Most personal sites are overengineered. I wanted something lean, fast, and fun—so I built my own tiny web template that powers my portfolio and weighs in at just 12.8 KB total.
This post explains:
- Why I built it
- How it works
- How you can use it
- What happened after I launched
The Problem with Modern Personal Sites
You know the story: framework bloat, 2MB+ bundles, SPAs for a static page with a headshot and 4 links. It feels unnecessary.
I wanted a site that:
- Loads instantly, even on slow connections
- Works without JS (mostly)
- Looks like a terminal (because I live in one)
- Uses only vanilla HTML, CSS, and a bit of JS
- Can be repurposed easily by others
Enter: lilweb-template
GitHub: Cod-e-Codes/lilweb-template
Demo: cod-e-codes.github.io/lilweb-template (deployed on GitHub Pages)
This template is a no-framework, no-build-step, ultra-lightweight web starter with:
- Terminal-themed aesthetic (monospace, green-on-black, blinking cursor)
- All CSS and JS inline inside
index.html - JS fetches GitHub API data (repos, stars, etc.)
- Easily configurable via a small inline config object
Everything lives in a single index.html. No external stylesheets, no external scripts. That's it.
And thanks to its minimal footprint, it scores 100/100 on all Lighthouse metrics—even on low-end mobile devices over slow 4G connections.
My Own Site: A Real-World Demo
My portfolio cod-e-codes.com uses the template, with:
- Live repo data from GitHub
- A list of open source tools I built
- No frameworks, libraries, or trackers
- Fully static and cacheable
All in under 13KB total size.
What Happened When I Posted It to Hacker News
On August 6, I shared the template on Hacker News:
Show HN: Minimal terminal-style portfolio template (~13KB) with GitHub API data
I linked the GitHub repo and mentioned my own site as a live demo at the top.
Results (so far):
- 300+ unique visitors to my personal site within 24 hours
- GitHub stars and clones increased
- Some traffic trickled into my portfolio from the demo
- I haven’t received feedback from other developers yet
- No signs of adoption or forks so far
Still, not bad for a zero-dependency web page!
Why This Worked
- The site is authentic—I use it myself.
- It solves a real problem: bloated personal sites.
- The repo is immediately usable.
- It looks different (terminal aesthetic stands out).
Want to Use It?
Getting started is simple:
- Fork the repo: lilweb-template
- Customize it using the README and TEMPLATE_GUIDE
- Deploy it on GitHub Pages, Netlify, or any static host
Done. No build step, no framework, no nonsense.
What's Next?
I’m planning to:
- Add simple theming (light/dark toggle?)
- Support more social links (Mastodon, etc.)
- Help others fork and showcase their versions
If you try it, let me know—I'd love to see what you build.
Thanks for reading! You can find me at cod-e-codes.com or GitHub: @Cod-e-Codes.
Top comments (0)