itsthedevman.com started with me staring at my greetd login screen one day and thinking "you know what, this looks really clean." That simple bordered window with its title bar and minimal aesthetic just worked. I wanted my portfolio to capture that same vibe - functional and purposeful, but with that terminal-inspired look that feels like you're working on something important.

But this isn't just a portfolio. It's my personal Rails laboratory where I get to experiment with new approaches without breaking anything that matters. Want to try Hotwire vs React for that source code browser? Perfect place to test it. Curious about ViewComponents or how far I can push Turbo frames? Time to find out on a real feature that people will actually use.

The result is a site that serves two purposes. Visitors can browse through my projects and see how I've evolved as a developer over the years. Meanwhile, I get a sandbox where every new feature becomes a learning opportunity. Instead of spinning up throwaway test projects, I experiment with production code that has to actually work.

It's built with Rails 8, Hotwire, and a heavily customized Bootstrap theme that makes web interfaces feel like you're working with some well-designed command-line tool. The whole thing hits that sweet spot where it looks professional, works smoothly, and taught me a bunch while building it.