Lennart Novak, Software Developer with a focus on design

### A terminal first

A portfolio usually opens with a big photo and a headline. This one opens with a blinking cursor. Visitors who know a shell feel at home at once: ls, cd and cat work on a virtual file system that holds the same data as the website, and ./index.sh starts the portfolio itself.

The terminal is a small Linux of its own. Visitors can create files and folders, edit them in nano, chain commands with pipes and find a few surprises along the way. Everything they create stays in their own browser.

Today almost anything can be built with AI. What makes the difference is the idea and the will to really see it through to the end. And honestly, I just thought a terminal was a cool way to start.

### The website view

For everyone who does not want to type, the website view shows the portfolio as a page, without leaving the retro look. Everything stands on a strict grid of characters in one monospace font, and boxes, rules and trees are drawn with box drawing characters instead of borders.

A CRT monitor frames the picture, with scanlines, glow and an effect when it is switched on. The page works with the mouse, the keyboard or Vim motions, and a block cursor moves over every character.

### Accessible and fast

A retro look must not shut anyone out. Screen readers, contrast and a walkthrough with the keyboard only were checked from the start, and visitors who prefer less motion get the site without animations.

The site is prerendered to static files, loads nothing from third parties and is tested in three browser engines before every release.