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The UnOfficial

A homebrew basketball blog and content hub

Spring 2024 - Present
Solo Developer, Designer, and Writer
ReactFirebaseAI
Live Demo View Code

Overview

The UnOfficial is my NBA fan blog and publishing platform — built to capture the energy of “three friends, an opinion, and google machine spiral,” without pretending to be insiders. The tone is intentionally optimistic, data-informed, and written like a group chat (but with better formatting).

The Challenge

Most “personal blog” projects stop at a landing page and a few posts. I wanted something with real operational value: a platform that can support multiple writers, keep publishing safe (auth + permissions), and still feel lightweight and fast for readers.

The Solution

I built a modern blog CMS experience that supports real publishing workflows: - Markdown authoring with live preview - Draft → publish → unpublish lifecycle - Tags + search/filtering for discoverability - Google sign-in + role-based access (Owner / Writer / Reader) - Invite-code onboarding to add writers without manual admin work

Technical Implementation

The UnOfficial is implemented with: - Next.js (App Router) + TypeScript for a production-grade frontend structure - Tailwind CSS for consistent, responsive UI - Firebase Auth (Google sign-in) + Cloud Firestore (content + users) - Security rules that enforce permissions (public published posts, private drafts, one-time invite codes) - Deployed to a public Vercel domain for easy sharing and iteration

Results & Impact

This project became more than “a blog” — it’s a reusable publishing platform with the kind of features you’d expect from a lightweight CMS, plus a clear brand voice and a built-in invitation path for contributors. It also includes reader-facing pages like Posts and About

Key Learnings

  • →Publishing is a workflow, not a page. Drafts, previewing, unpublishing, and tagging are the difference between “a site” and “a platform.”
  • →Auth is easy; authorization is the product. The role model + Firestore rules are what make multi-writer publishing safe and scalable.
  • →Good UX is removing friction. Invites and role-based dashboards reduce admin overhead and keep writers focused on writing.

What's Next

Future enhancements I’d prioritize: - Scheduled publishing + editorial calendar - SEO polish (RSS feed, sitemap, richer OpenGraph, structured data) - Newsletter / subscriptions and lightweight commenting - Analytics dashboard (what people actually read, what converts new subscribers) - a "Read-to-me" feature with audio recorded versions of each artilce for on-the-go listening