Welcome — this is the first post on the rebuilt version of my site, and a good excuse to jot down what changed under the hood.
I originally hosted this site on Firebase when it was relatively static. This was fine for the initial site construction, but the moment I wanted it to actually do things — like handle a contact form without bolting on a separate backend — the static-only model got in the way. So I moved hosting to AWS Amplify, which can run server-side code. The first thing that unlocked: a working contact form, powered by a Next.js server action, with no extra infrastructure to manage.
The next step was rebuilding the site on Next.js with the App Router. That choice buys a lot in one move — file-based routing, server components, better SEO metadata, and an easy way to mix fast pre-rendered pages with dynamic ones that need a server.
This is just the beginning, I plan to add a new entry with each step in upgrading my portfolio. Hopefully, I can share some helpful insights. Treating the site as a proper Next.js app - instead of a static bundle - is what makes the things I want to add next actually feasible. Starting with this blog.
More soon. 👋