I have a small obsession: collecting web tools. Not hoarding them, exactly — more like keeping a little workshop of utilities that each do one thing well.
It started with a color picker. Then a markdown cleaner, a font pairing tester, a tiny EXIF viewer. None of these are impressive on their own. That is the point. A good small tool does its job and gets out of the way.
Over time I noticed patterns in the ones I keep using:
They load fast. If a utility takes longer to open than the task itself, it is already over.
They respect my attention. No popups, no accounts for a 10-second job, no upsell modals breathing down my neck.
They are boring in the best way. The interface has not changed in three years because it does not need to.
Every few months I do a cleanup. I go through my bookmarks folder, open each tool once, and ask one question: did this actually help me in the last ninety days? Most do not make the cut. The survivors are genuinely useful, and the folder shrinks back down to a page.
The habit has changed how I think about software in general. Big platforms are fine for heavy lifting, but there is something deeply satisfying about a single-purpose page that solves one problem and asks for nothing. Some of my favorites are maintained by one person as a weekend project, which makes them feel more like a neighbor's garden than a product.
If you have never tried this, start small. Next time a task annoys you twice, look for a tiny tool that kills it in one step. Keep what works, toss the rest. That is the whole system.
And if you already collect tools, I would love to hear which one earns its spot at the top of your list.
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