Relaunching My Website: A Journey of Migration, Modernization, and AI Integration

Thu Jul 03 2025 programming

Relaunching My Website: A Journey of Migration, Modernization, and AI Integration

After years of running my blog on WordPress and various hosting platforms, I decided it was time for a complete relaunch. What started as a simple desire to save hosting costs evolved into a comprehensive modernization project that showcased the power of AI-assisted development. Here's the story of how I rebuilt my entire web presence from the ground up.

The Motivation: More Than Just Cost Savings

My original setup was becoming increasingly cumbersome:

  • WordPress Complexity: Years of plugins, themes, and customizations had created a bloated system
  • VPS Hosting Costs: Running multiple sites on a VPS was expensive for what was essentially static content
  • Content Fragmentation: My writing was scattered across WordPress, Medium, and various other platforms
  • Limited Control: I wanted complete ownership of my content and presentation

The goal was simple: create a unified, cost-effective, and maintainable platform for all my writing.

The Technical Challenge: From WordPress to Static

Legacy Content Migration

The first major hurdle was extracting years of content from WordPress. My blog contained:

  • 150+ blog posts spanning over a decade
  • Multiple categories including fiction reviews, technical writing, and creative works
  • Complex formatting with embedded images, code blocks, and custom styling
  • Intricate URL structures that needed to be preserved for SEO

The Custom Solution Approach

Rather than using existing static site generators like Jekyll or Hugo, I decided to build a custom solution using Node.js. This decision was driven by:

  1. Complete Control: Full customization of the build process
  2. Specific Requirements: Unique needs for content processing and categorization
  3. Learning Opportunity: Chance to understand every aspect of the system
  4. AI Integration: Easier to extend with AI-powered features

The AI Revolution: Cursor and Pair Programming

The game-changer in this project was working exclusively within the Cursor IDE with AI assistance. This wasn't just about code completion—it was true pair programming with AI.

How AI Transformed the Development Process

Content Processing Scripts: AI helped write complex scripts to:

  • Parse WordPress export files
  • Convert HTML to clean Markdown
  • Extract and organize metadata
  • Handle image migration and optimization

Build System Architecture: Together with AI, we designed:

  • A modular build pipeline
  • Category management system
  • Template rendering engine
  • Redirect handling for SEO preservation

Problem-Solving Partnership: When facing challenges like Medium's anti-scraping measures, AI helped:

  • Analyze the problem space
  • Suggest multiple solution approaches
  • Debug complex Puppeteer automation
  • Optimize for performance and reliability

The Cursor IDE Experience

Working in Cursor felt like having a senior developer as a constant pair programming partner:

// AI helped write complex content processing logic
function processWordPressContent(htmlContent) {
    const $ = cheerio.load(htmlContent);
    
    // Remove WordPress-specific elements
    $('.wp-block-separator').remove();
    $('.sharedaddy').remove();
    
    // Convert to clean Markdown
    return turndownService.turndown($.html());
}

The AI understood context, remembered previous decisions, and could suggest improvements based on the entire project structure.

Technical Architecture: A Modern Static Site

The Build Pipeline

The final system consists of several key components:

  1. Content Processing: Scripts to convert various formats to Markdown
  2. Template Engine: Custom HTML generation with modern CSS
  3. Category Management: Automatic categorization and navigation
  4. Image Optimization: Automated image processing and CDN preparation
  5. Redirect Management: SEO-preserving URL mapping

Key Features Implemented

Modern Design System:

  • Clean, responsive design
  • Dark mode support
  • Typography optimization
  • Mobile-first approach

Content Organization:

  • Hierarchical category system
  • Chronological post organization
  • Search-friendly URLs
  • Comprehensive navigation

Performance Optimization:

  • Static file generation
  • Minimal JavaScript
  • Optimized images
  • Fast loading times

The Migration Process: From Chaos to Order

Phase 1: Content Extraction

  • Exported WordPress database
  • Parsed HTML content
  • Extracted metadata and categories
  • Preserved publication dates

