Blog Milestones

🚀 Blog Evolution

This blog is like my tech notebook, documenting my tinkering journey at different stages. Every refactor is a learning experience, every feature hides lessons from mistakes.

📊 Evolution Timeline

timeline
    title Blog Tech Stack Evolution
    2023 : Hexo + GitHub Pages
         : The simplest static blog
    2024 : Migrated to Astro
         : TypeScript + TailwindCSS
         : Dark theme + Mermaid
    2025 : Implemented i18n
         : Bilingual system

📝 Tinkering Log

🌱 2023 & Earlier - The Beginning

When I first started blogging, I chose the simplest option: Hexo. Configure _config.yml, drop some Markdown files into source/_posts/, and hexo g && hexo d - done. Basic but sufficient, focusing on content was the priority.

GitHub Pages offered free hosting. Sure, it was slow in China, but it was beginner-friendly.

🚀 Early 2024 - Bold Refactor

After using Hexo for over a year, I started feeling constrained. Adding features meant digging through documentation for plugins, customizing styles meant wrestling with EJS templates. Astro was gaining traction, and I liked its component-based approach and performance, so I decided to give it a shot.

The migration went smoother than expected:

• Articles were all Markdown, just copy them over
• Found AstroPaper theme - clean and minimal, exactly what I wanted
• Vercel deployment was simpler than GitHub Actions, plus it came with CDN

Upgraded the tech stack while I was at it:

• TypeScript: Finally got autocomplete, no more guessing APIs
• TailwindCSS: Atomic classes are genuinely nice, styling got much faster
• Pagefind: Client-side search, no backend needed, blazing fast

🎨 Mid-2024 - Polishing Details

With the basic framework in place, I started adding features I wanted:

• Dark mode: Essential for night owls, and the transition is smooth
• OG image generation: Pretty preview cards when sharing on social media - OCD satisfied
• Mermaid support: Drawing flowcharts in technical articles is too common
• Comment system: Integrated Twikoo comment service in April 2024, readers can finally interact with me
• RSS feed: Old-school but practical, for readers who truly care

This period was mainly about tweaking details to make the blog more comfortable to use. The addition of the comment system was a significant milestone - the blog was no longer just one-way broadcasting.

🌏 October 2025 - Going International

After a year of writing, I realized some technical content was worth sharing in English to reach a wider audience. But maintaining two separate blogs was too exhausting, so I committed to implementing i18n.

This was a significant change:

• Routing system refactor: Chinese at /blog/, English at /en/blog/, completely separated at the code level
• Language switcher: Not just simple redirects, but recognizing corresponding translated articles
• Content organization: Establishing relationships between Chinese and English articles on the same topic
• SEO optimization: hreflang tags, separated sitemaps - did everything that needed doing

The biggest takeaway was understanding that i18n isn’t just translating text - routing, navigation, search, and SEO all need consideration.

🎯 What It Looks Like Now

After all this tinkering, here’s what the blog has become:

Content Side

• 📖 Bilingual writing in Chinese and English, use whichever language you want
• 🔍 Full-text search with instant response, works offline too
• 🎨 Auto-switching dark theme to protect your eyes at night

Technical Side

• ⚡ Lighthouse scores are basically perfect, nothing to complain about performance-wise
• 📱 Looks just as good on mobile as on desktop
• 🔒 GDPR compliant with all necessary privacy protections

Experience Side

• 🚀 CDN acceleration, fast access globally
• 💾 Static generation, zero server load
• 🎯 No ads, no tracking, pure reading experience
• 💬 Reader interaction, Twikoo comment system makes communication convenient

💡 Some Reflections

Why Astro?

Initially, I was attracted by “zero JS runtime.” Later, I discovered what’s really great:

• Component-based development: Extract a component whenever you want to reuse something, way more flexible than Hexo templates
• Content collections: TypeScript type-safe content management, more reliable than manual categorization
• Ecosystem: Integrating various tools is convenient, no need to reinvent wheels

About Internationalization

A bilingual blog definitely adds workload, but it also brings new perspectives. Writing technical articles in Chinese allows more nuanced expression, while English writing emphasizes logical structure. Switching between languages subtly shifts thinking patterns.

What’s Next?

Functionality is sufficient now, not planning any major changes. Next focus will be on:

• Writing more high-quality content
• Optimizing reading experience details
• Comment system is already stable, considering minor adjustments based on reader feedback

Technology serves content - there’s a point where you should stop tinkering. With the comment system, the blog feels more like a real community now.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Standing on the shoulders of giants:

• Astro: The framework that made me fall in love with blogging again
• AstroPaper: Sat Naing’s theme saved me countless hours
• TailwindCSS: Classes can get long, but it really works
• Pagefind: CloudCannon team’s work, the best static search solution
• Twikoo: A simple comment system developed by imaegoo that brought community atmosphere to the blog

And all open source contributors - you make independent blogging meaningful.

This blog will keep going, documenting every stage of technical growth. ✨