Matteo's website 👨🏻💻
The journey
My journey in building my website has been an evolving process, spanning nearly four years. I initially started with Jekyll, but over time, I found it to be somewhat outdated. I started blogging and wrote a few posts about software development approaches, TDD and other stuff but I grew tired of it, probably because I did not found it very interesting. Those posts are now gone 🗑️
And so I did not take care of my website for a while.
After some time, I thought I could use it to showcase projects and applications that I worked on, which I hope it will be useful when applying for a job.
Eleventy
I wanted something more modern, so I explored other static site generators, testing both Hugo and Eleventy. Hugo seemed very powerful, but I could not find a template to use as a starting point, so I hesitated to commit. Eleventy, on the other hand, offers a simple and neat template for a blog: eleventy-base-blog, which suited my needs perfectly. After getting to know Eleventy more and more, it seems like it offers flexibility, simplicity, and, most importantly, the ability to work with web-native technologies. Moreover, you can use all the packages that you can find on npm, and that made my decision easy: Eleventy was the perfect fit.
Working with Eleventy has been an enjoyable experience. It feels intuitive, lightweight, and adaptable. When it came to design, I initially looked into neo-brutalism, thanks to Isabella Muerte's web site, which I think is sooo cool! However I found neo-brutalism vibrant colors a bit overwhelming. Instead, I blended inspiration from GitHub's Primer and Catppuccin palettes, carefully selecting colors that felt balanced and easy on the eyes while still maintaining a bold and unique character.
I have made both a dark and light theme, for now. I was wondering whether it's worth the effort. I might remove one theme if it's too much work.
Though I’ve only scratched the surface of what Eleventy can do, I already appreciate its speed, flexibility, and how seamlessly it fits into my workflow. This project has not only helped me build a website that truly feels like mine but has also left me excited to explore Eleventy’s full potential in the future.