How to build a webpage in 867 easy steps (with receipts)

• Start time: 2026-02-11 09:08:55 CT (first git commit)
• Ship time: TBD (first deploy time; we'll record it)
• Local dev: Caddy → localhost reverse proxy
• Prompt count: ~10 primary prompts (approx.)
• Step count: ~867 discrete steps (approx.; method below)

No hype. If we can't cite it, we don't claim it.

Draft (John)

John will write this in his voice. We'll keep the structure and inline comments.

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The punchline

Humans ask for a homepage in a sentence. Shipping it still takes hundreds of discrete steps. The difference is that the machine can do the steps — if the human gives the right constraints.

Where "867 steps" comes from (approx.)

• Each file edit, commit, config change, and verification run counts as a step.
• Each "decision" prompt is small; it fans out into dozens of mechanical steps (HTML/CSS/JS, wiring, testing, deploy prep).
• We'll keep the exact tally honest by logging the categories (not pretending false precision).

The 10 primary prompts (what the human actually had to do)

1. Define the offer in one sentence (who + outcome + constraint).
2. Pick the tone (no hype; receipts-first).
3. Pick the navigation primitives (Projects / Patterns / Anti-patterns / Workshop / Contact).
4. Choose the two "stop doing this now" anti-patterns.
5. Choose the two matching patterns that replace them.
6. Approve the hero carousel order and auto-advance behavior.
7. Decide what is real vs persona (credibility rules).
8. Decide what's public vs private (repo, email, names).
9. Pick the brand mark and where it lives (nav logo vs hero art).
10. Define the "receipt" standard for claims (links, diffs, tests).

[John draft begins here.]

[John draft ends here.]