The idea
In 2017, I didn’t know how to create anything on the internet — only how to use it. I wanted to change that. A personal site felt like the right place to start: learn how the web works, show that I could build on it, and have something to point to that demonstrated branding, design, and technology sense. It’s been evolving ever since.
WordPress era
Problem: I needed the most accessible way to get something live. No coding experience, no framework opinions — just a desire to put something on the internet.
Solution: Built on WordPress with the Pro theme framework. Over the years it grew into a full portfolio site — About, Work, Travel, Blog, Contact, a tools grid, project showcases, and domain listings. I’d add new pages periodically, mostly to challenge myself to see what I could build.
Outcome: The site served as a living resume for years. The Goodberry’s blog post became my most-trafficked page organically. But WordPress started feeling bloated for what I actually needed — most of the platform’s power was going unused.
Astro rebuild
Problem: WordPress was overkill. I wanted a faster, leaner site that I could evolve quickly — and AI tooling made it realistic to build and maintain a code-first site without a CMS in the background.
Solution: Rebuilt from scratch with Astro 5, Tailwind CSS 4, and Cloudflare Pages. Went from a multi-page WordPress site to a single-page app-like experience with scroll-triggered reveals, a project showcase powered by content collections, and individual case study pages for each project. Self-hosted fonts, design tokens, dark mode, accessibility foundations — all things WordPress handled with plugins, now handled with code I control.
Outcome: The site loads fast, deploys on push, and costs nothing to host. The blog moved to blog.alekdarr.com so the main site stays focused. Old WordPress URLs redirect properly to preserve SEO rankings.
Project case studies
Problem: The old site listed projects as screenshots with short descriptions. It didn’t tell the story of how things evolved or why they were built — just that they existed.
Solution: Added a content collection for projects with frontmatter schemas (title, tagline, stack, URL, status). Each project gets its own page with a timeline format that traces the evolution from idea to current state — the problems, the decisions, and the outcomes along the way.
Outcome: The projects section is now the centerpiece of the site. Instead of a static portfolio, it’s a living record of how I think about building things.