About Evan Ouyang — One Useful Tool at a Time

Hi, I’m Evan Ouyang.

I’m a designer, and I like building websites, apps, and small tools that solve specific everyday problems.

I’ve always felt that good software doesn’t have to be big.

A lot of the time, what people really need is something they can open, figure out in a minute, and use right away. It shouldn’t make you create an account before you’ve even started. It shouldn’t turn a simple task into a tutorial. And it probably shouldn’t ask for information it doesn’t really need.

That idea is a big part of why I started HandyPebble.

I’m not trying to turn it into a giant platform that does everything.

I’d rather it feel like a quiet little toolbox.

If you need to make an invoice, edit a photo, convert a file, or take care of some other small task, I want HandyPebble to be a place you can check first.

Open the tool.

Get it done.

Then get back to whatever you were doing.

When I build something, I care a lot about a few basic things.

It should be fast. It should be easy to understand. And the interface should stay out of your way.

If something can be done directly in your browser, I’d rather keep it there instead of sending your data somewhere else.

If you don’t need an account, I don’t see a reason to make you create one.

If one button can do the job, there’s no point turning it into five steps.

None of that sounds especially ambitious, but I think the internet could use more tools built this way.

Not every product needs to become a subscription. Not every useful feature needs to grow into a huge company.

Sometimes a tool is valuable simply because it makes one annoying thing a little easier.

That’s the direction I want to keep taking HandyPebble.

Over time, I hope it becomes a collection of genuinely useful tools.

They may not be complicated, but each one should solve a clear problem. They may only save you a few minutes, but sometimes a few minutes is exactly what you need.

That’s the kind of software I like.

Simple, reliable, and not constantly asking for your attention.

I want HandyPebble to grow slowly in that direction.

Not to become the biggest site on the internet, but to become one of those places people remember when they run into a small problem and think:

“Maybe there’s a tool for that.”

If HandyPebble can become that kind of place, I’ll be happy to keep building it for a long time.

Thanks for stopping by.

— Evan