After years of running roestzwiee.de on WordPress, I decided it was time for a complete overhaul. Don’t get me wrong — WordPress is a powerful platform, but over time I found myself wrestling with its complexity rather than focusing on what matters: creating content.

The WordPress Problem

WordPress started as a simple blogging platform, but it has evolved into a full-fledged content management system with thousands of plugins and themes. While this flexibility is great for many use cases, it came with some significant drawbacks for my personal site:

• Plugin Overload: Every feature required a plugin, and managing updates became a chore
• Performance Issues: The PHP backend and database queries added unnecessary overhead for a simple blog
• Inflexibility: Customizing the design often meant fighting against theme limitations
• Security Concerns: More plugins meant more potential security vulnerabilities to monitor

Enter Astro

I chose Astro for the rebuild, and it’s been a breath of fresh air. Here’s why:

Fast by Default: Astro generates static HTML at build time, resulting in lightning-fast page loads with zero JavaScript by default. No database queries, no PHP processing—just pure, optimized HTML.

Developer Experience: Writing content in Markdown, styling with regular CSS, and building components with modern JavaScript feels natural and straightforward. No more wrestling with WordPress’s editor or plugin conflicts.

Full Control: Every aspect of the site is in my hands. I can customize layouts, add features, and optimize performance without worrying about plugin compatibility or theme constraints.

Hosting on Vercel

Paired with Vercel for hosting, deployment is effortless. Every git push triggers a new build, and changes go live in seconds. The built-in analytics and performance monitoring are just icing on the cake.