case study / web project
activePersonal Portfolio Website
A bilingual, static Astro identity hub for technical systems, field media, adventures, and evidence-backed project records.
- Astro
- TypeScript
- MDX
- Caddy
This website is the main public system. It brings together adventures, video
work, technical experiments, and contact in one place without turning the
result into a generic portfolio template. English is the unprefixed default;
the complete German mirror lives under /de/ with explicit page-to-page
language switching.
The focus is on clear structure, editorial pacing, and a restrained identity. The site should feel like an archive with intent, not a landing page.
What it demonstrates
- Astro content collections and MDX
- paired English and Swiss Standard German content
- static-first publishing through versioned, atomic releases
- editorial visual rhythm
- content structured around real work
- a personal system rather than a freelance agency layout
Public record architecture
The project catalogue is the complete map of systems, experiments, and case studies. Open Source is a repository-visibility view over that catalogue rather than a second project database. Field Notes provides the chronological layer: dated development and release records connect back to every project named in their metadata. This keeps permanent overviews stable while allowing current work—including FF00 VWM and its NUR packaging—to accumulate an honest history.
Identity system
The site carries a deliberately small visual system: a traced vector logo and favicon family, a locked dark/crimson palette, Maple Mono for readable interface and editorial text, and IBM VGA 8x16 as the sparse display signature. The permanent tagline, Serialise Thyself, remains unchanged across languages and identity-bearing products. A tiny Unifont-JP subset keeps Japanese terminal text deterministic. All fonts are served locally with their source and licence records.
Apex entry sequence
External first visits open on a full-screen /dev/tty0 composition. The entry
starts as an obfuscated NixOS prompt, resolves to lain@FF00Δ, types Protocol 7
and a Lain Iwakura quote, then powers down into a bright CRT line before the
actual page redraws. The dismissal state lasts only for the current tab session.
Initial terminal state. Open the frozen live view.
Completed terminal output before shutdown. Open the frozen live view.
Publishing and privacy
A production-canonical build is checked on the public indev host under a
host-level noindex policy, then the exact same artifact is promoted to the
apex site. Caddy supplies the static edge, security headers, cache policy, and
rollback boundary.
The first-visit panel records only dismissal and language preference. The site contains no Google Analytics, advertising cookies, or third-party font runtime. Search Console ownership and sitemap submission support crawl diagnostics without adding browser-side tracking code.