Building gyani.dev

Over the years, this site has gone through more iterations than I can keep track of.

• In 2021, I was learning React and built a version using Create React App and raw CSS styling: gh/arugyani/portfolio
• In 2022, my interest in what we can do with CSS grew, and I replaced React with a barebones HTML/CSS site: gh/arugyani/web-portfolio
• In 2023, I built a more ambitious portfolio with loading animations, color transitions, and more (built on React): gh/arugyani/React-Portfolio

Earlier this year, I became obsessed with performance optimization. I built a fast-loading proof-of-concept portfolio/blog hybrid using Astro. Astro was a joy to use, and seeing pages load almost instantly was immensely satisfying.

Now, in July 2025, I'm reevaluating how I want to represent myself online. You'll notice that this site is heavily inspired by Shu Ding's brilliant personal site (shud.in).

I don't take credit for this design, in fact, this write-up exists primarily to acknowledge that. After discovering Shu's site and diving into his other work, I was fascinated. I explored his GitHub, studied his work, and decided to treat rebuilding this site as a kind of copywriting and reverse-engineering exercise.

For anyone interested, the idea behind cloning this site is pretty succinctly explained in this essay by Shaan Puri.

So far, I've made only a few tweaks. There's now a dark mode (based on your system's color settings), different fonts, and some minor styling changes. More to come!

As I shift focus from development to design, I'll be experimenting with new, original concepts in the coming months. In the meantime, I highly encourage you to check out shud.in and the corresponding source.