Why I rebuilt this whole thing
My old site was dark, a little stiff, and did the job without ever really being mine. This one is warmer, moves a bit, and has a corner for me to ramble in. A short note on why.
If you are reading this, welcome to the new place. I rebuilt my whole site, and this little blog is part of the reason why, so it feels right that the first post is about the site itself.
My old portfolio was fine. I actually built most of it by following a JavaScript Mastery tutorial, back when ChatGPT had only just come out and AI still felt brand new. I was learning on two fronts at once, how to build the thing and how to make AI genuinely useful, and having a lot of fun doing it. Their classes are great, by the way. I still pick things up from JSM on YouTube today.
But a tutorial build is a tutorial build. It was dark, a bit stiff, and honestly a little basic. It looked like a developer made it, and it did the job, but it never really felt like me. Every time I sent someone the link, I found myself apologising for it a little in my head.
By now I wanted something that was properly mine. Not tutorial-shaped, not a template with my name dropped into it, but a site with a bit more personality and a lot more of me in it.
What I actually wanted
Something warmer. Something that feels like walking into a room rather than opening a spreadsheet. I wanted paper instead of black, a bit of life and movement instead of a static wall of cards, and a first impression that says "a real person made this, and they enjoyed it". So the new site has warm light, a globe you can spin, projects that each get their own little moment as you scroll, and a photo of me that ripples when you poke it. That last one is a bit of an easter egg, and it will not be the only one. I have a lot of fun tucking little things like that around the place, and I hope you have just as much fun stumbling onto them.
None of it is loud. I just wanted it to feel approachable, and to feel like mine.
And a corner to ramble in
The other reason for the rebuild is the thing you are reading right now. I wanted a small blog. Not a content strategy, not a newsletter funnel, just a quiet corner to write down the odd story: how a side project found an audience, what I learned on a client build, the occasional thought from somewhere on the road.
That is the whole plan. Come back now and then, or do not. Either way, I am glad you stopped by. If something here makes you want to build something together, say hello.