I’m Hans Martens, an Astro theme developer from Veghel, the Netherlands. In this blog post I tell you a bit more about myself.
Computers since 1992
My interest in computers started long before I built websites. In 1992 I bought a new computer, and I’ve been interested in both the operating system and the hardware ever since. In 1998 I started building my first computer from parts.
Repairing laptops at the TU/e
In 2000 I started working as a computer service engineer, repairing laptops. I was seconded to the Eindhoven University of Technology, where students bought their laptops through the university. A new model arrived every academic year, so I worked through a long line of them — opening them up, finding what had failed, repairing it, and putting them back together. It was a good job, and I liked working at the TU/e very much. I did several jobs after that, but this one was the one I liked most.
From WordPress to Astro
In 2010 I built my first website with WordPress — for myself. I liked doing it very much, so I kept doing it and I never stopped building websites. In 2022 I moved to Astro and stayed. Astro ships zero JavaScript by default, gives me full control over the output and lets me add interactivity only where it’s needed. Build this way and fast sites are the normal result.
What I’m doing now
These days I work every day with Astro. Four projects have come out of that.
Astro Rocket is a free Astro 7 theme, listed on the official Astro website. It has 110 stars and 50 forks at the moment. You can fork it on GitHub and start building your own website with it.
Hans Martens Dev is this website. The other three grew out of it.
I built the last two for websites running Astro Rocket, from the theme’s own components. Both are free — ask me and I will give you either one.
Client Portal gives each client of a business a private area on that website, where they sign in and see the work being done for them, and their invoices.
Members Area reserves part of a website for a group who can read what the public cannot — a club, a course, a set of readers.
They run here so I can test them on a site I use every day.
I have started work on a new Astro theme. When it’s released, you will find all the information on this website.
Working with AI
I’m very interested in working with AI, and in how it’s evolving. I use Claude Code, running on Fable 5.
It gives me the best colleague I can get to build with, and it’s also very good at advising me on the decisions I have to make in my work. For me, Claude Code is the best AI to work with — and it shows what AI is capable of these days.
Hardware and operating systems today
I have a big interest in computer hardware and operating systems. I often use Linux Ubuntu as the operating system on my dual-boot laptop, and I’m interested in the Raspberry Pi. I also love Apple products — my phone of choice is an iPhone, and the MacBook is a laptop that’s nice to work with.
Beyond the screen
I’m not in front of a monitor all day. Away from the keyboard you’ll find me at the gym, enjoying good food and a proper espresso, in a good conversation, or out with my two dogs — who have strong opinions about how much time I should spend outside, and are usually right.
Want to say hi?
If you’d like to talk about the themes, about Astro, or just say hello:
- Email — hello@hansmartens.dev
- GitHub — hansmartensdev
- Or — head to the contact page.
Thanks for stopping by.