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Hello World - Welcome to My New Website

The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories.

I’ve been working on this site for a while now, and I’m excited to finally launch it. Here’s what I’ve built:

Why Astro?

Astro↗ is an incredible framework for static sites. It’s fast, flexible, and has excellent developer experience. Perfect for a personal site that needs to be performant and easy to maintain.

The Design

Inspired by my Omarchy Linux setup, I’ve used the Tokyo Night color scheme throughout:

  • Background: #1a1b26
  • Accent: #7aa2f7
  • Foreground: #a9b1d6

The font is JetBrains Mono for that terminal aesthetic.

Flexible Content

One of my goals was to have a flexible blog system. I’ve built support for:

  • Articles - Long-form posts for tutorials and deep dives
  • Notes - Short-form updates and quick thoughts
  • Links - Link roundups (inspired by cassidoo’s newsletter)
  • Videos - Share interesting videos I find
  • Questions - Coding interview questions

This makes daily blogging achievable while maintaining variety.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I’ve been building websites for a long time. Here’s the evolution of my personal site:

Version 1 (2010)

Version 1 (2010

WordPress↗ with an off-the-shelf theme called OverEasy by WooThemes↗. Each page was separate and had full pages for each project I had worked on. It also included a “Work Status” indicator I could update with my freelance availability.

Version 2 (2012)

Version 2 (2012

A static website I hand-wrote using procedural PHP scripts. Each page had its own script file and was built to be very centred on screen in a very minimalistic styling. I didn’t use anything off-the-shelf for this one.

Version 3 (2013)

Version 3 (2013

A static website using an off-the-shelf theme called CVilized which was inspired to look like a single-page CV / resume with extra details added on (about me and projects). The site was only a single webpage and also included a “Work Status” check for freelance availability.

Version 4 (2015)

Version 4 (2015

A static website using an off-the-shelf Bootstrap 3↗ theme called MeFlat. This site has stood the longest and I learned a lot about CI/CD workflows with GitHub↗. The site used Renovate↗ to keep dependencies updated. Again a single page website acting like a CV / advertisement of freelance services.

Version 5 (2026) - Current

This new version is built with Astro↗ and styled with TailwindCSS↗. The site is hosted on Netlify↗ with CDN caching configured for optimal performance. Dependencies are kept up to date with Renovate↗. All source code is available on GitHub↗.

The design is inspired by my Omarchy Linux↗ desktop setup, featuring the Tokyo Night color scheme and JetBrains Mono font for a terminal-inspired aesthetic.

What’s Next

I’ll be posting regularly on:

  • Development with Laravel, PHP, Symfony
  • AI-augmented development workflows
  • Kubernetes and DevOps
  • Tech tips and tricks

Stay tuned!

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