed it’s a Wordpress site… so how would it know how your wp theme is written like?