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Measured before/after with headless Chrome + CDP (not by eye):
- article banner: <picture> WebP q78 with the PNG as fallback, because the PNG
must stay for og:image (social scrapers do not reliably render WebP cards).
70 banners: 6.02 MB -> 2.52 MB (42%). JPEG measured *larger* than PNG here
(q85 = 129%) — the art is flat terminal-style with sharp text edges.
- post page related cards: dropped four 1200x630 PNGs (183 KB) to display
526x276 where the embedded code is illegible; now text-only cards with a
category badge, date and reading time.
- list thumbnails (home + archive): new /og/thumb/<name>-{400,800}.webp served
via srcset/sizes. Rows display at ~398px but were pulling full 1200x630 PNGs.
Homepage thumbnails ~450 KB -> 62 KB; archive (71 rows) ~3.2 MB -> 436 KB.
- desktop banner capped at 720px centred: 67% -> 45% of a 900px viewport,
keeping the art intact instead of cropping it.
Post page totals: images 277 KB -> 38 KB; page height 5758 -> 5065 (desktop)
and 9423 -> 8807 (mobile). Build: 163 pages.
Script: scripts/optimize-images.py; policy: docs/design-guide.md §3; runbook
step added to docs/ops-runbook.md.
83 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
83 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
# Design Guide — what the blog UI must have & must avoid
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Read this **before** touching theme, layout, typography, color, or SEO markup. Priority order is fixed: **reading experience → SEO → brand → everything else.**
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---
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## 1. Non-negotiables (reading experience first)
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| Rule | Spec |
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|---|---|
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| **Measure (line length)** | 65–75 characters per line. Single biggest readability win. |
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| **Body typography** | 16–17px, `line-height: 1.6–1.7`, a clean sans (Inter / system-ui / Source Sans). |
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| **Headings** | A character font (Plus Jakarta Sans / Space Grotesk) or keep Inter for minimalism. |
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| **Code** | Proper monospace (JetBrains Mono / Fira Code) + distinct background block + **syntax highlighting + copy button + language label**. Non-negotiable for technical posts. |
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| **Light + dark mode** | Both. Dev audience splits ~50/50. |
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| **Color** | 2-accent palette (primary + semantic green/red for correct/wrong in tutorials). Avoid pure black / pure white. |
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---
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## 2. Required components
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- **Sticky header** — name/logo + nav (Blog / Categories / About / RSS).
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- **Article header** — title, pub date, reading time, category + tags, author card (photo, 1–2 line bio, LinkedIn + GitHub + git.hoelee.com links).
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- **Author box / ProfilePage schema** on every post (see SEO below).
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- **Related posts** (3 cards) — internal linking + keeps readers on-site.
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- **RSS link** in footer — how the technical audience follows me.
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- **Custom og:image per post** — 1200×630, never the reused logo.
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---
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## 3. Responsive & media
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- **Mobile-first**: design 390px, then desktop 1280px.
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- **Astro Image** for automatic optimization/WebP (Core Web Vitals win).
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- **Image format policy (measured 2026-10-16 — do not guess this one):**
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| Asset | Served as | Why |
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|---|---|---|
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| `og:image` / `twitter:image` | **PNG** (1200×630) | Social scrapers (WhatsApp / LinkedIn / FB / Telegram) do not reliably render WebP share cards. Compatibility beats bytes here. |
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| Article banner in-page | **WebP q78** + PNG fallback via `<picture>` | 6.02 MB → 2.52 MB across 70 banners (42%); JPEG would be *larger* (q85 = 129% of PNG) because the art is flat terminal-style with sharp text edges. |
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| List/related thumbnails | **WebP q72 at 400w + 800w** (`/og/thumb/<name>-400.webp`) | Rows display at ~398px; they used to fetch the 1200×630 PNG (~45 KB). 400w is 5.8 KB, 800w is 16.1 KB. The homepage went from ~450 KB of thumbnails to ~62 KB. |
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| Real photos (author, hardware) | **WebP q82** + JPEG fallback | Continuous-tone images are the opposite case from the flat art above. |
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Regenerate all derivatives after adding a post: `uv run --with pillow python scripts/optimize-images.py`.
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- **Declare `og:image:width/height` explicitly** — mis-declared dimensions get preview cards rejected by WhatsApp/Telegram/LinkedIn.
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- **Favicon**: reference all sizes (`.ico` + 32×32 + 192×192 PNG + apple-touch 180×180). "Favicon not showing" is usually browser cache, not a missing asset — `curl` the live files before "fixing".
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---
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## 4. Theme / stack decisions (settled)
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- **Astro 5 static** (already scaffolded). Rationale: TypeScript/React skill surface, true static output, low attack surface, first-class i18n routing, and the repo itself is a portfolio artifact.
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- **Theme base:** AstroPaper-style minimalism (light/dark, fuzzy search, RSS + sitemap defaults). Don't rebuild from scratch.
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- **Skip for v1:** WordPress-headless (two systems), Next.js SSR/ISR (heavier than needed), self-built blog engine (the classic time sink).
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---
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## 5. SEO checklist (2026 — two lanes)
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Optimize for **both** classic SEO *and* GEO (getting cited by Google AI Overviews / ChatGPT Search / Perplexity).
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- **E-E-A-T first:** real `Person`/`ProfilePage` schema around the author bio, with `sameAs` → LinkedIn, GitHub, git.hoelee.com.
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- **Per-post meta:** unique title (≤60 chars), description (≤155), canonical, og:image (1200×630) + `twitter:card`.
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- **Sitemap.xml + RSS + robots.txt** — generated automatically.
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- **Core Web Vitals:** static site → 90+ LCP/CLS/INP easy. Verify with headless-Chrome screenshot + Lighthouse on 390px **and** 1280px.
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- **Internal linking:** related-posts module + link pillar posts (case studies) from every tutorial.
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- **Question-shaped headings:** write H2/H3 as the actual question a learner types. Rewarded by Google *and* AI engines.
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- **Name consistency:** same name ("Lee Teong Hoe" / "Mr Hoelee") + photo + handles across blog, LinkedIn, GitHub, git.hoelee.com. Fragmented identity is the #1 personal-brand SEO killer.
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---
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## 6. What to AVOID in design
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| Anti-pattern | Why |
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|---|---|
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| Heavy JS / client-side rendering | Static output is the point — don't reintroduce runtime cost. |
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| Reused logo as og:image | Already an issue on hoelee.com. Custom per post. |
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| Anonymous/absent author card | Kills E-E-A-T. |
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| Wall-of-text without code blocks | Technical posts need formatted, copyable code. |
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| No RSS / sitemap | Both are free in Astro; omitting them is pure loss. |
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| Orphaned pages / thin content | hoelee.com already has ~400; keep this sitemap clean. |
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| Over-styled "agency look" | This is a personal engineering blog — credibility over flash. |
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