Phase one: the idea
It started small. I needed somewhere to put my CV online. But once I'd thought "website," the ideas came quickly. What about my stories? My game projects? Everything I build that has nothing to do with computers?
So the idea turned into a project. All summer, ideas were added and removed. Some pages made it in, some features were cut, and a few were brought back to life. Anyone who has planned a game knows that scope creep is a real boss fight, and the only thing that beats it is cutting things without mercy.
Phase two: my co-op partner
I didn't build this alone. I teamed up with Claude, an AI assistant, which wrote the code with me. But I set one condition: every piece of code needed comments explaining what it does and why. I didn't want a website I couldn't understand. I wanted one I could learn from.
That turned out to be the best decision of the project. Instead of a black box, I got a tutorial built from my own website. As someone who spent ten years teaching programming, I thought it was a little funny to be the student again, and I liked it.
Claude also helped with the words: my CV, my About page, and figuring out how to describe myself as a professional who still refuses to be serious all the time. (It turns out "strict, demanding and funny" fits on one line.)
Phase three: the name
Then came the part that took far longer than it should have: turning my name into a logo. Iteration after iteration, adjusting and comparing until it finally looked right. It's now on the About page, and it was worth every revision.
What lives here now
The website has a few rooms, each with its own job:
- Stories is where I publish things I write, like this one. I can go back and edit them later, because stories, like code, are never really finished.
- Projects is my workshop for everything else: files, picture blogs and projects outside the computer world.
- Portfolio is the trophy room, with my previous work, games and things I've built over the years.
- CV and About are the professional part, with a bit of personality on top.
How it turned out
It's live. It works. It's mine. It's not finished, and it never will be, because that's the point. A personal website should grow along with the person who owns it.
To sum it up: I installed Claude in VS Code, and my life became shiny.
Next quest: filling the Projects and Portfolio pages. Stay tuned.
