The Journey Begins:
After what felt like an eternity of doodling, wireframing, and debating which framework to pick (seriously, it was like choosing a flavor at an ice cream parlor), I've finally birthed my new portfolio website into existence!
Check it out at: https://howard.codes
It all began with a critical evaluation of my old portfolio #website, prompting me to contemplate an upgrade.
Originating a decade ago in my college dorm room amidst computer science classes and my role as an IT specialist, it was time for a fresh perspective. Opting for a theme that mirrored my expansive thinking, I settled on a space-themed design, aiming for a slightly unconventional approach.
Following my typical workflow, I started with rough sketches, transitioning from paper to my iPad using Procreate.
Then came the Figma wireframing phase. Let's just say, me and Figma? We're still in the "getting to know each other" phase. Like a Tinder date that lasted several weeks.
There were Three Major Roadblocks:
After wrestling with React.js for a while and doing a not-so-quick flip-flop between Tailwind and Bulma CSS, I settled on the winning combo of Next.js + Tailwind + TypeScript. It was like finding the perfect pizza toppings after a month-long debate between pineapple and pepperoni.
- So, turns out Tailwind is a "mobile-first" framework. Who knew? Certainly not me, because I dove headfirst into desktop development like it was 2005.
- Grappling with Git added extra days to the development process, as I had to familiarize myself with its functionality to maintain my codebase efficiently.
- Deployment posed unforeseen challenges, particularly deploying a React app on an Apache server with cPanel. Pulling code from GitHub, configuring domain redirection, and ensuring secure connections tested my perseverance. I even delved into Nginx briefly to grasp its reverse proxy feature
Conquering Challenges:
Despite all the hiccups, glitches, and downright hilarious mishaps (looking at you, mobile view), I emerged victorious! Sure, there are still a few bugs lurking in the code, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.
In the end, this wild ride taught me more than I ever wanted to know about coding, design, and the art of gracefully navigating through tech-induced chaos. Cheers to the next adventure! 🚀
And I picked up a lot of values skills and tools along the way:
- Procreate (iPad)
- Figma
- Adobe Illustrator
- #Git
- #Apache
- #Nginx
- #Javascript
- #Typescript
- #React.js
- #Next.js
- Npm
- Linux and Bash (since this entire project was done in Ubuntu)
Links:
Github - https://github.com/MrHowardCodes
Website - https://howard.codes