#Project Overview
Portfolio v1 is my very first personal portfolio and blog website, built using vanilla PHP, MySQL, and Bootstrap. Blog content is written in Markdown, making this project the foundation of my portfolio and blogging journey up to this day — the true OG.
This project was created not only as a personal showcase, but also as a learning playground to practice fundamental web programming concepts from scratch.
#Background & Motivation
From the very beginning of my programming journey, I had a strong desire to share knowledge and experiences, inspired by blogs, personal websites, and documentation pages created by other developers.
At the same time, I wanted a real project where I could:
- Practice programming consistently
- Build something useful and personal
- Learn how a full website works end-to-end
That motivation led me to create my first portfolio and blog website.
#Early Design Decisions
Even at this early stage, I already had several clear ideas in mind:
- Blog posts should be written using Markdown
- Code blocks should support:
- Syntax highlighting
- Copy-to-clipboard functionality
- The website should support basic content management
- Authentication should be implemented manually
Although simple, these decisions shaped the long-term direction of my portfolio and blog architecture.
#Tech Stack (Oldschool but Foundational 😄)
Looking back now, the tech stack used in this project feels quite old-school, but it played a crucial role in building my fundamentals:
- PHP (Vanilla / Native)
- No framework
- No OOP
- Pure procedural PHP
- MySQL
- Used for data storage
- CRUD operations
- Manual query handling
- Bootstrap
- Frontend framework (this was before Tailwind CSS became popular)
- highlight.js
- Used for syntax highlighting in Markdown-rendered content
Authentication, routing, and content management were all implemented manually, without relying on any framework abstractions.
#Learning Phase & Challenges
This project was built when I was first learning programming, which means:
- Many things were done manually
- There were no best practices yet
- The codebase was simple, sometimes messy, but very educational
Through this project, I learned:
- How server-side rendering works with PHP
- How authentication flows function
- How databases interact with backend logic
- How Markdown can be parsed and rendered for blogs
- How frontend and backend communicate in a traditional web stack
#Why This Project Matters
Although simple compared to my later projects, Portfolio v1 is extremely important to my journey.
This project matters because it:
- Is the origin of my portfolio and blog
- Represents my first real full-stack web project
- Helped build my foundational understanding of web development
- Shaped my long-term interest in blogging and technical writing
- Became the starting point for future iterations (v2, v3, and beyond)
#Legacy & Continuation
While Portfolio v1 is no longer actively maintained, its ideas and purpose live on in newer versions of my portfolio.
Many concepts introduced here — such as Markdown-based content, syntax highlighting, and developer-focused writing — continue to evolve in later projects with more modern technologies.
#Conclusion
Portfolio v1 is the project where everything started.
Built with vanilla PHP, MySQL, and Bootstrap, this project represents my earliest steps into the world of programming and web development. Despite its simplicity and outdated tech stack by today’s standards, it laid the foundation for my skills, mindset, and long-term passion for building and sharing through the web.
For more details, implementation specifics, and historical context, please refer directly to the repository on GitHub.
