Reflecting on My Old Gatsby Site

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This site was one of my earlier projects built using Gatsby, a React-based static site generator. I originally chose Gatsby for its performance and rich plugin ecosystem. The design remains mostly the same as when I first created it - clean and minimalistic, focusing on content and readability.

Technology Shift and Code Reorganization

However, I later decided to switch to Astro because I found Gatsby’s development pace slowing down, with many plugins abandoned and no longer maintained. Additionally, Gatsby is tightly coupled with React, while Astro allows me to use multiple frameworks and libraries, providing much greater flexibility.

Astro’s modern approach to building websites-delivering less JavaScript to the client and supporting partial hydration-aligned better with my goals of performance and maintainability. This shift allowed me to write cleaner, more modular code and integrate technologies like Vue, Svelte, or React side-by-side if needed.

While the visual design of the site has largely remained unchanged, the underlying technology and code organization have significantly evolved. The move to Astro was not just a technical upgrade but a rethinking of how I structure and build web projects.

Keeping It as an Archive

I keep this project as a kind of archive of my older work, serving both as a reminder of how my skills have grown and as a reference for best practices I’ve learned along the way. It’s fascinating to see how changes in technology influence not only what we build but how we build it.

This archive reflects my journey from traditional React-centric development to embracing more flexible and performant tools, helping me stay adaptable in the ever-changing landscape of web development.

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