01 - Build a Blog (b)

Building a modern blog is a foundational project that touches every layer of the web development ecosystem, from content strategy to deployment infrastructure. This blueprint will guide you through the process of creating a high-performance, easily manageable content platform from start to finish. We will focus on a "headless" architecture, where your content is managed separately from your live website, a technique that provides immense flexibility and speed. This guide breaks the process down into ten distinct steps, offering clear explanations and practical AI prompts for each phase. By the end, you will have a comprehensive mental model for how a professional, content-driven site is assembled.

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Step 1: Choose and Scaffold Your Project Framework

The Goal: To create the foundational file structure and development environment for the application. This is the chassis of your site.

The Action: We will use a command-line interface (CLI) to generate a new, ready-to-code project. This choice of framework is the most significant architectural decision you will make, as it influences how you will handle everything from routing to data fetching.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Generate the command to scaffold a new web project named my-blog using [Chosen Tool's CLI]. The project must be pre-configured with support for TypeScript."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Astro	TypeScript/JS	For top performance. Choose Astro if your primary goal is the fastest possible load time. It excels at building static sites that ship zero JavaScript by default, which is ideal for content and SEO.	It can connect to any UI Component framework (React, Svelte) as needed, and fetches data from any Headless CMS or API at build time.
2. Next.js	TypeScript/JS	For power and flexibility. Choose Next.js if you want a powerful React-based framework that can be a fast static site today and scale into a complex web app tomorrow.	It has a deep, seamless connection to the Vercel deployment platform and the entire React component ecosystem.
3. Eleventy	JavaScript	For simplicity and control. Choose Eleventy if you prefer a minimal, flexible static site generator without the complexity of a large JavaScript framework.	It connects to various Templating Languages (like Nunjucks or Liquid) and can source data from local Markdown files or simple data files.

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Step 2: Establish the Styling Foundation

The Goal: To establish the visual language and styling system for the entire site.

The Action: We'll choose and configure a styling methodology. This decision will dictate how you apply your brand's look and feel to all your components.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Configure my [Chosen Framework] project to use [Chosen Tool]. Generate the necessary configuration files and show me how to import the base styles into my main layout file."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Tailwind CSS	CSS	For custom, rapid design. This utility-first framework allows you to build completely custom designs without writing traditional CSS files.	It connects to your project via a configuration file (tailwind.config.js) where you define your Design Tokens (colors, fonts).
2. Pico.css	CSS	For beautiful defaults with no effort. This is a "classless" CSS library that applies elegant styling to semantic HTML tags automatically.	It connects to your project via a single <link> tag. It's a great choice for when you want a clean look without any configuration.
3. Sass	SCSS/Sass	For programmatic and organized CSS. Choose this if you want the power of variables, functions, and mixins to write more maintainable, large-scale CSS.	It connects to your build process, compiling your .scss files into standard CSS that the browser can understand.

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Step 3: Design the Content Schema

The Goal: To define the structure of a "blog post" before any content is written. This is the blueprint for your data.

The Action: We will define all the fields a blog post can have, such as a title, an image, and the main body text.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Using [Chosen Tool's Syntax], generate the schema definition for a post document. It requires fields for title (string), slug (a unique identifier based on the title), mainImage (an image), publishedAt (a date), and body (a rich text field)."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Headless CMS (Sanity.io)	JavaScript	For a rich editing experience. Choose this for a powerful, cloud-hosted interface that allows you or your clients to easily manage content.	Your Fullstack Builder will connect to the Sanity API to fetch this content. This decouples your content from your code.
2. Git-based CMS (Decap CMS)	YAML	For content in your repository. Choose this if you want a user-friendly editing interface for non-developers, but want the content itself to be stored as Markdown files in your Git Repository.	It connects your Git provider (like GitHub) to a web-based UI, committing changes back to your repository just like a developer would.
3. Local Markdown Files	Markdown	For developer-centric content. Choose this for the simplest possible approach, where blog posts are just .md files in a folder within your project.	Your Fullstack Builder connects to the local file system to read and parse these files during the build process.

