Following in the footsteps of many, I finally have a little space of my own online. It took a bunch of days (and quite a few nights), but I’ve built something I feel at peace with.
Building my own website was long overdue. If you're a developer and don’t have a site, are you even a developer? It felt like a necessary step to take myself more seriously in this field.
This is the first time I’m sharing bits of my life publicly. I’ve always been pretty comfortable staying anonymous (maybe too comfortable), so this is me nudging past that, just a little.
The First Step. permalink
I wouldn’t call myself a design-first kind of person. I enjoy making things, but finding that sweet spot between how something looks and how it works tends to trip me up.
I’ve designed plenty over the years, and I’ll keep at it. It's just never been the part I feel most at home with.
I knew going into this that I needed to build something that:
(a) functioned as a proper, working website,
(b) ran smoothly across all devices, and
(c) looked clean and simple.
I first turned to Next.js (React), Tailwind CSS, Netlify, and Figma as my chosen stack, believing that a strong toolset would give me more flexibility in the design process. I was horribly wrong. I had to pivot.
It never occurred to me that all of it was overkill for a site that could be built with just plain HTML and CSS. So that’s what I used: HTML and CSS.
Finding my Lightbulb. permalink
Before I started, I looked into what actually makes a website good and why. Since I’m not really into design, I figured it was best to get through the design part quickly and keep things simple.
It’s important to acknowledge that much of the website's structure and content organization was influenced by the work of other designers and developers.
I used the websites of Bruno Dzięcielski, Minh Duong, and Serena Chen as key references to determine what content should be prioritized and how it should be presented. Their approaches greatly informed my decisions throughout the design process.
This site’s layout was heavily inspired by Robb Owen’s own work, whose design provided a strong foundation for this project.
Closing Thoughts. permalink
I still see this site as a work in progress, even now that it’s live.
The look probably won’t change much, but don’t be surprised if you catch a few quiet updates slipping in here and there.