Building Cybernaut.cloud - Development Log

Published on: 2026-07-25

Lessons learned while deploying Astro, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub and redesigning the site.

Building Cybernaut.cloud

This site is more than a portfolio.

It’s also becoming documentation of everything I’m learning while moving from desktop support into infrastructure engineering.

Rather than only documenting successes, I’m documenting mistakes and the process used to solve them.

Goals

Lesson 1

Git is not scary

Originally Git felt intimidating.

After using it repeatedly, the workflow became predictable.

git add
git commit -m "Describe changes"
git push

Those three commands now deploy changes all the way to production.

Lesson 2

Cloudflare Pages is incredibly powerful

Instead of renting a VPS just to host a static website, Cloudflare Pages handles:

Deployment now happens automatically after pushing to GitHub.

Lesson 3

DNS can be confusing

One of the biggest roadblocks happened because multiple Cloudflare products were trying to answer for the same hostname.

A Worker and Pages deployment were conflicting.

Lesson learned:

Only one service should own a hostname.

Lesson 4

Don’t fight the framework

Several layout issues came from trying to force CSS into shapes Astro wasn’t expecting.

Instead we learned to build reusable layouts.

BaseLayout, Header, Footer, Navigation,

These components now control the entire site.

Lesson 5

Global CSS matters

Small CSS decisions affect every page.

Instead of styling each page independently, we centralized typography, colors, spacing and responsive behavior.

Future changes now happen in one file.

Lesson 6

Mobile isn’t optional

The navigation worked perfectly…

…until it didn’t.

Fixing the mobile menu taught me to always test responsive layouts before considering something “finished.”

Lesson 7

Authenticity beats perfection

One of the most important design decisions wasn’t technical.

Instead of making another generic corporate portfolio, Cybernaut became something personal.

The goal became:

Authentic first. Professional enough to be taken seriously.

That principle now guides every design decision.

Current Stack

Next Goals