Why I created my own Hugo theme

The Context

As part of a project at the IUT of Lens, we had to create a portfolio site with Hugo. Having already used this static site generator before, I knew its capabilities… but also its limitations in terms of available themes.

The Problem

After browsing the Hugo theme gallery, none really matched my vision. Either too generic, not modern enough, or with features that didn’t fit my specific developer portfolio needs.

The Solution: Creating Mine

Rather than compromising, I decided to develop my own theme from scratch. This approach allowed me to:

• Control every aspect of the design
• Optimize performance according to my needs
• Integrate exactly the features I wanted
• Learn Hugo architecture in depth

The Tools That Saved Me

I won’t lie: AI was a precious ally in this project:

• DeepSeek helped me considerably with Tailwind CSS documentation and component layout
• ChatGPT guided me on the specific Hugo file hierarchy

This human-machine collaboration allowed me to focus on business logic and design rather than wasting time on syntax.

The Result

A personalized, modern theme perfectly adapted to my portfolio needs. More importantly: a deep understanding of Hugo that I would never have had using an existing theme.

First post done! The next one will surely talk about backend development… 🚀