How I Built My Website

I built many versions of my website, but they always felt lame. I had a functional blog, but I wanted a site that gave me joy. I'm not a designer. I know very little about landing page optimization for newsletter conversions. So I built for my personality.

I visit my own website because it makes me happy :D

This post shows the core skill for using AI: taste. I used AI throughout this site, and it wrote all the code. But AI without direction produces generic output. If a prompt with minimal thought produces what you produce, why would I come to you? I can prompt AI myself.

The problem is using AI without putting yourself into the result. We learned to spot bad AI writing. I think we'll learn to spot AI-generated everything: websites, images, products. As the barrier to creating drops and we see more of it, thoughtless AI generation will become as obvious as AI writing already is. Personality will stand out more, not less. Taste, personality, and humanity are my moats.

The Foundation Was Mine

A website should be personal, the same way writing is personal.

Colors set a tone. Dark mode is technical, orange is energetic, pink is playful. I visited Colorhunt.co, clicked random, and saved palettes I liked.

I discussed the options with my wife, tested a ton, and chose one. I've modified it since, but that first session set the foundation.

Each nav link uses a different color from my palette. It's a small touch, but it reinforces the chaotic energy I wanted.

AI as a Starting Point

I brainstormed themes for the hero with AI. It suggested the weather, which I liked. I tried tons of other variants because I was afraid people would think it was cliche or lame, but eventually decided to stick to what I like.

Clouds and lightning bolts with subtle movement frame my picture. AI wrote the SVGs, but it took a lot of time to make them look natural and be positioned well. I thought it'd be fun to make my 404 page match the theme with a thunderstorm.

My friend Alexis Gallagher's site has animations that inspired me to add hover effects. Lightning bolts shake. Clouds rain.

AI first rendered my name in plain black, but I thought my name should be a retro, word-art gradient, and it felt right.

The Push and Pull

I write about many things: AI, coding, retrieval, my trip to Japan. A new visitor might land on the wrong topic and leave. The data fit a table, but I didn't want my site to feel academic. I wanted visitors to feel curious, to hone in on what interested them.

I had AI categorize my posts, then built a homepage grid linking each category to a key article. The section felt flat, so I asked AI for ideas. It suggested a grid that highlights the hovered row and column. Sometimes AI has the better idea.

The Raw2Draft card took fifty tries. The product takes messy inputs and creates a draft. Conveying that visually was hard. I wanted it gritty, like work was happening, not like an ad promising AI will do everything in your sleep. But gritty can't look ugly or sloppy. I couldn't articulate it, and AI helped me see my ideas so I could refine them.

For Plot Builders, my wife had the idea: a video game character setting off on an adventure. Sometimes a person just knows.

My course cards are different. The RAG card is a screenshot from a course video. I prefer thumbnails that are authentic frames from the content when possible. What you see is what you get.

Choices AI Wouldn't Make

Most sites divide sections with a strong color shift. My palette lacked the contrast. I had testimonials, but a dedicated section felt forced. I solved both problems at once: I placed short testimonials inside black, full-width dividers.

Half the feedback loved these dividers. The other half found them too harsh. I kept them.

I needed a section for my beliefs. This was another place where I had to fight the urge to say something I thought would resonate with others. But "Structure Is a Thinking Tool" is the philosophy I've been building around. Changing a document's structure, from notes to outline or list to prose, or transcript to pros/cons list, clarifies thinking.

A "Change Structure" button transforms the text into different formats, and an animation supports the message. I love the "show not tell" feel of this animation.

My first attempt used hover triggers and a carousel. The changing height made the page jump, so I switched to a manual button.

The Human Parts

There's a tension in putting personal stuff on a professional site. I felt it with the weather theme. Will people think it's cringe? I felt it with the dividers. Too harsh? I felt it with "Structure Is a Thinking Tool." Should I pick something more in tune with current internet topics? Every section had a moment where I wanted to hedge.

I wanted a section about me, not just my work. I'm proud of my non-standard career path.

I started on an assembly line out of high school. A few years later I was teaching ballroom dance full-time. From there: process engineering, product management, data analysis, CRM development, a call center, accounting. I eventually found machine learning and data science. Now I work as a Founding Engineer at an AI and software company.

I like my winding path. If my career had been a straight line from college to tech, I wouldn't have included this section.

Dance is my main hobby. I met my wife teaching ballroom. She runs a dance business, and we still dance together. The Country Mashup video is actually our wedding dance we performed again at a showcase.

The decorative dots in this section bounce. I wanted them to dance, too. I tried complex animations, but they were distracting. But I wanted the section to show the fun I feel dancing with my wife.

Putting personal content on a professional site feels risky. But "corporate drone" is an insult for a reason. People connect with people, so I leaned in.

A Site That Makes Me Happy

I don't know if these choices maximize sign-ups or conversions. I didn't build this site for that.

I built it to feel like mine. AI wrote the code, but I know every section, animation, and color. I still scroll through it. I play the videos of my wife and me dancing. Visiting my own site makes me happy. That was the goal.