[AI] Dev Log #1: Cleanup, a New Logo, and a Synthwave Sky

Summary

Dates: October 15–17, 2026
Commits: 27, across PR #7, PR #8, PR #9 and the dev branch
Files changed: 59 (+2,516 / −1,380 lines)
Status: PR #7, PR #8 and PR #9 merged to master and deployed; the rest ships with the PR that publishes this post

The site got a cleanup pass first, then SEO and contact form hardening, a new logo, and a redesigned home page sky.

What changed

Cleanup

Blog posts moved to clean URLs (/blog/<name>), with redirects from the old .md URLs
Unknown URLs show a 404 page instead of a server error
Removed placeholder links, a sample post, missing images and an unused slider
Added an RSS feed at /rss.xml
Project write-ups moved out of the blog into their own collection at /projects/<name>

Background

Replaced the SVG grid and dots with a single canvas
Added rare red and blue stars and an occasional comet

Home page

The about panel updates itself: years of experience, local time and status, and the current project
Added an MIT license for the code; site content and images stay all rights reserved

Contact form

Limits each IP to 5 messages per hour
Field length limits on both the form and the server
Visitors only see generic errors; details go to the server log

SEO

Link previews (Open Graph and Twitter tags) with a 1200×630 image
Canonical URLs, a sitemap and robots.txt

Brand and layout

New logo: the >m_ mark, an m favicon and the mulek✦cc wordmark
The header is tall at the top of the page and turns compact on scroll
Short pages center vertically; long pages start at the top
Even 32px spacing between page headings and the panels below them

Home page sky

A large striped sun sits on the horizon behind the two hero panels
Constellations draw themselves in one after another, anywhere in the open sky
Soft haze around each constellation’s stars
Nebula clouds in their own colors: green, cyan, blue and amber
The two hero panels are the same width and centered on the sun
Their 12px edge follows the sun’s gradient and fades out near the bottom

Colors

New highlight color, the sun’s pink, used for hover states, category tags and the logo’s ✦
Sub-page panels get an orchid-to-lavender edge to match the home page
Better contrast in both themes (at least 4.5:1 for text)

What we learned

Environment variables are read at build time. A variable missing during the build is baked in as undefined, and setting it later doesn’t help.
Scripts must re-run after page transitions. With Astro’s ClientRouter, page scripts initialize on astro:page-load, not just on first load.
Tailwind only sees full class names. Classes built from pieces of strings never get generated.
Canvas and CSS blend colors differently. The canvas mixes in sRGB, so CSS gradients that need to match it use in srgb.
Fading to transparent turns gray. Fading to the same color at zero opacity keeps it clean.
Partly see-through shapes leave seams where they meet. Drawing the sun whole on its own layer, then erasing the gaps, avoids them.
Light colors look washed out on a light background. In light mode the nebulas darken the sky like ink instead of being painted over it.
Redrawing every glow every frame was too slow. With 8 or more constellations the animation stalled; painting each finished constellation’s glow once and reusing it fixed that.
git remote -v only works inside a repository. The home panel now shows git clone, which works anywhere.
Headless browser screenshots only run a frame or two of animation. Testing anything animated needs time skipped ahead.

Commits

PR #7 (merged)

Commit	Message
`df88a29`	chore(package): remove duplicate start script
`b5ba241`	fix(blog): serve posts at clean slugs and add 404 page
`79cb68d`	fix(projects): remove placeholder links and unused featured slider
`d9d4175`	chore(blog): remove sample post and missing cover image refs
`cc4f1e1`	feat(blog): add RSS feed
`27a93c4`	docs: correct README and add CLAUDE.md
`88f1758`	refactor(background): replace SVG grid and dot elements with a canvas starfield
`b32380e`	docs(claude): document the Starfield component
`47ee4a0`	feat(projects): move project write-ups into a projects content collection
`f63803b`	docs: update CLAUDE.md and README for the projects collection
`7c8ebc5`	docs: add ROADMAP.md as a running improvement list

PR #8 (merged)

Commit	Message
`4ef60ae`	feat(starfield): add rare colored stars and occasional comets
`b6ff4aa`	feat(starfield): vary comet size, angle, and glow color
`b49f3a0`	feat(home): make the about panel self-updating and drop the tech tags
`2b95e8c`	chore(license): add MIT license for code, reserve rights to content
`068b458`	style(home): even out spacing around the about panel cards

PR #9 (merged)

Commit	Message
`da9cf6f`	feat(contact): add rate limiting, input limits, and generic errors
`5de25d0`	feat(seo): add link previews, canonical URLs, sitemap, and robots.txt
`0b6ff5c`	feat(brand): add the m favicon, prompt mark, and mulek✦cc wordmark
`33f231a`	feat(header): expand at the top of the page and compact on scroll
`7a1ff23`	style(layout): center short pages vertically and unify page spacing

On `dev` (ships with this post)

Commit	Message
`fe71afa`	chore(github): add a pull request template
`f64f1bb`	feat(home): add a synthwave sun, constellations and nebulas, and carry its colors site-wide
`30438a1`	feat(starfield): place constellations anywhere in the open sky and allow up to 12 of each
`9030dd2`	style(home): enlarge the right panel text and show a working git clone command
`cf6f172`	fix(blog): show post dates in UTC and drop backticks around inline code

Plus the commit that adds this post: docs(blog): add Dev Log #1 and a dev log template.

Next up

Rework the phone layout so the sun still shows
Pick the final number of constellations and nebulas, then remove the test switcher
Make the page headings consistent
First write-ups for the homelab projects

🔗 Repository: github.com/copperpocket/mulek.cc