How I Made This Blog

“Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Start simple, publish, and improve as you go. Your future self will thank you!”

🚀 Inspiration

The idea for my blog was sparked by the minimalist web movement—especially the 512KB Club. I was inspired by creators who built lightning-fast, efficient websites and focused on content over bloat. I wanted a space to share my thoughts, experiments, and technical insights, without the distractions of modern web clutter.

🛠️ Building with Hugo

I chose Hugo, a static site generator, for its speed, flexibility, and huge theme library. After trying out several themes (some with image quirks, others with tricky search setups), I settled on hugo-theme-stack. It struck the perfect balance between simplicity and power.

But picking a theme was just the start. I dove into customizing layouts, learning Hugo’s templating system, and tweaking the design to match my style. Every bug and design tweak was a learning opportunity.

🌐 Domain & Hosting

Domain: I registered my domain with Namecheap—great prices and a smooth experience.
Hosting: I started on GitHub Pages for simplicity, but later moved to Cloudflare for better speed, security, and control. Migrating was easy, and the performance boost was immediate.

🔍 SEO & Performance

I wanted my blog to be discoverable and fast:

Added meta tags and optimized for relevant keywords.
Used canonical URLs, alt text for images, and set up a sitemap and robots.txt.
Registered with Google Search Console and requested indexing.

🤖 How Cursor AI Supercharged My Workflow

This is where things got really fun! I started using Cursor AI—an AI-powered code editor and assistant. Here’s how it made a real difference:

Added Animations: Cursor AI helped me implement smooth scroll-reveal animations for section titles and article cards, making the site feel lively and modern.
Home Button: With AI-assisted code suggestions, I easily added a floating home button for quick navigation, improving the user experience.
Showcased Main Features: I used Cursor AI to brainstorm and highlight the blog’s main features, ensuring they stand out to readers.
Image Optimization: The AI suggested best practices for images and even generated the shell commands I used to convert screenshots to WebP for faster load times.

Once the blog started taking shape, it was time to give it a home on the web. I purchased a domain from Namecheap, a trusted domain registrar known for its user-friendly interface and competitive pricing. Choosing a domain name was a crucial step as it would become my blog’s identity on the internet.

✨ Final Thoughts

Building this blog taught me more than just web development—it taught me patience, iteration, and the value of good tools. With Hugo, inspiration from the 512KB Club, and a little help from Cursor AI, I created a site I’m truly proud of.

If you’re thinking about starting your own blog, don’t wait for perfection. Start small, publish, and let your site grow with you. And don’t be afraid to get a little help from AI along the way!