SmartSummarizer

Instantly summarize any text on the web. Highlight any passage, click the QuickSummarize icon, and get a concise summary in seconds. Stay informed, save time, and boost productivity.

Please install the extension onto your system and then use  " ctrl+Shift+S " on your keyboard to get the summary of the selected text. 

Inspiration

While browsing through journals and articles, I often needed to just get an overview of that information. So for that, I had to copy the whole text and paste it into an AI chatbot to generate a summary. It is an inconvenience that we are trying to solve here !!!

What it does

It generates a summary of selected text using AI models through their APIs

How we built it

• We designed the project structure first with the guidance of the docs for the Chrome extension
• Defined a manifest.json file and added all scripts and targets for our extension
• Divided the work into frontend and backend, and started working and collaborating
• With the help of tools like git and GitHub, we were able to collaborate while working on features independently
• Once a basic prototype was done, we tested it thoroughly to make it as efficient as possible.
• It involved HTML, CSS, and vanilla JS with a few external libraries like Axios, and others locally installed to support API calls

Challenges we ran into

• Our main challenge was our different time zones. Each of our team members belonged to a distinct timezone with no common time to have a proper conversation. Everything happened just through chats while working in different time zones
• We were not very successful in procuring an API key due to budget constraints

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• We learned how browser extensions work and how to make them!
• This is the first online international hackathon, so we accomplished well collaboration, communication, and team-building

What we learned

• We learned a lot about how browsers work, the core concepts in creating a browser extension, and communication in team settings.

What's next for SmartSummarizer

• There are a lot of improvements that can be made to this project
• We have a thought to make it open source, enabling a greater reach to a lot of people.

Demo

• View on Devpost