Astro Web Dev
Why I Chose Astro for My Portfolio
A deep dive into the decision-making process behind choosing Astro over other frameworks for a content-driven portfolio site.
October 5, 2024
When it came time to rebuild my portfolio, I had a choice: stick with the familiar React/Next.js stack, or try something new. I chose Astro, and here's why.
Content first, JavaScript second
My portfolio is fundamentally a content site — projects, blog posts, an about page. Astro's islands architecture means I ship zero JavaScript by default, only hydrating components that actually need interactivity.
On Next.js, every page shipped a React runtime. On Astro, only my animated hero section and interactive components ship JS. The result: a Lighthouse score that went from 85 to 100.
The developer experience
Astro's .astro syntax is a pleasure to work with. It combines the best parts of JSX (expressions, conditionals) with the simplicity of HTML. No need to worry about className vs class, or self-closing tags on non-void elements.
View transitions built in
The <ClientRouter /> component gives me SPA-style navigation with view transitions, without pulling in a third-party router. The lifecycle events (astro:before-swap, astro:after-swap) make it easy to orchestrate custom animations.
The verdict
For content-driven sites — portfolios, blogs, marketing pages — Astro is hard to beat. You get the performance of a static site with the interactivity of a SPA, only where you need it.