HackStack

Project Info

EasyRead

Devpost

Inspiration

EasyRead was a feature we always dreamed of - an effortless way to simplify complex words while reading. We thought it would be amazing to have this as a web app or a Chrome extension to help users read smoothly without interruptions.

What it does

EasyRead makes reading easier by allowing users to double-click on complex words to see a simpler version. If they want to revert, a single click brings back the original word. Additionally, it builds a personal dictionary of all clicked words, helping users track and learn new vocabulary effortlessly.

How we built it

This was our first hackathon and our first experience with web development. We built EasyRead using: HTML & CSS for the frontend UI/UX React to make the web app interactive Node.js for backend processing OpenAI's API with gpt-4o for linguistic tasks, such as finding simpler word replacements Dictionary API to find the definition for words Since we were new to web development, we spent a lot of time researching and experimenting with different implementations.

Challenges we ran into

Building a website from scratch was much harder than we expected. Even basic functionalities took time. HTML & CSS were trickier than they seemed. Integrating OpenAPI required some trial and error to set properly and upgrade Requests Per Minute Rate, but it turned out to be one of the easier parts.

Accomplishments we're proud of

We successfully built a functional prototype of EasyRead. We learned full-stack development (React, Node.js, APIs). We participated in our first hackathon and completed the project! Despite challenges, we created a working tool that can genuinely help people read better.

What's next

for ReadEase We’re excited about the potential of ReadEase! Some next steps include: Turning it into a Chrome extension for seamless browser integration. Improving the dictionary feature, allowing users to save and review words. Adding more languages to help non-native speakers read better. Enhancing AI-powered simplifications for more natural word replacements. We’re excited to keep building!

Analysis

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Metric

Figures cover GitHub contributors during the hackathon window. A co-authored commit counts in full for each author, so per-member totals add up to more than the whole-team figures.

Technology

Found in codeClaimed only
  • CSSIn code
  • ExpressIn code
  • HTMLIn code
  • JavaScriptIn code
  • OpenAIIn code
  • ReactIn code
  • Tailwind CSSIn code
  • Node.jsClaimed

7 of 8 appear in the indexed code. 1 claimed on Devpost could not be matched to code, which may simply mean the tool leaves no trace in the repository.

AI coding agents

No AI coding agent signals were found in this repository.

Detected from committed agent config files and commit authorship. Absence of a signal is not proof an agent was unused.

Codebase size

Source size

47 KB

Source files

21

Counts recognized source files only; vendored directories, binaries and lockfiles are excluded, so this is smaller than the repository on disk.

0 stars