5 things every developer portfolio should have in 2026

Emilio — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:37:16 +0000

A good developer portfolio can open doors — but a lot of them miss the basics.
After building my own (and turning it into a template), here are the 5 things I
think every dev portfolio needs:

1. A clear hero

The first thing visitors see should instantly say who you are and what you do.
Name, role, and a short tagline. Don't make people guess.

2. Real projects with links

Show your best work with a short description, the tech stack, and links to a live
demo and the code. Two or three strong projects beat ten weak ones.

3. Mobile-first design

Most people will open your portfolio on their phone. If it breaks on mobile, you
lose them. Build for small screens first.

4. Light & dark mode

It's a small touch, but it signals attention to detail — and developers love
dark mode.

5. An easy way to contact you

A clear email or a simple contact form. Don't make people hunt for it.

I tried to nail all of these in a portfolio template I built with React, Vite &
Tailwind. If you want to skip the setup, you can check it out here:

Live demo: devfolio-template-vercel-app.vercel.app

What would you add to this list? 👇

webdev #react #career #beginners

I built a developer portfolio template with React, Vite & Tailwind — here's what I learned

Emilio — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 03:50:27 +0000

As a systems engineering student and frontend dev, I wanted a portfolio that
looked professional without spending days fighting with design. So I built one —
and ended up turning it into a reusable template.

Here's what I focused on while building it:

1. Customization from a single file

The biggest pain with most templates is digging through components to change
your info. I put everything — name, bio, projects, skills, social links — into
ONE config file. Edit that, and the whole site updates.

2. Light & dark mode

Developers love dark mode, so I made it the default, with a smooth toggle for
light mode. Both are fully themed.

3. Mobile-first & responsive

Most people will view a portfolio on their phone, so I built it mobile-first
and tested it down to small screens.

4. Easy deployment

It works out of the box with Vercel or any static host, with a beginner-friendly
setup guide in the README.

The stack

React + Vite
Tailwind CSS
Formspree-ready contact form

You can see the live demo here: devfolio-template-vercel-app.vercel.app

I also made it available as a template if it's useful to anyone: https://payhip.com/b/t1VUk

Would love to hear your feedback — what do you look for in a developer portfolio?

react #webdev #tailwindcss #showdev

DEV Community: Emilio