.NET 9 Blazor app with a custom Bootstrap theme, Markdown-powered content, hosted on DigitalOcean; project images on Azure Blob Storage; efficient background image; CI/CD via GitHub Actions.

How This Site Is Built

This site is a focused, production-ready Blazor application designed for clarity, performance, and easy iteration. It was written from the ground up and is currently hosted on DigitalOcean.

Overview

Framework: .NET 9 + Blazor with Razor Components (server interactivity)
Styling: Bootstrap + a custom theme defined in /wwwroot/css/site.css
Content: Markdown files in /wwwroot/content/projects rendered at runtime
Observability: OpenTelemetry wired to Azure Monitor/App Insights when configured
Hosting: DigitalOcean
CI/CD: GitHub Actions (build, test, publish, deploy)
Media: Project images are served from Azure Blob Storage. The hero/background image is kept under ~1 MB for quick first load and then cached for 30 days.

Stack details

Blazor UI with server interactivity keeps the app responsive while minimizing browser complexity.
A few small JavaScript modules enhance visuals and UX (e.g., experienceChart.js, splash.js, theme.js, and a fibonacci canvas demo).
Project content is Markdown-driven, converting markdown to HTML at request time.
Reliability features include HTTPS redirection, antiforgery and some static asset mapping.
Telemetry sending traces/metrics to Azure Monitor when configured.

Hosting and media

Hosted on DigitalOcean.
Project images live in Azure Blob Storage.
The site background is stored locally in the project and optimized to be < 1 MB to minimize bandwidth and improve load time.

CI/CD (GitHub Actions)

On pushes to main:

Build the solution.
Run tests.
Deploy to DigitalOcean via Github Actions.

Local development

Run with dotnet run from the web project.

Questions about the setup or improvements you'd like to see? Please reach out.