This is my dozens time changing design and even framework to my personal sites.
I've been blogging since 2015, and over the years my personal site has gone through countless redesigns and framework migrations. Here’s a little journey of how it evolved:
- 2015 – 2017: Started with Jekyll as my static site generator (SSG), hosted on GitHub Pages. It was simple, fast, and easy to maintain.
- 2017 – 2018: Attempted to switch to Gatsby, but at that time I wasn’t really an expert in JavaScript yet. The learning curve was steep, so the site didn’t quite work out.
- 2020: Experimented with Hugo for a while, but eventually moved back to Jekyll because it felt more comfortable.
- 2024: By now, I had been working with JavaScript seriously for about 4 years, and felt ready to go all-in. I decided to move completely into the JavaScript ecosystem, building my site with Remix + React.js, which served me well for about 8 months.
- 2025: Discovered Astro and realized how powerful it could be for a hybrid approach. So I decided to refactor and rebuild everything with Remix + Astro.
Why the Change Again?
For me, personal sites are not just about publishing content—they’re also a playground for trying out new tech. Each migration has taught me something new about performance, scalability, and developer experience.
Astro fits perfectly with this mindset because:
- It allows mixing different frameworks.
- Focuses on shipping less JavaScript.
- Plays nicely with React (and Remix in my case).
- Makes content-driven sites fast and flexible.
Inspirations
There are a few personal sites that inspired me in this new refactoring:
Especially Hayden’s site — I even used his original code as the initial setup, then customized it with more features and added my own personal touch.
A Small Dream
Looking further ahead, I sometimes think about building my own framework one day. Not because I want to compete with existing ones, but simply because it sounds cool and would be a great learning experience.
It’s just a dream for now, but who knows—maybe someday I’ll give it a try.
What’s Next?
This newest version of my site is built with Remix + Astro, and I’m excited to see how it performs long-term. But knowing myself, this probably won’t be the last refactor.
After all, the journey of building personal sites is half the fun. 🚀