Yi Min Yang

Guiding principles of this website

Created: 2024-11-28
Updated: 2025-06-23
3 min read
Meta
Web Development
Performance

Introduction

This post outlines the guiding principles I follow when building and maintaining this website. These principles help me make decisions about technology choices, content structure, and overall user experience.

Principle 1: Keep it simple

I believe in the power of simplicity. This website focuses on content rather than flashy features or complex interactions. The design is clean and minimal, allowing readers to focus on what matters most: the content.

Principle 2: Performance first

Performance is not just a nice-to-have feature; it's a fundamental requirement. Every decision I make considers its impact on loading times, user experience, and overall site performance.

Static Generation

This website is built using Next.js with static site generation (SSG). This approach provides several benefits:

  • Fast loading times: Pre-generated pages load instantly
  • Better SEO: Search engines can easily crawl and index static content
  • Improved reliability: Static sites are less prone to server-side failures
  • Cost-effective hosting: Static sites can be hosted on CDNs for minimal cost

Principle 3: Stay current

Over the last years, I have seen and talked to many developers and SDETs who are still using outdated versions of libraries and frameworks. Most of the time the business or product owners do not allocate enough time or budget for updating the dependencies because it is not directly visible to the end user.

"Never change a running system." - Unknown

This is a common saying in the software industry, but I believe it can be harmful when taken too literally. While stability is important, staying current with technology updates brings significant benefits:

  • Security improvements: Newer versions often include important security patches
  • Performance enhancements: Updates frequently include optimizations
  • New features: Access to the latest capabilities and improvements
  • Better developer experience: Modern tooling and improved APIs

I make it a priority to keep all dependencies up to date and regularly review and update the technology stack.

Principle 4: Accessibility matters

Web accessibility is not optional. This website follows WCAG guidelines to ensure it's usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities or the devices they use.

Principle 5: Content quality over quantity

I prefer to publish fewer, high-quality posts rather than frequent, low-value content. Each post should provide genuine value to readers and be well-researched and thoughtfully written.

Principle 6: Measure and optimize

What gets measured gets improved. I use various tools to monitor performance and user experience:

  • Google PageSpeed Insights: For performance monitoring
  • Vercel Speed Insights: For real-world performance data
  • Google Search Console: For SEO and search performance

The goal is to maintain excellent performance scores. For instance, both Google PageSpeed Insights and Vercel's Speed Insights score this website with 100 points:

Conclusion

These principles guide every decision I make about this website, from technology choices to content creation. They help ensure that the site remains fast, accessible, and valuable to its readers while staying current with modern web development practices.