My First Blog

My website has been online for nearly 30 days, and only now do I have this first blog post in the true sense. I actually wanted to wait until the website in my initial plan was mostly finished before I started writing. It is also a way to record the beginning and journey of this little site. So, let's begin.

Why did I build this website?

When it comes to personal websites, or personal blogs, I have been exposed to the concept since childhood. Many books I read were essentially collections of personal online blog posts and essays. One example I really liked was 万万没想到 by Weigang Wan, which was compiled from his online journals.

I used to think writing blogs was something really cool, but never have I imagined that one day I would also want to write and keep track of my own life.

The shift from reading others' blogs to writing my own was actually accidental. One day I was scrolling 知乎 and saw a question: "What should you do while you're still young?" It was the typical kind of question for asking advice for young people. I read several answers and one of them still sticks with me to this day. Its core idea was:

"While you're young, leave yourself more beautiful memories. Even when life gets hard later, at least those memories can hold you up."

That feels true. When I look back at the childhood photos my parents took for me, I still feel warm inside. I don't actually remember much from those years, but by watching old videos with my parents time and time again, and hearing them tell those stories time and time again, made even memories that never truly should be existed in my mind become vivid. Maybe that's why many classmates are surprised I can remember things from so long ago.

During my university years, I also went through a vast transition: from a life of fixed study-and-exam routines (primary school to high school), to arranging my own time and life. I joined many team-based competitions and made many choices that did not follow the mainstream. There were months when I stayed up all night every day just studying. There were also carefree days when I could just pack up and travel on impulse.

I met friends and classmates from different cities and different age groups in society. I also changed from someone who ignored what was happening outside, to someone who started paying attention to social issues and current events.

After all this, it was hard not to want to document my life and transformation.

Ideas stop at imagination; execution depends on things actually happening.

During my 考研 preparation period, I came across a personal website with many friend links. I started visiting different interesting personal sites. Many of them were from Chinese college students recording their study notes and daily life. They were not all "guru-level" blogs full of big insights (though some certainly were). But still, through those ordinary records, I felt like I had met new friends with people I never met in person.

Combined with the thoughts I had already been carrying, this finally pushed me to decide to build my own site. So after the exam, I began the journey.

How was the website built?

As everyone knows, websites are essentially frontend work. AI is already very strong in this area. It not only makes building easier, but can also produce interfaces with good interaction and visual quality.

If someone still insists on purely old-school programming and types everything from scratch today, it's hard to say whether people would admire it or laugh at it.

At the same time, there are many open-source blog templates (for example, there are lots of beautiful templates on Hexo). If you directly use one, you can avoid reinventing the wheel. It's fast and practical, and often prettier than a hand-drawn draft made by one person.

So from the early stage, when I was building this site, I kept thinking about what's convenient, especially how to make AI convenient to use. Across the whole internet frontend ecosystem, React has the largest share. That also means AI has seen the most React-related code, which makes future AI-assisted modifications easier. Also, when I was a sophomore, my older cousin asked me to learn some React, but I never got real practice. I always wanted to try it properly.

Overall, React really suited me well: someone who wanted to build from scratch, experience the full React development process, and create a website with personal ideas.

Image source: eleopardsolutions

So I chose React + Vite + Tailwind CSS as the core stack of my website. After I finished the overall framework and structure myself, it was time for AI to shine.

As the site improved bit by bit and animations were adjusted continuously, the look I had in mind gradually became real (you can see more details on our Timeline page). Later, with free hosting and image services from Vercel and Cloudflare, our website finally went live, and in a cost-effective way. (There are already lots of tutorials online for the exact process, so I won't repeat them here.)

What's next？

I am already quite satisfied with this little site, but the content is still very empty. Right now it mostly has a shell. So moving forward, I will document my life, especially my university life.

If someone reads this before entering college, maybe they can learn from my mistakes in advance, and maybe pick up a bit of useful experience from me too. Haha.

To expand this site, I will also keep working in my spare time on two additional projects. Maybe I can make a project collection page? Or perhaps share some great papers and blog posts I have read.

Who knows? Just let everything happen!