Why I built it
My old Blogger site already had years of useful content, but the website itself no longer represented where I wanted my personal brand to go.
My content was also spread across Blogger, LinkedIn, and GitHub. I wanted one place where I could collect my articles, projects, talks, and future certifications. More importantly, I wanted to own the content and update the website without fighting the limitations of a hosted blogging platform.
What I was optimizing for
The goal was not to build the fanciest frontend possible. I wanted a website that is simple to maintain, fast for readers, and flexible enough to grow with my work.
For that reason, a few things mattered from the beginning:
- Keep the content in the repository as Markdown.
- Use clear and predictable routes.
- Include the SEO basics from the beginning.
- Preserve the old Blogger links through redirects.
- Allow the design to change without having to reorganize all the content again.
Key implementation decisions
Static-first architecture
I chose Astro with a static deployment model because this is mainly a content website. It does not need a backend just to serve articles and profile pages.
This keeps the cost and maintenance low, gives readers fast pages, and leaves me with fewer moving parts to manage.
Content collections instead of loose files
I use content collections for articles, projects, talks, and certifications. They give me schema validation and consistent metadata, instead of allowing every Markdown file to have a different structure.
Search and migration support early
I did not want search, RSS, and redirects to become tasks for later. They directly affect how people discover the articles and whether old Blogger links continue to work, so I added them early in the project.
What I can build on it next
The website is now more than a new design for my old blog. It gives me one base that I can continue to build on.
I can now use it to:
- Connect articles with the projects and experiments behind them.
- Publish technical reflections in a consistent format.
- Present side projects and proof-of-concepts properly.
- Add talks, certifications, and portfolio content without moving to another platform again.
Next steps
The next step is to add more useful content, not just more styling. I want to document more projects, build richer pages for talks, and connect the lessons I write about with the work where I applied them.