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Building a Portfolio Website with Next.js and Tailwind CSS

A step-by-step guide to building a modern, performant portfolio website using Next.js 14 and Tailwind CSS v4.

Next.jsTailwind CSSWeb Development

Why Build a Portfolio?

Having a personal portfolio is essential for any developer. It showcases your work, demonstrates your skills, and gives potential employers or clients a way to learn about you.

Tech Stack

I chose Next.js and Tailwind CSS for this project because:

  • Next.js provides excellent SEO, fast page loads, and a great developer experience
  • Tailwind CSS makes styling rapid and consistent
  • MDX allows writing blog posts in Markdown with React component support

Key Features

  1. Dark/Light Theme Toggle — Using next-themes for seamless theme switching
  2. Responsive Design — Mobile-first approach ensures the site looks great everywhere
  3. Blog with MDX — Write posts in Markdown, rendered as React components
  4. Smooth Scroll Navigation — Single-page feel with hash-based navigation

Lessons Learned

Building this portfolio taught me the importance of:

  • Planning your component architecture before coding
  • Keeping things simple — a clean minimal design often works best
  • Performance matters — every millisecond counts for user experience

Stay tuned for more posts where I'll dive deeper into specific topics!