Website Case Study

Eleventy8

Built to prove a point. The point being: two decades of this.

RoleDesigner, Developer & everything else

TimelineOngoing, built iteratively

Project Context

After more than 20 years building and rescuing websites, I wanted a place that actually showed what I can do. Eleventy8 is that place. It is built using Astro v6, React 19, and Tailwind 4. It operates on a static-first hybrid model that strips away hydration overhead while keeping serverless endpoints active for secure Nodemailer SMTP dispatches protected by Cloudflare Turnstile and custom spam heuristics. It's been iterated continuously using the same audit process I offer to clients, treating my own portfolio with the same rigour I'd apply to a high-ticket project.

The Challenge

Building for yourself is uniquely difficult, there's no brief, no client to push back on bad ideas, and no excuse for cutting corners:

The blank page problem: Every other project in this portfolio started with a client brief, a Figma file, or at minimum a previous site to reference. This one started with nothing, which is either liberating or paralysing, depending on the day.
Demonstrating Astro and React credibly: Most of my professional work sits inside larger team stacks. Migrating this site to Astro v6 was the purist's choice to prove I can build high-performance portfolios with React 19 component design but zero client-side hydration bloat.
Two audiences, one site: The site needed to work as a freelance lead-generation tool for small business and estate agency clients, and simultaneously as a senior portfolio for potential employers or collaborators. Those two audiences have different needs, different language, and different things they're looking for.
SEO with intention: Ranking for anything requires specificity. Rather than a generic 'hire me' page, the site needed dedicated, well-structured landing pages targeting the search terms that the right clients actually use.
Avoiding the portfolio trap: The temptation with any developer portfolio is to make it look impressive rather than be useful. I wanted case studies that tell the truth about the work, the complexity, the decisions, the context, not just the polished outcome.

The Solution

Treated it like a client project, with a brief, a strategy, and a process:

Astro v6 and React 19, owned end-to-end: Migrated the entire stack from Next.js to Astro v6 to eliminate unnecessary client-side React hydration overhead. Kept React 19 for modular component state where absolutely necessary, whilst leveraging Astro's static-first hybrid architecture for raw speed.
Self-audited with my own tools: Used my own Eleventy8 Website Auditor alongside AI-assisted reviews to assess the site the same way I would a client's, Core Web Vitals, content structure, metadata, accessibility. Then fixed what I found.
Dedicated service landing pages: Built targeted pages for specific audiences and search terms, website performance audits for small businesses, estate agent-specific audits for the property sector, structured and written to rank and convert, not just exist.
Case studies as evidence, not marketing: Wrote detailed case studies for every significant project, not highlight reels, but honest accounts of the work, the complexity, and the decisions. The kind of thing that actually tells someone whether they'd want to work with me.
Iterative improvement: Rather than a big launch and nothing since, the site is updated continuously. Recently added a multi-layered AI spam shield and a metadata-harvesting 'Cold Take' audit tool that uses Gemini 3 Flash to analyse incoming leads in real-time.

The Outcome

The site does what it was built to do:

Demonstrates Astro v6 and React 19 competency: The fact that this portfolio exists, runs at 100/100 Lighthouse performance, and operates on a lightweight static-first hybrid Astro architecture is its own evidence.
Functional lead-generation platform: Dedicated landing pages targeting small business and estate agency clients, with clear service descriptions, pricing, and a contact process that doesn't waste anyone's time.
Honest representation of 20+ years of experience: The case studies here are the most candid account of my work that exists anywhere, what was hard, what I did about it, and what the outcome actually was.
A site I'm not embarrassed to send to anyone: Whether that's a potential client, a recruiter, or a CTO, the site makes the argument for me, clearly and without overselling.
Proof of the thing I sell: Offering website audits and performance consulting from a site that is itself well-built, fast, and SEO-considered isn't just good practice, it's the whole point.
My Personality: I'm hoping that my personality shines through on this website. I can't stand bureaucracy and jargon making people sound more important than they are. I try to keep things simple and direct. I love building things, not just talking about them. I also enjoy problem solving, it's what keeps me up at night.