alterae.github.io is currently hosted on GitHub Pages, and the source code is available on GitHub. At the moment, the entire site is built using plain HTML, with some added Tera templating processed via mksite.

The styling is all done using vanilla CSS, and I have no plans to change that. I have tried a few CSS frameworks and I did not enjoy using them. Responsive design and dark mode support are supported through the use of media queries, with no JavaScript whatsoever.

The core principles behind the whole design are that the site should be simple, accessible, aesthetically pleasing, and responsive. It should show an attention to detail, provide a good reading experience, and work on a wide range of devices, with minimal maintenance burden.

Typography

This website’s body text is set in Source Serif 4, which was chosen because it is readable, aesthetically pleasing, has broad support for OpenType features, and is free.

Headings are set in bold IBM Plex Serif. While too regular to make for pleasant body text, the bold variant is clean, visually distinct from the body text font, and almost has a slab serif vibe to it.

Code is set in the wonderful Input Mono, which is reminiscent of the typewriter fonts used in older programming books. The large punctuation marks and other details make it extremely readable when used to display source code, and it is my font of choice for code editors and terminals.