---
title: 'Welcome to Your New Portfolio'
description: 'This is a starter template for your Astro-based portfolio and blog. Learn about the features and capabilities of this template.'
pubDate: 'Dec 27 2024'
heroImage: '../../assets/nicholai-medium-portrait.avif'
featured: true
category: 'Getting Started'
tags: ['Template', 'Introduction', 'Guide']
---

## Welcome!

This is your new portfolio and blog, built with **Astro**, **React**, and **Tailwind CSS**. This template provides everything you need to showcase your work, share your thoughts, and connect with your audience.

## Key Features

### Content Management
- **MDX Support**: Write blog posts using Markdown with embedded React components
- **Type-Safe Content Collections**: Schema validation ensures your content is always properly structured
- **Flexible Taxonomies**: Organize posts with categories and tags

### Blog Functionality
- **Featured Posts**: Highlight your best work on the blog index
- **Related Posts**: Automatic suggestions based on categories and tags
- **Reading Time**: Calculated automatically from word count
- **Table of Contents**: Auto-generated navigation for long-form content
- **Post Navigation**: Easy browsing between previous and next posts

### Design System
This template includes a comprehensive industrial dark design system with:
- Carefully crafted color palettes and typography scales
- Consistent spacing and grid systems
- Professional component patterns
- Smooth animations and transitions

All design tokens are documented in `dev/design.json` for easy customization.

### Performance & SEO
- **Cloudflare Pages Deployment**: Global CDN for lightning-fast load times
- **Optimized Images**: AVIF format support with conversion utilities
- **Structured Data**: SEO-optimized with JSON-LD schemas
- **RSS Feed**: Keep your audience updated automatically
- **Reading Progress**: Visual indicator for long-form content

## Customization

This template is designed to be easily customized:

1. **Content**: Update the files in `src/content/` to add your own bio, experience, skills, and projects
2. **Design**: Modify `dev/design.json` to adjust colors, typography, and spacing
3. **Configuration**: Edit `template.config.json` or use the setup script to update site-wide settings
4. **Components**: All UI components are in `src/components/` for easy modification

## Utilities Included

This template comes with helpful utility scripts:

```bash
pnpm convert:avif:all  # Convert images to AVIF format
pnpm commit            # AI-powered git commit messages
pnpm cf-typegen        # Generate Cloudflare types
```

## Getting Started

Check out the other template posts to learn more:
- **Sample Case Study**: See how to structure project documentation
- **Writing Your First Post**: Learn about MDX features and content authoring

Ready to make this portfolio your own? Start by customizing the content in `src/content/sections/` to tell your story.

## What's Next?

Explore the codebase, make it your own, and start creating. The architecture is designed to be intuitive, with clear separation between content, components, and configuration.

Happy building!
