- Published on
- Authors
- Name
- Hien Phan
- @HarrisonPhan9
Day 0: Creating My Personal Blog
Today marks the beginning of an exciting journey - I've just set up my personal blog! After months of thinking about starting a blog to share my experiences and learnings as a developer, I finally took the plunge.
Why Start a Blog?
As a software developer, I've always believed in the power of sharing knowledge and experiences. Here are the main reasons why I decided to start this blog:
- Document my learning journey - Writing about what I learn helps reinforce my understanding
- Share insights and solutions - Help other developers who might face similar challenges
- Build a personal brand - Establish my presence in the developer community
- Improve my writing skills - Technical writing is an essential skill for developers
- Connect with like-minded people - Meet other developers and tech enthusiasts
Technology Stack
For this blog, I chose a modern and powerful tech stack that I'm excited to work with:
Frontend Framework
- Next.js 14 with App Router - For server-side rendering and excellent performance
- React 19 - The latest version with Server Components
- TypeScript - For type safety and better developer experience
Styling & Design
- Tailwind CSS - For rapid and consistent styling
- Responsive design - Mobile-first approach for all devices
- Dark/Light theme - Automatic theme switching based on user preference
Content Management
- MDX - Markdown with JSX components for rich content
- Contentlayer - Type-safe content management
- Reading time calculation - Automatic estimation of article reading time
Features
- Search functionality - Built-in search with kbar
- Tag system - Organize posts by topics
- RSS feed - For subscribers to follow updates
- SEO optimized - Meta tags, structured data, and sitemaps
- Comments system - Ready for Giscus integration
- Analytics ready - Easy integration with various analytics providers
What's Next?
This is just the beginning! Here's what I plan to write about in the coming days and weeks:
- Development tutorials - Step-by-step guides for various technologies
- Project showcases - Interesting projects I'm working on
- Technology reviews - My thoughts on new tools and frameworks
- Problem-solving - Solutions to challenging development problems
- Industry insights - Trends and developments in the tech world
- Learning experiences - Documenting my journey with new technologies
The Setup Process
Setting up this blog was an adventure in itself. I used the excellent Tailwind Next.js Starter Blog template as a foundation, which provided:
- Modern development workflow - With ESLint, Prettier, and TypeScript
- Optimized performance - Lighthouse scores of 95+
- Developer experience - Hot reloading and fast builds
- Production ready - Deployed on Vercel with zero configuration
Join Me on This Journey
I'm excited to share this journey with you! Whether you're a fellow developer, a tech enthusiast, or someone curious about technology, I hope you'll find value in the content I'll be sharing.
Feel free to reach out to me on:
- GitHub - Check out my projects
- LinkedIn - Let's connect professionally
- Twitter - Follow for quick updates
- Email - Drop me a line
What's Coming Next
In my next post, I'll dive into the technical details of how this blog is built and share some tips for anyone looking to create their own developer blog. Stay tuned!
This blog is built with Next.js, React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. The source code is available on GitHub for anyone interested in the technical implementation.