Completing a lesson tells you where you are in a course. It doesn’t tell you how much time you spent working through it.
I use Scrimba to learn programming, and I wanted to make that effort more visible, without remembering to start and stop a timer every session.
So I built ScrimTrack, a free, open-source Chrome extension for Scrimba learners.
What should count as learning time?
This was the most interesting question behind the project.
Having a learning platform open doesn’t necessarily mean you’re studying. But typing and clicking aren’t the only signs of learning either. You might be watching an explanation and following the code without touching your keyboard.
ScrimTrack automatically tracks focused learning time. It also counts lesson playback while Scrimba stays visible and focused, so following a lesson counts even when you aren’t actively interacting.
That distinction matters for a platform like Scrimba, where a session can involve moving between watching an explanation and editing code.
It’s still a measure of time, rather than proof of understanding. But it gives you another way to see the effort you’re putting in alongside completed lessons.
Daily goals without managing another timer
ScrimTrack lets you set a daily learning goal and see your tracked time against it.
I wanted the routine to stay simple: open Scrimba, learn, and see the time you put in. Tracking shouldn’t become another task you have to manage.
Why a short session still counts
Learning streaks count consecutive days with tracked learning activity. You don’t have to complete your daily goal for the day to count.
If your goal is an hour but you only manage 20 minutes, you still showed up. I wanted the streak to reflect that.
The daily goal and streak answer different questions:
- Daily goal: Did I put in the amount of time I intended?
- Streak: Have I been showing up consistently?
A small tool for a specific workflow
ScrimTrack focuses on Scrimba because that’s the learning workflow I wanted to improve.
It’s also a project that connects what I’m learning with something I can use myself, and now share with other learners.
This is my first time sharing it on DEV, and I’d love feedback.
You can find ScrimTrack here: https://scrimtrack.xyz
If you use Scrimba, does this solve a problem you’ve had? And if you’ve built an activity tracker, how do you think about the difference between interaction, attention, and time spent?
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