Speed with Safety: Building for Predictability

Speed is a competitive advantage, but speed without safety is a liability.

As AdrianViewpoint.com evolves from a content site into a hub for interactive tools, my technical requirements have shifted. I found myself writing more reactivity code to power new features like my Mortgage Calculator and Compound Interest Calculator. To maintain a high standard of quality without slowing down, I had to evolve my architecture.

Data Integrity with Zod

Bad data is a hidden cost that leads to broken interfaces and frustrated users. To prevent this, I have integrated the Zod library into the project.

Think of Zod as a digital contract for data. It is a validation library that checks the shape of information before the application is allowed to use it. If the data does not match the contract, Zod catches the error instantly during the development process.

I use Zod to validate the Front Matter for my articles. Front Matter is the metadata block at the very top of my article files. It contains essential details like the title, publication date, and descriptive tags. It tells the website how to categorize and display the post.

By using Zod, I can ensure that:

• An article cannot be published if a required field is missing.
• A title does not accidentally exceed a specific character count.
• The data coming from my interactive tools is always a valid number.

The Hybrid Approach: Astro meets Svelte

My website is built on Astro, but I am increasingly integrating Svelte components. This hybrid approach is a strategic choice to get the best of both worlds.

Astro is a data-centric framework designed for speed and SEO. It is excellent for static content because it delivers minimal Javascript to the browser. However, as my tools became more interactive, I needed a way to handle state efficiently.

This is where Svelte comes in. Svelte is a master of Reactivity, which is the ability for a user interface to update in real-time as data changes. Rather than writing complex boilerplate code to make a calculator work, I drop a Svelte component into an Astro page. This allows me to keep the high performance of Astro while gaining the development speed of Svelte.

The Roadmap: To SSR or Not?

I am currently weighing a move to SvelteKit and Server Side Rendering (SSR).

In a traditional setup, the user’s browser does the work to render the interactive parts of a page. With SSR, the server handles that work, which can make complex tools feel even faster. However, I value simplicity. My current Astro and Svelte setup is performing exceptionally well. I only plan to migrate to a full SvelteKit environment when the complexity of my tools justifies the change.

Engineering for the Long Term

Whether building a personal project or a client application, my goal is to create systems that are easy to maintain and difficult to break. By combining the safety of Zod with the efficiency of Svelte, I am ensuring that my tools remain a fast, reliable resource for my audience.