Jacob Wenger reflects on the evolution of his personal website, which has transitioned through various technologies, starting from basic HTML and CSS to Create React App, and eventually to Gatsby. However, he found Gatsby to be outdated and sought a more modern solution, leading him to adopt Astro, a framework that revitalized his site. Wenger outlines several motivations for redesigning his website. He aimed to create a dedicated space for writing that he could fully control, reduce the maintenance burden that had accumulated with his Gatsby site, and achieve a more professional design that mirrored his growth as a developer and designer. The redesign brought significant visual changes, including a new writing section for blog posts complete with an RSS feed, a more focused hero section, an updated color scheme, and a simpler design with fewer images and animations. The work history was also updated to reflect accuracy. On a technical level, Wenger's codebase underwent a complete overhaul. Stuck on an outdated version of Gatsby, he found that a full rewrite was the most efficient solution. His experience with Gatsby had been marred by complex data fetching, slow builds, and difficult upgrades. In contrast, Astro provided a smoother developer experience and improved site performance. Both Gatsby and Astro are static site generators, but they differ in their rendering and interactivity approaches. Gatsby generates static HTML and then hydrates it into a Single Page Application, while Astro operates as a Multi-Page Application by default, delivering static HTML with minimal JavaScript. Astro's advantages became apparent during the migration process. Its component-based design allowed Wenger to leverage familiar React-like benefits without the associated dependencies. The data handling was simplified, moving away from complex GraphQL queries to straightforward data access. Astro's support for TypeScript enhanced development speed and confidence, and its integrations required less code and configuration compared to Gatsby. The framework's flexibility allowed him to use React for specific components, such as a newsletter signup form, without being locked into Astro's ecosystem. Additionally, the documentation provided was extensive and well-organized, aiding in the migration process. However, the transition to Astro was not without challenges. Wenger had to rethink his styling strategy, as Astro's approach to conditional CSS was more cumbersome than using styled-components. Converting from untyped React components to Astro components with TypeScript was time-consuming, though ultimately beneficial. He also encountered limitations with the lack of multiple exports from .astro files, which complicated code organization. Despite these challenges, Wenger is pleased with the results of the redesign. The website now loads quickly, with minimal page sizes and high performance metrics. He successfully achieved his initial goals: establishing a dedicated writing space, reducing maintenance overhead, and refreshing the site's appearance to better reflect his skills and aesthetic preferences. Looking ahead, Wenger views his website as a platform for sharing his work rather than a source of frustration. The redesign has made it simpler yet more capable, aligning with his desire for a development process that brings joy. He concludes that the best framework is one that meets current needs, and for him, Astro is fulfilling that role effectively.