On rebuilding rahim.ae for the fifth time

Why I keep rebuilding the same site, and what stays the same every time.

This is the fifth version of rahim.ae. The first was Wordpress, the second was Jekyll, the third was Hugo, the fourth was Next.js, and this one is back to being mostly static HTML with a little React on top.

Each rebuild lasts roughly two years. By the end of year two I want to write more and tweak the site less, which is always the moment to switch frameworks one more time.

Three things have survived every rebuild: a long-form writing archive, a portfolio of five to seven pieces, and a contact section that reads like a human wrote it. Everything else has been replaced at least twice.

The lesson, if there is one, is that the site is a habit, not a project. The framework is the part you change. The shape of the content is the part you don't.