Featured Community Plugin: Weird Patents
This post is part of a series, featuring the incredible work of plugin authors who grow the TRMNL plugin ecosystem with every contribution. The TRMNL team has individually selected these plugins and authors to be featured.
Weird Patents Plugin
Community member Abdul (Discord: y2ee201) created the Weird Patents plugin; here are their words on how it was created.
Why did you want this plugin to exist?
Like all my authored plugins, I built this one for myself as the target user. The original idea was to display random or curated patents as a kind of memorabilia plaque for patent owners and inventors with a TRMNL. While researching APIs and building the backend, I revisited a website that releases an annual "funny patents" list; it was both amusing and inspiring in showcasing of human ingenuity. Instantly, the plugin pivoted from informational to inspirational+quirky. Also, patents are still published with those classic orthographic or knolling illustrations, which I felt would look beautiful on the TRMNL's e-ink display. Maybe I should call this art style "Patentcore".
Were you inspired by any other recipes or plugin creators?
I've been inspired by other plugin authors quite a bit; particularly Trump Quotes and Air Quality, to name a few. Some of my plugins borrow design patterns and visualizations from the TRMNL team or the community. That said, a few, like the fortune cookie plugin, are original designs including the graphics involved. I typically share prototypes on the community Discord server and get valuable feedback and encouragement from the TRMNL team and other authors. Once submitted, the team provides technical design feedback that helps me improve and learn.
How did you balance look vs functionality?
After the pivot from informational to humorous, looks took the lead. The plugin's "function" became abstract; it's there to inspire, amuse, or just make you smile. For most of the users, I’m pretty sure it's the Patentcore aesthetic on TRMNL’s e-ink display.
What was your process for creating the plugin?
Like any software project, a TRMNL plugin is a combination of frontend and backend. I design the frontend based on the idea, then build the backend to support it. The e-ink optimization was mostly handled through TRMNL's built-in image processing, which made rendering those detailed line illustrations straightforward. Since the patent images are third party, I decided to host them on my own server for reliability. I built a REST API to serve the images and metadata. My stack: Python, FastAPI, and Azure, along with TRMNL's Liquid templating framework.
Did you learn anything that you want to apply to future or past recipes?
With each plugin, I learn something new. This one taught me how to center-crop images in HTML/CSS, responsive auto-resizing within TRMNL's design framework, and handle various image rendering challenges. But the most important lesson came from the Discord community. Mario said, "Sometimes people just want a relief valve." That stuck with me; not every plugin needs to be utilitarian. Sometimes it's enough to make someone smile.
What is your favorite plugin that someone else created and why?
Shan Shui Chinese Landscape is one of the most aesthetically pleasing plugins on the platform. The procedurally generated ink-wash style looks stunning on the e-ink display. It's the kind of plugin that reminds me why I wanted a TRMNL in the first place.