Phase 2: Content Processing

  • Converted HTML to Markdown
  • Standardized formatting
  • Organized file structure
  • Created redirect mappings

Phase 3: Medium Integration

  • Built Puppeteer scraping system
  • Archived 48 Medium articles
  • Downloaded 265 images
  • Integrated with main site

Phase 4: AI Content Integration

  • Added AI philosophy posts
  • Created technical writing about AI
  • Documented the development process
  • Enhanced About page with AI workflow

Results: A Unified Digital Presence

Technical Achievements

Performance Gains:

  • Loading Speed: Sub-second page loads
  • Hosting Costs: Reduced from $20/month to $5/month
  • Maintenance: Minimal ongoing maintenance required
  • Scalability: Easy to add new content and features

Content Organization:

  • Unified Platform: All writing in one place
  • Consistent Formatting: Standardized presentation
  • SEO Preservation: All old URLs redirect properly
  • Modern Experience: Clean, fast, accessible design

Content Statistics

The final site includes:

  • 180+ blog posts across multiple categories
  • Complete Medium archive with images
  • AI-enhanced content about modern development
  • Comprehensive About page documenting the journey

Lessons Learned: The Future of Web Development

AI as a Development Partner

This project demonstrated that AI isn't just a tool—it's a genuine development partner:

  • Accelerated Development: Complex tasks completed in hours, not days
  • Higher Quality: AI suggestions often improved initial approaches
  • Learning Amplification: Constant exposure to best practices and new techniques
  • Creative Problem Solving: AI helped find solutions I wouldn't have considered

The Power of Custom Solutions

While frameworks are valuable, building custom solutions offers:

  • Complete Understanding: Know every aspect of your system
  • Perfect Fit: Tailored exactly to your needs
  • Future Flexibility: Easy to extend and modify
  • Performance Optimization: No unnecessary overhead

Modern Static Sites Are Powerful

Static site generation has evolved significantly:

  • Dynamic Capabilities: JavaScript can add interactivity where needed
  • Build-Time Processing: Complex logic runs during build, not runtime
  • Hosting Flexibility: Deploy anywhere, from CDNs to simple servers
  • Security Benefits: No server-side vulnerabilities

The Technical Stack

Core Technologies

  • Node.js: Build scripts and content processing
  • Marked: Markdown to HTML conversion
  • Cheerio: HTML parsing and manipulation
  • Puppeteer: Dynamic content scraping
  • Modern CSS: Responsive design with CSS Grid and Flexbox

AI Integration

  • Cursor IDE: Primary development environment
  • Claude: AI pair programming partner
  • Content Enhancement: AI-assisted writing and editing
  • Problem Solving: AI-powered debugging and optimization

Future Enhancements

The new architecture makes several improvements possible:

  1. Search Integration: Full-text search across all content
  2. Comment System: Modern commenting without database complexity
  3. Newsletter Integration: Automated content distribution
  4. Analytics Enhancement: Privacy-focused visitor analytics
  5. Content Automation: AI-powered content suggestions and optimization

Conclusion: A New Chapter

This website relaunch represents more than just a technical migration—it's a fundamental shift in how I approach web development and content creation. The combination of modern static site techniques with AI-assisted development created a workflow that's both powerful and enjoyable.

The result is a platform that's:

  • Fast and Reliable: Static files load instantly
  • Cost-Effective: Minimal hosting requirements
  • Maintainable: Clean, understandable codebase
  • Extensible: Easy to add new features and content
  • Future-Proof: Built with modern standards and practices

Most importantly, it's a platform that I completely understand and control. Every line of code, every design decision, and every content organization choice was made deliberately, with AI as a knowledgeable partner throughout the process.

The future of web development isn't just about new frameworks or technologies—it's about the partnership between human creativity and AI capabilities. This project demonstrated that when we work together with AI, we can build better, faster, and more thoughtfully than either could alone.

This relaunch is part of my broader exploration of AI-assisted development and content creation. The complete source code and documentation are available in my website's repository, serving as both a working example and a testament to the power of AI-human collaboration in modern web development.