Hello World — Why I Built This Site
The story behind mel.pet, the tech stack choices, and what I plan to write about here.
Hey, welcome.
This is the first post on mel.pet, and if you’re reading this, the site actually works. Let’s go.
Why build a personal site?
I’ve had social profiles, GitHub repos, and scattered project pages for a while — but nothing that felt like mine. A place where I control the design, the content, and the experience. No algorithm deciding what gets seen. No templates that look like everyone else’s.
So I built this.
The stack
Here’s what’s powering mel.pet:
- Astro — Static-first framework that ships zero JS by default. Perfect for a content site.
- Tailwind CSS v4 — Utility-first styling with the new CSS-based config. Fast iteration, total control.
- MDX — Markdown + components. Write content naturally, embed interactive stuff when needed.
- Cloudflare Pages — Global edge deployment, instant cache invalidation, and it’s free for personal projects.
Why Astro over Next.js?
I love Next.js for apps, but for a personal site? It’s overkill. Astro gives me:
- Zero client-side JavaScript unless I explicitly opt in
- Native content collections with type-safe frontmatter
- Built-in image optimization, sitemap, RSS
- Faster builds and smaller output
For a site that’s 95% static content, Astro is the right tool.
What I’ll write about
Expect posts about:
- Dev experiments — Things I build and what I learn from them
- Technical deep-dives — Breaking down architectures, tools, and patterns
- Project devlogs — Behind-the-scenes of active projects
- Hot takes — Opinions about tech, frameworks, and developer culture
No schedule, no pressure. Posts ship when they’re ready.
Wrapping up
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. This site will evolve over time — new features, new posts, maybe some weird experiments. Stay tuned.
console.log("see you around.");