When I set out to build thisisonlyatest.com, I had a vision: a space to share the rides, projects, and reflections that come with wandering, wondering, and writing the results. What I didn’t have was a perfectly mapped route to get there.
I knew the broad strokes — WordPress, Astra, a clean aesthetic — but like any journey, the details emerged as I went. That’s where I brought in a copilot: AI.
🚀 The Build: Faster, Smarter, Still Mine
With ChatGPT riding shotgun, I moved quickly from blank theme to working site. Together, we worked through:
- Customizing Astra’s transparent header and dynamic text styling
- Creating a favicon and welcome message that reflected the site’s voice
- Integrating Noptin for email subscriptions, with prefilled forms for logged-in users
- Configuring category filters and blog structure using Astra’s Blog Pro module
- Tweaking CSS, testing opt-in logic, and more
The process wasn’t perfect. There were times AI didn’t quite get it right — a class misnamed, a behavior misinterpreted. I still had to poke around, debug a few things, and connect some dots myself.
But I was never flying blind.
When AI missed the mark, it still pointed me in the right direction. It got me 80% there — fast — and left me with the clarity and momentum to cover the final 20% on my own.
🤖 AI as Accelerant, Not Replacement
There’s a lot of noise out there about AI taking over creative work. What I experienced was something much more valuable: a tool that shortened the time between idea and implementation — without getting in the way of judgment or style.
It didn’t replace my work.
It made it faster.
It made it better.
And perhaps most importantly, it let me stay in the zone — moving from “I wonder if I can…” to “That’s done” far quicker than I could alone.
🏁 Final Thoughts
If you’ve got a project you’ve been meaning to launch — a site, a blog, a dusty side idea you keep putting off — I’d encourage you to try working with AI. Not to hand over control, but to get momentum.
This site may be “only a test,” but the process behind it proved something real:
With the right tools and the right questions, the road builds itself — one well-timed response at a time.