Building My Portfolio Site

Today I completed the first major version of my professional portfolio site, hosted on GitHub Pages using Jekyll.

🛠 What I Accomplished

  • Set up Ruby, Bundler, and Jekyll on my local machine
  • Scaffolded a clean new Jekyll project (no template, fully manual)
  • Created a GitHub Pages repository with a custom domain: solomon-smith-dev.tech
  • Structured the site properly with:
    • Home (index.md)
    • About page
    • Projects page
    • Blog page
  • Set up a clean, working navigation bar
  • Added a first real blog post
  • Installed plugins for SEO, feed, and sitemap
  • Fixed GitHub Pages build issues
  • Correctly configured the custom domain with CNAME
  • Fixed Minima theme rendering issues (author object bug)

🧠 Skills I Practiced Today

  • Git basics and branching
  • GitHub Pages deployment workflow
  • YAML configuration in Jekyll
  • SEO optimization for personal websites
  • Debugging front-end theming issues
  • Terminal basics (file creation, folder structuring)
  • Clean Git commit practices

🧱 Obstacles I Overcame

  • Jekyll installation issues
  • Git push errors (wrong branch, wrong remote origin)
  • GitHub Pages custom domain conflict (archived old repo)
  • Footer rendering bug caused by Minima theme’s author handling
  • Cleaning up object rendering issues in site layouts

🚀 What’s Next

  • Add more blog posts and document future projects
  • Polish the Projects page with more detailed case studies
  • (Optional) Upgrade to Minimal Mistakes theme for a sleeker design
  • Set up OpenGraph and social media meta tags
  • Add downloadable resume and contact form

First big sprint done. Site is live, clean, and professional. More to come. 🔥