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Step 4: Build the Homepage UI

The Goal: To create the frontend component that displays a list of all blog post previews.

The Action: We will write the code for the main PostList or PostCard components that will be displayed on the blog's index page.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Using [Chosen UI Library], create a PostCard component. It must accept props for title, slug, and coverImage. The entire card must be a link that navigates to /blog/[slug]. Use Tailwind CSS to style it with a hover effect."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. React	TypeScript/JS	The industry standard. Choose this for access to the largest ecosystem of libraries, tools, and developer talent.	It's the UI layer for Fullstack Builders like Next.js and Astro.
2. Svelte	TypeScript/JS	For performance and simplicity. Svelte is a compiler that results in smaller, faster code with a famously gentle learning curve.	It's the UI layer for the SvelteKit fullstack builder.
3. Web Components	TypeScript/JS	For framework-agnostic UIs. Choose this if you want to build components that can be used in any project, regardless of the main framework.	It connects directly to the browser's native component model, making it highly portable.

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Step 5: Connect Homepage to Content Source

The Goal: To fetch the list of blog posts from our chosen data source and display them on the homepage.

The Action: We will write the data-fetching logic inside our homepage. The method we choose will determine how "live" our data is.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "In my [Chosen Framework] homepage, write the function to fetch all posts from my [Chosen Content Source]. I only need the title, slug, and coverImage for each post. This data should be fetched at build time to generate a static page."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Static Site Generation (SSG)	TypeScript/JS	For maximum performance. This fetches all data once, at build time, and generates static HTML. Best for blogs.	This connects your Data Source to your Deployment process. The live site does not need a live connection to the database.
2. Server-Side Rendering (SSR)	TypeScript/JS	For dynamic content. This fetches data on the server for every single request. Useful if your content changes constantly.	This creates a live connection between your Infrastructure (the server) and your Data Source for every visitor.
3. Incremental Static Regen. (ISR)	TypeScript/JS	The hybrid approach. This pre-builds the page like SSG, but then automatically rebuilds it in the background at a set interval (e.g., every 5 minutes).	This connects your Infrastructure to your Data Source periodically, giving you the performance of static with near-real-time updates.

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Step 6: Build the Individual Post Page

The Goal: To create the UI template that will display the full content of a single blog post.

The Action: We'll create a dynamic page that can render any post from our CMS. This involves creating a template with a title, image, and a main content area.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Create the UI for a single blog post page in my Next.js app. It should display the title in an h1 tag, the mainImage at the top, and then render the body content below. The body content is coming from Sanity.io's Portable Text format."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Portable Text Renderer	TypeScript/JS	For rich, block-based content. If you're using a modern CMS like Sanity.io, you need a dedicated library to render its structured content.	This connects your rich text Data Source to your React Components, allowing you to render complex content like custom callouts or image galleries.
2. Markdown Renderer	TypeScript/JS	For Markdown-based content. If your content is stored in Markdown, you need a library like markdown-it to parse it into HTML.	This connects your Markdown Data Source to your Frontend UI, translating plain text into formatted HTML.
3. dangerouslySetInnerHTML	TypeScript/JS	For simple HTML content. If your CMS provides pre-rendered HTML, this React prop allows you to inject it directly into the page.	This connects your pre-rendered HTML Data Source to your React Component, but should be used with caution as it can expose you to security risks.

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Step 7: Connect the Post Page to the CMS

The Goal: To fetch the specific content for a single post based on the URL.

The Action: We will implement dynamic routing. The page my-blog.com/posts/my-first-post should know to fetch the data for the post with the "slug" my-first-post.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "In my Next.js app, implement generateStaticParams to fetch all post slugs from my CMS at build time. Then, in the page component, use the slug parameter to write a query that fetches only the data for that single, corresponding post."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Next.js Dynamic Routes	TypeScript/JS	The Next.js standard. Use the [slug] folder notation to create dynamic pages.	Connects a URL parameter to the data-fetching logic for that page within the Next.js Fullstack Builder.
2. Astro Dynamic Routes	TypeScript/JS	The Astro standard. Use a [...slug].astro file to achieve the same result in Astro.	Connects a URL parameter to the data-fetching logic within the Astro Framework.
3. Gatsby createPages API	JavaScript	The Gatsby standard. Use the gatsby-node.js file to programmatically generate pages from your data source during the build process.	Connects your Data Source directly to your Build Process to create all the necessary pages.

