Who this is for
Best for first-time visitors, curious builders, and anyone arriving from a short bio link who needs to understand the mood of the site in a few seconds.
Projects / Interactive system
Visitor Globe
The homepage artifact that makes the site feel occupied before anyone reads a sentence.
The globe is the most visible system on the site, so it had to do two jobs at once: catch attention fast and stay technically disciplined once you look closer. The result is a poster-first island that loads quickly, hydrates only when needed, and turns short-lived anonymous location hints into a live and historical visual layer.
What needed solving
A personal site can feel anonymous even when the writing is good. I wanted a front-door artifact with motion, presence, and enough restraint that it still felt trustworthy.
What changed after shipping
The result is a poster-first island that loads quickly, hydrates only when needed, and turns short-lived anonymous location hints into a live and historical visual layer.
What had to be true
The globe had to be visible on a personal site without behaving like a landing-page trap. That meant a strong poster state, careful hydration, and a visual language that felt a little theatrical without becoming noisy.
How it works
The page records a short anonymous beacon at the edge, stores only approximate coordinates, and lets the globe switch between live visitors and a small rolling history. The data model is intentionally narrow so the visual stays expressive while the backend stays simple.
Why it matters
This project proves the tone of the whole site. It is a technical feature, but it also tells visitors that the rest of the work cares about speed, polish, and a little delight instead of only utility.
The rules that kept this project honest.
- Give the first screen a pulse without making the whole page expensive.
- Treat visitor locations as atmosphere, not identity.
- Fail gracefully so the page still works when WebGL, privacy controls, or edge bindings do not.
Concrete wins from the current version.
- Shows a polished globe immediately with a poster fallback before the runtime finishes loading.
- Keeps the live and history modes visually distinct so the data does not feel fake.
- Surfaces beacon and privacy state clearly enough to debug without exposing personal data.
Stack and routes
The technical spine behind the project.
AstroReact islandGlobe.glPages FunctionsDurable Object
Written trail
Open the archive Posts that explain the reasoning around this project.
Launching a static-first engineering blog with one living island
Why this blog starts with Astro, a deliberate WebGL island, and a bias toward edge-readable systems.
A site can be playful without becoming noisy
I like interfaces with a wink, but I trust the ones that know when to quiet down and let me stay.
Edge is a placement decision, not a belief system
The edge is excellent at some jobs, distracting for others, and most useful when treated as a placement choice instead of a product religion.
More projects
See the full index The rest of the site system is connected work, not filler.
Jason Eran Site System
The broader personal site system: static-first, searchable, and public-safe by design.
Open case studyReader Loop
Search, resume reading, and sharing tools that help a quiet site stay usable.
Open case studyEdge Visitor Pipeline
A light edge data path that keeps the globe current without building a long-term reader profile.
Open case study