Building My Portfolio with Konstantin Münster's Gatsby Theme

Building My Portfolio with Konstantin Münster's Gatsby Theme

Description: I leveraged Konstantin Münster’s plug-and-play Gatsby Theme Portfolio Minimal to create a professional, responsive portfolio using JSON and Markdown.

Why This Theme?

Creating a polished portfolio can be daunting, but this theme provided:

• Clean Design: Minimalistic yet professional.
• Dynamic Management: JSON-based project updates.
• Markdown Blogging: Simplified post creation.
• Built-in Features: Dark mode, responsive layouts, and image optimization.

Benefits of Gatsby

Gatsby's static site generation ensures lightning-fast load times, optimized assets, and seamless navigation—ideal for performance and user experience.

JSON for Content

Updating projects is as easy as editing a JSON file like this:

{
    "projects": [
        {
            "title": "Carbon Footprint Dashboard",
            "description": "Calculate your carbon footprint from location history.",
            "tags": ["JavaScript", "Data Visualization"],
            "links": [
                {
                    "type": "github",
                    "url": "https://github.com/danksky/carbon-foot-prince"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Markdown Blogging

Blog posts are simple Markdown files with frontmatter like this:

---
title: "Building My Portfolio with Konstantin Münster's Gatsby Theme"
date: "2024-11-21"
categories: ["Web Development", "Portfolio"]
keywords: ["Gatsby", "React", "Markdown"]
---

Markdown keeps content creation lightweight and focused.

Customizations

I personalized the theme by:

1. Grouping Projects: By categories and tags.
2. Styling Adjustments: Tweaking fonts, colors, and spacing.
3. Optimized Images: Ensuring fast loading and sharp visuals.

Why This Worked

Using this theme allowed me to:

• Save Time: Skip building from scratch.
• Focus on Content: Showcase projects via JSON and blogs via Markdown.
• Easily Update: Add new content by editing simple files.

Lessons Learned and Next Steps

Pre-built solutions like this theme save time and deliver professional results. I plan to:

• Add detailed case studies.
• Expand the blog section with development insights.
• Further optimize performance and accessibility.

Check out my portfolio here, or explore the theme here!

Conclusion

Building a portfolio doesn’t need to be complicated. With Gatsby, JSON, and Markdown, I created a site that showcases my skills while saving time and effort. Have questions? Reach out on GitHub!