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Step 8: Add a Newsletter Signup Feature

The Goal: To add an interactive feature that allows readers to subscribe to a newsletter.

The Action: We'll create a simple form component and connect it to a third-party email marketing service.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Create a NewsletterForm React component. It needs a single email input and a submit button. When submitted, it should make a POST request to my backend API route at /api/subscribe, sending the email address."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Resend + React Email	TypeScript/JS	The modern developer choice. Build and send beautiful, reliable emails using React components for templating.	This connects your Backend API to the Resend email service. The emails themselves are built as React Components.
2. ConvertKit / Mailchimp	API (JSON)	The marketing-first choice. Use a full-featured email marketing platform that handles subscribers, sequences, and analytics.	This connects your Backend API to a powerful Third-Party Marketing Platform via their API.
3. Netlify Forms	HTML	The simplest choice for Netlify sites. If you're deploying on Netlify, you can add an attribute to your HTML form, and Netlify will handle the submission and notification for you.	This connects your Frontend Form directly to your Infrastructure Platform, bypassing the need for a custom backend function.

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Step 9: Add Site Analytics

The Goal: To add a tool to track visitor traffic and engagement on the blog.

The Action: We will integrate a third-party analytics script into our application.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Show me how to integrate [Chosen Tool] into my Next.js application. I need the code for the tracking script and instructions on the correct way to add it to my root layout to ensure it tracks all page views."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Vercel Analytics	JS	The integrated choice. If you are deploying on Vercel, this is the easiest option. It's privacy-focused and requires zero configuration.	This connects your deployed site directly to your Vercel Infrastructure, providing analytics with no third-party scripts needed.
2. Plausible / Fathom Analytics	JS	The privacy-first choice. Choose these if you want to respect user privacy, avoid cookies, and have a simple, clean analytics dashboard.	These are External Services that you connect to your Frontend via a simple script.
3. Google Analytics	JS	The powerful, free choice. Choose this if you want the most feature-rich analytics tool available and need to connect to other Google marketing tools.	This connects your site to the vast Google Marketing Platform.

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Step 10: Deploy the Blog

The Goal: To push our completed site to the public internet and automate future updates.

The Action: We will connect our Git repository to our chosen hosting platform.

• 🤖 AI Prompt Example:

  "Generate a complete .env.example file for my blog. It must include placeholders for all the secrets I need for a production deployment on [Chosen Platform]: my Sanity.io project ID and API token, and my newsletter service API key."

• Technology Choices & Connections:

Option	Language	When & Why to Choose It	Connects To...
1. Vercel	N/A	For Next.js applications. The specialized, "best-in-class" choice for deploying a Next.js project with zero configuration.	Vercel is the Infrastructure Platform that is most tightly integrated with the Next.js Fullstack Builder.
2. Netlify	N/A	For a variety of static site generators. An excellent and powerful alternative, especially if you chose Astro or Eleventy.	This Infrastructure Platform connects to your Git Repository for automated deployments and has a rich ecosystem of add-ons.
3. GitHub Pages	N/A	For simple, free hosting. If your site is purely static (no backend functions needed), this is a free and easy way to get it online.	This connects your Git Repository directly to GitHub's own simple Hosting Infrastructure.

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This blueprint provides a complete, end-to-end mental model for how a modern, high-performance blog is constructed. It demonstrates how choices made at each layer of the stack—from the framework to the CMS to the deployment platform—are all interconnected. The specific combination of tools creates a workflow that is both powerful for the developer and incredibly fast for the end user. By understanding these connections, you can confidently begin to assemble the pieces for your own content platform. This is the foundation upon which you can build any number of creative and engaging online experiences.