When I started developing websites about ten years ago, one of the hardest things was to get someone else's opinion for my pages.
That's why decided to give back to the community by critically reviewing their portfolios. I took a look at things like
- design, UX
- content
- performance.
After having watched over 40 of them, I have come up with 9 main tips I have for building a better portfolio!
1. Define the purpose of your portfolio
Your portfolio must have a purpose. And that purpose defines your target audience. Think about it - is it built for recruiters, other developers, or for yourself?
If it's for other developers, having cool animations may sound reasonable, whereas if the main target audience are recruiters, UX, and the way you structure the content has great importance.
//Tam Sylte commented a really nice tip:
I'd add a small but simple suggestion: develop your 'voice'. Sometimes I see portfolios that use third person - 'John is a Javascript developer ...' for example. Better to say 'I've been a Javascript enthusiast since 2010 ...' or something along those lines. Imagine your audience (as mentioned in this article) and talk to that person - recruiter or fellow developer - as you might do face-to-face.
2. Bring out your skills and projects ASAP
Usually, when people visit your portfolio, it's because they want to know about your skills and projects.
I've seen many great one-pager portfolios where the "about me" gets more attention than the "projects".
robbie.antenesse.net - In his portfolio, Robbie Antenesse has made "projects" as the second section of his portfolio
My recommendation is to either highlight your specific skills in the "about me" section or even better - make "projects" content block appear before the "about you" one.
3. Minimal, original, or both?
Regarding design and UX, it's important to make a conscious decision - how do you want your portfolio to look like?
If you're less experienced in web design, my recommendation is to go with something simple and functional. Do not use more than 3 main colors, have maximum of 2 different fonts, and keep the content straight-to-the-point.
codewithghazi.com - Code With Ghazi is a good example of a simple, yet a bit different design
Once you've got more experienced with web design, you start to notice what are the good UX and design patterns. That is when originality and creativity can be brought in.
4. Less is more
As with coding, sometimes the simplest design/UX solutions are also the best.
It's especially important to keep in mind when adding animations. Having lots of interactivity and flashing elements on a page can seem cool, but from the UX perspective, it's usually not that good.
My recommendation is to keep things simple and really think if the elements and animations on your page do add any value.
5. Think about what is the first thing people should notice?
It takes less than one second to make up your first impression on the page.
That's why it is super vital to analyze what you want people to notice the first on your page. Is it your name? Is it your skills? Or some animation?
abdessalam-benharira.me - Abdessalam's page highlights the author's passion for web and UI/UX design
As for developer portfolios, my recommendation is to focus on your name + skillset or some nice slogan that gives away you're a developer.
6. Percentages and skill-bars tell me nothing
This is something I loved to do when I started web development - use percentages to display my skills in various technologies.
In reality, having your skills described using percentages or progress bars does not add any value. No one knows what does it actually means. By saying you have "100% skills in Javascript" it would leave the impression that you're the best JS developer in the world. Probably that's not the case.
If you do want to add some numerical value to your skills, use the number of years or projects. These metrics are universally understandable.
7. Do not make me click
A simple yet effective UX rule to keep in mind - reduce the number of clicks.
Each click on your website should have a meaning.
Eg when you have an "about me" link in the main navigation, it should direct me to a section where I can read about you.
There were a couple of cases where I clicked on a link only to be navigated to a section where another click was needed to see the actual content. It frustrating and increases the rate of churn.
Remember to think about it when adding navigations/links.
8. Make it easy to contact you!
Your portfolio is about showing your skills and projects. But do not forget to make it EASY to contact you.
My recommendation is to bring out your email or social media links in both the header and footer.
jamesjacobthomas.com - The author has made social icons fixed on the page
I also liked some of the portfolios that had made their social media icons fixed when navigating the page - that way it was super convenient to contact the authors of the page.
9. Run Google Lighthouse to find the simplest mistakes!
Most of the portfolios I reviewed were in really good shape. How do I know? By running Google Lighthouse.
Google Lighthouse is a tool in Chrome browsers that gives you ACTIONABLE info about your site's performance, usage of best practices, accessibility, and SEO.
