New Website Live! My English Dev Log

This article is generated by Gemini 2.5 pro.

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to my new website.

I’ve had this idea for a while: I wanted to maintain an English-language record of my development journey.

This isn’t just about reaching a broader audience. As I mentioned in my “Google Dream Plan” post, a good collection of technical documentation is one of the most powerful “dynamic resumes” a developer can have.

But there’s a practical problem: I don’t really enjoy writing in English. Composing technical articles in English drains a lot of my mental energy, whereas writing in my native Mandarin is far more effortless.

So, my solution is a new workflow: I will continue to write my articles on Medium in Mandarin, and then use Gemini to help me translate them into English for a new home.

This led to the next logical question: Where to post it?

I’m not a web developer. I have no experience with web technologies. So, naturally, I turned to my AI partner, Gemini, for guidance.

The Zero-to-Website Journey

Under Gemini’s direction, I began my first web development experience:

1. Starting with github.io: I first ran some simple “Hello World” tests on GitHub Pages to understand how static sites work.
2. Choosing a Jekyll Template: To get a professional blog look and features (like tags, categories, and a table of contents), I chose the Jekyll static site generator and applied a theme I liked (Chirpy).
3. Migrating Content: Then, I began the “moving” process—which you can see in the posts preceding this one. I had Gemini help me translate and republish all my old technical articles.

A Small Reflection

To be honest, it was only during this migration process that I had a chance to look back and realize, “Wow, I’ve actually accumulated a lot of stuff without even noticing.”

From the E-Paper Calendar V1 experiments on Raspberry Pi, to the pitfalls of setting up the Matter environment; from my Linux Driver learning notes to debugging the power management on my V2 hardware… every single post is a genuine record of my journey. Seeing them translated into English and lined up neatly on this new site… I actually feel a bit proud of myself.

Going Live with a Custom Domain

The final step was to point the custom domain I had bought on Cloudflare to this new GitHub Pages site.

And with that, bolintw.com, my new personal website, is officially complete.

I used to always see well-known figures in the tech world with their own independent domains and blogs. Now, I’ve reached that step too. Even if no one reads it, that’s fine. It was always meant to be my personal development log, first and foremost.

The New Workflow

From now on, my publishing process will be:

1. Original (Mandarin): I will continue to post new articles on Medium.
2. Translation (English): Simultaneously, a translated version, reviewed by me, will be published here on my personal site.

If you’re interested in the English-language content or want to follow my V2 e-paper calendar project, feel free to look around!