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Building a Personal Blog with Next.js

·2 min read·technology

I've been wanting to build my own blog for a while. I finally put one together using Next.js, MDX, and Tailwind CSS.

Why Next.js?

Next.js is an excellent choice for a static blog — both in terms of developer experience and performance. The App Router brings features that are perfect for this use case:

  • Server Components for faster page loads
  • Static Generation to pre-render pages at build time
  • next/image for automatic image optimization
  • next/font for font optimization

Content Management with MDX

MDX combines the power of Markdown with JSX components. I write my blog posts as .mdx files and add metadata through frontmatter:

---
title: "Post Title"
date: "2026-01-01"
category: "technology"
published: true
---

The biggest advantage of this approach is that it requires no database. All content lives in the git repository.

Design Philosophy

I embraced minimalism in the blog design:

  • Single column layout
  • No shadows or gradients
  • Clean typography (Inter font)
  • Dark/Light theme support

Good design is as little design as possible. — Dieter Rams

In the end, Next.js + MDX + Tailwind CSS is a perfect combination for a personal blog. It's fast, secure, and easy to maintain.