A split-screen developer portfolio with a cinematic name splash, sticky left bio panel, and scrollable right panel for experience and projects. Deep navy background, cyan accent links, pill-shaped skill tags, and a two-tab layout that lets recruiters switch between your work history and your builds. Used by engineers who want their portfolio to feel like a product — not a resume.
What Is This Style?
A developer portfolio in this style is built around one idea: the person browsing it should never lose sight of who you are. The sticky left panel keeps your name, role, bio, and contact details permanently visible while the recruiter or hiring manager scrolls through your experience and projects on the right.
The opening splash — your name growing from small to enormous across the viewport in about 1.2 seconds — is the only dramatic moment. Everything after is calm, dark, and editorial. Deep navy, one cyan accent color, off-white text, and zero decoration.
The Vibe
A terminal that hired you before the interview.
This layout communicates technical taste without saying a word about technical taste. The split-screen structure is architectural. The restrained color palette feels like a design decision, not a color-picker mistake. The name splash is cinematic. The tag clouds and company links do the work of a resume without looking like one.
Who Uses This Layout
The canonical example is Brittany Chiang's portfolio — widely referenced in developer communities as the "gold standard" for engineer personal sites. Josh Comeau's site, Lee Robinson's, and dozens of senior engineers at top-tier tech companies use a variant of this format. The pattern is strong enough that it's become a trusted signal: if your portfolio looks like this, you probably know what you're doing.
When to Use It
Use this layout when you are a software engineer (frontend, backend, full-stack, or ML) applying to product companies, startups, or any role where having a polished personal site helps. It works best when you have 2–6 experience entries and 2–5 projects to show. Avoid it if you are a visual designer whose work needs to be seen in large thumbnails — this layout is optimized for prose and metadata, not visual portfolios.