2026: a new version for a new year

It’s been a year since I put online this website and I must admit, I haven’t published much since then. I quickly embarked on technical changes and then let things drag on. As I had some changes pending, the editorial aspect was completely neglected.

So, what’s new in this version?

Mainly technical improvements

From a technical point of view, nothing changes; this website still uses Astro! However, I brought some changes to reduce code duplication and improve my developer experience.

Simplified routing

I refactored my way of using Astro’s built-in routing. Previously, templates were duplicated both per content categories and per language.

Now I have a single page template responsible for choosing the layout without worrying about the language and I no longer translate any routes in the source code. This means that if tomorrow I want to reuse my code for another website and I prefer to use “articles” instead of “posts” in the URL, this is now possible!

Use of view transitions

Now that Firefox also supports view transitions, I decided to test them on this website. I’m not using any fancy animations. However, navigation between pages now seems smoother, which should please those used to single-page applications (SPA).

Bug fixes

I noticed a performance issue on mobile due to the SVG used for the background. It seems the best way to fix this is to use a static image instead of my previous method. Doing so led me to adjust other things, such as the website’s colors.

I also cleaned up the source code after noticing it contained extra, unwanted attributes. It seems that when using spread syntax with slots, Astro automatically adds slot as an attribute instead of removing it after use.

Graphical changes

The most noticeable change is probably the logo. I wasn’t satisfied with the previous version and the rendering was good in Firefox quick links or in Google search results. The first point is now fixed. All that remains is to wait and see how the rendering on Google improves.

Then, I also updated how the site settings are displayed. While changing the theme might be considered a secondary feature, switching between languages should be immediately visible to website users. So I removed the modal — only for large viewports, like a computer screen — and everything is now configurable directly from the navigation bar.

Refined dark theme

The dark theme has been improved. At least, I hope so. I mostly use the websites light mode and only switch to dark mode in the evening or at night. When I switch over, I also automatically activate Redshift. This was an important point I hadn’t considered a year ago, and the color choices were therefore rather disappointing.

This new dark theme is… darker, and the blue-grey tone is now respected by Redshift. At least, with my settings. I took the opportunity to update the shadows and border colors. I think, overall, this looks better than before.

Minor layout changes

This new version includes:

larger blank spaces in various parts of the site, which I think improves readability;
a different layout for page titles and cover images;
a more reasonable size for the buttons available in code blocks.

What’s next?

I think what I wrote a year ago in “A New Site” still applies. I have improved my development experience but I already see other improvements that are maybe more focused on the editorial side than development this time.

I will also try to post a bit more often. In particular, I plan to write an article on how I create my routes because I have been asked to do so and because route translation management is a question that comes up often. That said, I make no promises regarding its publication date…

In the meantime, I wish you a happy new year!

New year, new version

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