How I Created a Perfect Blog

Minimal styling, zero tracking or ads, and really fast.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours designing this blog. It’s my best attempt to represent my soul. After I die, this project will still float in the vast space of the Internet.

Text matters most on this website. I wanted to ensure no visitor felt the need to turn on reader mode. I experimented with various background colors, font colors, content width, navigation menus, and font sizes to embody my love for the books like these.

Scrolling on my blog is designed to feel like flipping through old paperbacks written with a typewriter. That’s why I purchased a font that pays homage to one of the first commercially made Korean-English typewriters called Clover, manufactured in 1978.

I used Hugo to turn markdown files into a static website, Netlify for hosting, and Riku to collect HTML responses. I also used Font Face Observer for fast font loading, Pagefind for search functionality, and Buttondown for collecting emails.

Websites like budding.computer, elliott.computer, sive.rs, lente.dev, and gkeenan.co inspired me to value functionality, aesthetics, and privacy. These sites provide an oasis on today’s enshittified, big-tech-dominant web. I’m proud to be part of the gang of independent creators.

If you’d like, you can check out the source code of this website.