Introducing Our New Astro-Modernized Website for a Cozy B&B: A Showcase of Innovation and Design
Greetings, valued readers! Today, I am excited to share a project close to my heart — a complete redesign and technological upgrade of a charming bed and breakfast’s online presence. This project represents a significant milestone, blending modern web development techniques with seamless multi-language support, all built on a robust static site framework.
Visit the site here: https://www.villademazamet.com/
Project Highlights and Key Features
This is the most ambitious website I’ve tackled so far, involving the migration of over 100 pages, including blog entries, from WordPress to a static site built with Astro. The process was both challenging and rewarding, especially when translating content into French and English to accommodate a diverse audience.
Some of the standout features include:
- Internationalization (i18n): Easy toggling between French and English, with careful handling of navigation, SEO, and hreflang tags to ensure optimal localization.
- Reservation System Integration: Incorporated a booking widget powered by FreeToBook, streamlining the reservation process for guests.
- Email Marketing: Seamless Mailchimp integration to keep visitors informed and engaged.
- Content Hub: A regularly updated blog to share news, travel tips, and updates.
- Visual Appeal: An eye-catching parallax gallery that enhances user experience.
- Modern Web Enhancements: Utilized Astro’s capabilities, including view transitions and responsive images, to deliver a sleek, fast-loading website.
Technical Journey and Insights
The transition from WordPress to a static Astro site was facilitated by using the WordPress export to Markdown package, which proved to be a valuable time-saver. Nonetheless, I encountered the usual cleanup tasks: dealing with inconsistent Markdown syntax, fixing broken links, and updating content. To add flexibility, some pages incorporated custom components through MDX.
Handling multi-language content posed its own challenges, particularly in maintaining accurate navigation, SEO metadata, and hreflang tags—crucial for search engine visibility and user experience across regions.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I am thrilled with the result. The site is faster, more secure, and easier to maintain than its predecessor. Of course, there’s always room for improvement, and I’d love to hear your
