This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Minoosh
Recently, I started working on my portfolio website with React and Tailwind. I wanted it to have a minimal black and white theme with some subtle animations to keep it clean but not boring. It’s still in progress, but it already feels rewarding to see it come together.
Lately, I’ve run into some more complex challenges while building it. Learning when to break things into smaller components, and how to pass props cleanly without overcomplicating state, has been a big part of my growth.
One tricky area has been handling responsiveness and layout across different screen sizes. Tailwind makes a lot of it easier, but I’ve realized that once animations and layouts get more custom, keeping everything consistent across breakpoints takes extra care.
I’ve also gained a much better understanding of how hooks and props work. Form handling, for example, was a challenge at first. I spent around 4 hours setting up a third-party email handling service, but I finally got it working and can now successfully receive messages in my inbox. And of course, there are always bugs here and there.
Even though these issues slowed me down, I’ve noticed that each time I push through, I come out with a clearer understanding of React’s patterns and how to balance good design with clean code.
I’m getting more and more interested in React, and I’m already thinking about tackling a more complex project once I finish my website.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Minoosh