Website Relaunch

2024/09/14 #project

When you're reading this I have actually managed to successfully relaunch my website. Welcome to my new personal space on the internet!

Why though?

My old website basically looked like this:

It was a simple landing page (in the middle) which then led to a about page (right side) and another page showcasing my portfolio, work and writing (left). There was nothing wrong with it and I am actually still proud of the design and execution of the whole thing.

So why did I now get rid of it instead of this new version? Well, the relaunch was actually motivated by a few different factors:

The first reason is Louie Mantia's wonderful article on 'how to make a damn website'. Reading this piece motivated me to switch from my previous website which was hosted on Wordpress and built with Oxygen builder to a completely "handmade" website, coded from scratch.
I have really gotten into Mastodon in the last two years. Being in control of and owning my online-presence is a really good feeling and I wanted the same for my own website. Managing my website with Wordpress and Oxygen builder started to feel more and more like a chore and not like having unfiltered access to my own online space without relying on any mediators.
It took me a while to realize this but I created my previous website for the wrong reasons or at least not with the right motivation. I just needed an online-portfolio at the time to help me attract clients for my UX work. I actually was happy with the website and it served its purpose well until now but I feel like it's time for a change. The purpose of this new website will be to serve as one of my creative outlets first and foremost. If that also ends up attracting or convincing potential clients to want to work with me that is great too but it's not longer the sole reason for the existence of this space. In the end, clients who find me this way will also tend to be more aligned with my actual interests and not just with some 'professional' version of myself that I presented on my old website.

I'm happy with it

In the end I think that almost every owner of a personal website goes through these stages where they feel like their current website just does not represent or serve them anymore. I guess it's almost cliche at this point to go back to the basics but that doesn't make it any less true. It was a really fun process to get back into writing plain HTML and CSS again and I am actually very happy with the result.

Some thanks

I want to list some awesome personal websites which have served as my guiding stars & inspiration for my new space here. These are all really cool online spaces that represent their owners the same way I want this new website to represent me so please check them out if you can!

The aforementioned Louie Mantia's website, just an overall great example of how to build a damn website!
Nob Nukui's website- similar to Louie's but with a different spin. The code of Nob's website served as my starting point for this project.
Andy Bell's website
Max.hn, which is where I got some awesome CSS effects such as the highlighter marker and the hand-drawn underline from
MB Bischoff's website, which gave me the idea to style my website as a dotted notebook
Jim Nielsen's website, always reminding me to keep it as simple as possible

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