Welcome to the fourth major iteration of my website! Let's take a quick trip down memory lane:
Version 1: Handwritten HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
The first version was entirely hand-crafted HTML and CSS, both of which I was pretty new to. I was taking a couple classes on the subject and used this site mainly to test what I was learning. Features included an overcomplicated php blog, a very simple html5 canvas game, and dancing ascii kirby!
Probably the coolest part of this site was that it had a rotating background image. I wrote a python script to change the image at midnight, and then called that python script as a server job. There were even special backgrounds for holidays! I didn't own these images of course, and maintaining my own html/css for every page quickly became too much work for me to update it frequently. After a few years I refreshed it:
Version 2: Static Site via Jekyll
This version was built with jekyll and hosted on github pages. Discovering the world of static website building was amazing, and I didn't even have to pay for hosting now. I grabbed a pretty theme, modified it just enough, and posted my new homepage. This time around I focused on linking music, videos, and websites I enjoyed. The only updating I did was changing the video occasionally.
Version 3: Static Site via Hugo
My motivation this time was to learn hugo and construct a portfolio. I was trying to find my unique style, and you may notice that some of the key design decisions of this current site had their start here!
Version 4: Next.js (current)
We've finally arrived at the site you are currently viewing. I had three motivations for this refresh:
- Use Next.js and Vercel for a more fully-featured React-based stack.
- Showcase all the little things I've worked on that didn't necessarily fit the previous site's big-project focus.
- Surface Cobblemon-specific work that I do for commission.
What's Next?
Expect more little updates as I continue to work on this site and my Cobblemon server projects. Blogs will be few and far between, but I'll try to write them for larger projects that surfaced deeper lessons.
Thanks for visiting, I hope you find something here to love!