Reflections on building a personal site

A day that seemed like it would never come…

This website has finally launched!

Project Background

I’ve been sitting on the project for a few years probably and just never got around to it it came around time for domain renewal season end of last year and I realized “Hmmm I should probably do something with this name I’ve been sitting on for years and years…”. So I vowed just to hammer something out no matter what because I knew I wanted a little portfolio site but I felt I just didn’t really have much to share. But who cares, it doesn’t matter. All two of the robots visiting this website will be able to live with it so why can’t I?

What problem does it solve for me:

I’ve always wanted my own little blog to write about whatever just cause its fun. I’m also not a social media person (no instagram, no twitter, no bluesky, no TikTok, no Meerkat, no Tinder, no Hinge, no Onlyfans, ur very disappointed ik ik) and when you google me- nothing comes up. This site lets me have a home on the net and not have to partake in algorithmic brain rot or culture war bs. And if you haven’t cut back - seriously consider it, it’s not worth the squeeze unless you are making money from it.

Some reflective notes for the future (for myself):

What was the most interesting thing I learned?

While the current iteration of the blog uses Formspree for quick form processing. There was an earlier PHP version that used a service called Amazon SES (Simple Email Service). Basically, I saw the pricing tier of paid solutions to handling emails and just felt it was ridiculous , there had to be a cheaper way and sure enough there was with SES. Learning how to set that up was a new experience and now I know what to do for the future. Why isn’t it currently implemented? Because PHP and hugo are rather finicky when used in tandem and I’d rather not delay the site over a feature that isn’t even going to be immediately used in any meaningful capacity and Formspree had a generous free tier. In the next iteration of this website or if the rate of sign ups seem to be catching up with the account limits - then I fully intend on implementing SES.

What did you waste time on?

This design is a custom design and it is not based on any theme or any particular pattern that I am aware of. While this was intentional and done to help “stand out” from the pack a little, I do feel I spent a lot of time obsessing over nitty-gritty details AND re-negging certain paths when I felt they weren’t working and while being willing to admit one was wrong/it doesn’t work was not a bad thing. There should have been a clear design phase at the start with some mock ups and wireframes and a commitment to stick too it till the finish line. The trial and error approach had its own merits such as just being able to dive in , but having some design direction would have done me some good.

What were some good decisions made?

I like that I didn’t overpack it with features and pages (scope creep). It has a very clear purpose. It is a blog above all else and most links ultimately just loop on each other to that effect. It is SUPER easy to add a projects section/page now if I wanted too and I look forward to doing so as things get completed. The idea was to build in pieces and build what you need immediately. The projects were never going to be immediate, the writing on the other hand was far more frequent so it made sense to iron that out.

Any thoughts on the stack?

This site uses Tailwind and Hugo (and a teeny bit of JS). Its page speeds are solid, they were both easy to understand and utilize quickly. No complaints. For a static site - I really don’t need much so why complicate it?

All in all, I’m glad it’s done. It’s a good baseline to expand from.