Site Development

Philosophy: Developer's Notebook (light) × Vintage Terminal (dark) Minimal, functional, memorable. Monospace everything.

Quick Reference

Design System

Colors

Light Mode (Notebook Ink):

Text:   #1e1e1e → #525252 → #737373
Paper:  #f7f5f0 (cream) | #eae7df (shadow)
Accent: #1a4d7a (blue-black ink)
Lines:  #e8a5a5 (red margin) | rgba(180,160,140,0.25) (ruled)

Dark Mode (Amber Terminal):

Text:   #ffb000 → #ff9500 → #cc7a00
Screen: #000000 (pure black)
Accent: #ffcc00 (bright amber)
FX:     text-shadow glow + scanlines + flicker

Indian Palette (accents):

• --c-saffron: #FF9933
• --c-marigold: #EAA221
• --c-peacock: #006D77
• --c-accent: #c44536 (terracotta)

Typography

Display: "Courier Prime"     // Typewriter headings
Body:    "IBM Plex Mono"     // Refined monospace
Never:   Inter, Roboto, Arial, System fonts

Rules: All monospace, line-height 1.8, letter-spacing -0.02em on headings, blinking cursor ▌ after h1.

Signature Elements

Notebook (Light): Red margin at 60px, ruled lines, hole punches, post-it notes, notebook tape on avatar.

Terminal (Dark): CRT scanlines, text glow, flicker animation, terminal window with ● ● ●, amber phosphor (NOT green).

Icons

Library: Lucide Icons (https://lucide.dev)

• pen-line - Writing/Blog
• flask-conical - Projects
• train-front - Travel

Responsive Breakpoints

Critical: Nav hides at 640px. JS toggles .mobile-menu-open (not .active).

Gotchas

Selector Specificity:

// WRONG - breaks tags
a, button { display: inline-flex }

// CORRECT
a:not(.tag):not(.tag-item), button { min-height: 44px; }

Tera Conditionals:

{# WRONG - fails if undefined #}
{% if page.extra.status == 'archived' %}

{# CORRECT #}
{% if page.extra.status is defined and page.extra.status == 'archived' %}

CSS Variables: Always check _variables.scss before using. Legacy aliases: --space-xs/sm/md/lg/xl.

Zola Config Patterns

[extra]
avatar = "/images/avatar.jpg"
handwritten_font = "https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Shrikhand&display=swap"
commento_src = "https://commento.rohanverma.net/js/commento.js"

[[extra.menu_main]]
name = "Blog"
url = "/blog/"
weight = 2

[extra.fathom_analytics]
site_id = "REDBQ"
server_url = "fathom.rohanverma.net"

[extra.now]
items = ["Item 1", "Item 2"]

Access: {{ config.extra.avatar }}, {{ config.extra.menu_main }}

Frontmatter

Blog:

+++
title = "Post Title"
date = 2026-01-03
description = "SEO description"
[taxonomies]
tags = ["tag1", "tag2"]
+++

Project:

+++
title = "Project"
weight = 1
[extra]
github_url = "https://github.com/..."
demo_url = "https://..."  # optional
status = "archived"       # optional
+++

Writing Style

• First-person, pragmatic voice
• Simple sentences, no em-dashes
• Real examples over theory

Build

zola serve   # Development
zola build   # Production

Directory Structure

sass/
├── tokens/_variables.scss    # Design tokens
├── base/                     # Reset, typography
├── components/               # Cards, tags, buttons
├── layout/                   # Header, footer
├── utilities/
│   ├── _mobile.scss          # @media overrides
│   └── _helpers.scss         # Utilities
└── pages/                    # Page-specific

templates/
├── base.html                 # Theme toggle, scripts
├── blog.html, blog-page.html
└── projects-*.html

Related Docs

• DESIGN.md - Full design system
• DESIGN_PATTERNS.md - Visual examples
• DESIGN_DECISIONS.md - Philosophy
• AGENTS.md - Workflow