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4 min read

Modern Astro Portfolio Website

Overview

A modern, performance-focused portfolio website showcasing my work as a software engineer. Built with cutting-edge web technologies and optimized for speed, accessibility, and developer experience. The site achieves perfect Lighthouse scores while maintaining clean, maintainable code.

Technical Architecture

Framework Choice

  • Astro 5.11: Leveraging the latest stable content layer and islands architecture
  • React 19: Used selectively for interactive components with React Aria
  • TypeScript: Strict type safety across the entire codebase
  • Vanilla CSS: Custom design system with CSS custom properties for optimal performance

Performance Optimizations

  • Zero JavaScript by default: Static HTML generation with selective hydration
  • Image optimization: Automatic WebP conversion and responsive sizing
  • Font optimization: Preloaded critical fonts with display swap
  • Bundle optimization: Tree shaking and selective component loading

Key Features

Accessibility First

  • React Aria Components: Industry-leading accessibility patterns
  • Skip navigation: Keyboard navigation support
  • Screen reader optimized: Semantic HTML with proper ARIA labels
  • Color contrast: WCAG AA compliance across all themes

Content Management

  • MDX Support: Enhanced markdown with custom components
  • Syntax Highlighting: Shiki integration with GitHub Dark theme
  • Content Collections: Type-safe frontmatter with Zod validation
  • Related Posts: Automatic content discovery based on tags

Developer Experience

  • Hot Module Replacement: Instant development feedback
  • Type Safety: End-to-end TypeScript with content type generation
  • Code Quality: Biome integration for linting and formatting
  • Git Hooks: Automated quality checks on commit

Performance Results

Lighthouse Scores

  • Performance: 100/100
  • Accessibility: 100/100
  • Best Practices: 100/100
  • SEO: 100/100

Core Web Vitals

  • Largest Contentful Paint: < 1.2s
  • First Input Delay: < 100ms
  • Cumulative Layout Shift: < 0.1

Bundle Analysis

  • Initial JS Bundle: < 50KB gzipped
  • Critical CSS: Inlined for instant rendering
  • Image Optimization: 60% size reduction with WebP

Technical Challenges Solved

Migration from Tailwind to Vanilla CSS

  • Challenge: Maintaining design consistency while removing utility framework
  • Solution: Built comprehensive design system with semantic CSS classes
  • Result: 40% reduction in CSS bundle size with improved maintainability

Astro 4 to 5 Migration

  • Challenge: Breaking changes in content collections and view transitions
  • Solution: Updated to new content layer API and ClientRouter
  • Result: Improved build performance and simplified content management

Accessibility Implementation

  • Challenge: Maintaining complex interactions while ensuring full accessibility
  • Solution: React Aria Components with comprehensive testing
  • Result: WCAG AA compliance with improved user experience

Content Strategy

Technical Writing

  • Blog posts covering development challenges and solutions
  • Project deep-dives with code examples and architecture decisions
  • Performance optimization case studies

Project Showcases

  • Detailed project descriptions with technical specifications
  • Code snippets highlighting key implementation details
  • Impact metrics and lessons learned

SEO & Discoverability

Structured Data

  • JSON-LD implementation for rich search results
  • Proper OpenGraph and Twitter card metadata
  • Automated sitemap generation with priority scoring

Content Optimization

  • Semantic HTML structure for better indexing
  • Optimized meta descriptions and title tags
  • Internal linking strategy for improved page authority

Deployment & Infrastructure

Vercel Integration

  • Edge Functions: Serverless API routes for dynamic features
  • Image Optimization: Automatic format conversion and sizing
  • Speed Insights: Real-time performance monitoring
  • Preview Deployments: Automated testing for pull requests

CI/CD Pipeline

  • Automated Testing: Type checking and build validation
  • Performance Budgets: Automated Lighthouse CI checks
  • Dependency Updates: Automated security and feature updates

Technical Stack

Framework: Astro 5.11, React 19, TypeScript 5.8 Styling: Vanilla CSS, CSS Custom Properties, PostCSS Content: MDX, Shiki, Remark/Rehype plugins Deployment: Vercel, Edge Functions, Speed Insights Development: Biome, Git Hooks, VS Code Extensions Analytics: Vercel Analytics, Core Web Vitals monitoring

Open Source Contributions

This portfolio serves as a reference implementation for:

  • Modern Astro development patterns
  • Accessibility-first React component libraries
  • Performance optimization techniques
  • Content-driven website architecture

The codebase is fully open source and includes comprehensive documentation for other developers to learn from and contribute to.