The performance of that page could be improved a bit
Some of the cases where Lighthouse can be really helpful in terms of feedback:
- you need to improve the SEO
- your page performance can be improved by optimizing the images
- the accessibility is not great
So next time before hitting the "deploy" button, do run the Google Lighthouse report.
And these are my main tips for developers regarding building a better portfolio!
I'm genuinely thankful for all the people who submitted their portfolios and also the feedback you provided.
Do you have any points you think I missed?
The reviews are visible in this Youtube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX_LrXEUecc&list=PL4gMAGIXQXfvRWZt2n1u_jLwSGd-Ogvi4
Oh and...! If you are interested in coding, growth mindset and are willing to share your experiences, ideas, then please do PM me on Twitter :)!
DeveloperHabits
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Top comments (55)
Cool stuff! 😀 Reviewing that many portfolios were a chore but you did with a great patient without sacrificing the details. Liked it. Thanks for the final insights👍🏼
Thank you Anik for the kind words and the support along the way :)! I
My pleasure 😊 I admire people who works hard and help others.. Credit is yours 🙂
I'm curious about where you rank a resume. I struggle there when I start a new job, I never keep up to date. Maybe it's a personal problem.
Hey Eric!
Sorry, I don't fully understand what you mean by "rank".
Sorry, late night post! Do you find a dev's resume relevant, and at what level of importance, in their portfolio site?
The keeping of nice working portfolio is the eternal headache. Especially for a guys as me, who are a painter, designer, coder, musician, and timeless freelancer. When I start to think of the concept I immediately blocking by jungle rain of ideas.
What I like to suggest - think of you and your portfolio as of the methaphor, maybe that help.
Thanks for useful article!
That's a really nice way of putting it - putting your personality into the portfolio :) !
I'd add a small but simple suggestion: develop your 'voice'. Sometimes I see portfolios that use third person - 'John is a Javascript developer ...' for example. Better to say 'I've been a Javascript enthusiast since 2010 ...' or something along those lines. Imagine your audience (as mentioned in this article) and talk to that person - recruiter or fellow developer - as you might do face-to-face.
Tam, that's a really nice tip! I'll include it in the article! Thank you!
This is actually important stuff! As a UI/UX designer practicing front-end development, I’ve seen too many portfolios that don’t meet accessibility and UI design fundamentals, especially when beginners start out in web design! ☝🏼But at the end of the day, it’s more room for improvement!
Yes yes yes!
As a developer, we sometimes tend to focus too much on the technical side, forgetting the goal of our projects. That's one of the main reasons why I created this video.
Good luck on your journey of front end ;)!
Thank you so much! Good luck with your journey too ;)
Gracias por el aporte! Muy simple y claro. Me encantó lo de Google Lighthouse!
This post is a great help now that I'm trying to build a new portfolio, thanks! . I'm trying to build something that help me to find a job for a company but also I'd like to get some freelance jobs. What it would be a good approach for that?
Cheers!
Hey Sir!
Thank you for kind words.
I believe a traditional portfolio with list of your best projects would work well. And somewhere in the header for example mention that you're available for freelancing.
Hi Kethmar, thanks a lot for writing this article! When I started to relaunch my own portfolio website, I did a lot of research about other people's work, UX best practices etc. and found some doubtful advice that you manage to dispel here.
Especially telling developers to keep their sites simple and usable, not to overdo animation and to refrain from useless percentage bars (which still seem to be popular among a certain kind of recruiters). Also people should use Lighthouse (and axe for accessibility, and maybe check security headers and carbon footprint, if they care).
Here is my developer portfolio: ingo-steinke.com/
I shared more details and things I learned during my relaunch in my dev.to article here: dev.to/ingosteinke/creating-a-fast...
Thank you Ingo for your feedback!
And great job on the portfolio - it looks simple, well structured and informative!
Yeh. That's just dumb. And that includes me
Hi @kethmars , if you can give ma feedback about my portfolio rebaiahmed.github.io/
I just tried to put everything I have made during my studies and my professional experience
give it a look :D