Interactive Portfolio Basics: Keep It Fun and Still Clear

Portfolios should be readable first and interactive second. Not because interaction is bad, but because the person viewing your site is usually scanning, not exploring. If the first ten seconds is motion, hidden panels, and clever transitions, you are making your best content harder to access.

What I actually mean by “interactive portfolio” is simple. It is a normal portfolio that still works as plain HTML, and then you add one or two small interactions that make it feel alive without hiding the important parts. If you can turn off JavaScript and still understand who you are, what you built, and how to contact you, you are in a good spot.

The promise

This guide builds one small interactive section the safe way. You will end with a page that scans quickly, still has personality, and has an interaction that does not break accessibility or bury your content.

Here’s the standard I use: a recruiter should be able to answer three questions without clicking anything. Who is this person. What have they built. How do I contact them. If those answers require a toggle, a tab, or a hover effect, the structure is wrong.

What counts as “safe” interaction

Safe interaction is interaction that adds convenience or flavor, not interaction that gates information. A theme toggle is safe because it does not hide your projects. A “show more details” panel is usually safe if the summary is still visible. A filter for projects can be safe if the full list is still reachable and nothing becomes impossible to find.

Unsafe interaction is anything that replaces the readable base. If your Projects section is only visible after a tab click, or your contact info is inside an accordion, you are betting your entire portfolio on someone choosing to interact. Most people won’t.

Start to finish

Step 1: Build the readable base first

Create a folder and make a single HTML file. This is intentionally plain because the whole point is making sure the content is readable without styling or scripts.

File: index.html

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <title>Bradley Matera - Portfolio</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <a class="skip-link" href="#main">Skip to content</a>

    <header class="site-header">
      <h1>Bradley Matera</h1>
      <p>Systems minded builder. I ship small demos and keep them readable.</p>

      <nav aria-label="Primary">
        <a href="#projects">Projects</a>
        <a href="#about">About</a>
        <a href="#contact">Contact</a>
      </nav>
    </header>

    <main id="main">
      <section id="projects" aria-labelledby="projects-title">
        <h2 id="projects-title">Projects</h2>
        <p class="lede">These are fast links to real work. Details can come later, but the list has to scan fast.</p>

        <ul class="projects">
          <li>
            <strong>AnimalSounds</strong>
            <span class="muted">Small interactive demo focused on clean UI and quick scanning.</span>
          </li>
          <li>
            <strong>WebGPU Triangle Demo</strong>
            <span class="muted">A minimal graphics demo that proves the project runs and renders.</span>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </section>

      <section id="about" aria-labelledby="about-title">
        <h2 id="about-title">About</h2>
        <p>I care about repeatable builds, clear structure, and projects that don’t fall apart once they are deployed. I would rather have one clean interaction that works everywhere than five effects that look good only on my machine.</p>
      </section>

      <section id="contact" aria-labelledby="contact-title">
        <h2 id="contact-title">Contact</h2>
        <p>Email: <a href="mailto:bradmatera@gmail.com">bradmatera@gmail.com</a></p>
      </section>
    </main>
  </body>
</html>

At this point, open the file in a browser and do one boring check that matters. Hit Tab until the skip link appears, press Enter, and confirm focus jumps into the main content. If the page is readable and the skip link works, the foundation is solid.

Step 2: Add one interaction without hiding core content

The safest first interaction is a detail panel that is clearly “extra” and does not contain anything essential. The Projects list stays visible. The interaction simply gives a way to expand optional context.

Add this section right after the Projects list.

<section aria-labelledby="focus-title" class="focus">
  <h2 id="focus-title">Focus</h2>
  <p class="lede">This is optional detail. It should never be required to understand the page.</p>

  <button id="focusToggle" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="focusList">
    Show focus areas
  </button>

  <ul id="focusList" hidden>
    <li>Clear documentation and predictable structure</li>
    <li>Repeatable deploys and clean build output</li>
    <li>Accessible UI that still looks intentional</li>
  </ul>
</section>

<script>
  const button = document.getElementById("focusToggle");
  const list = document.getElementById("focusList");

  button.addEventListener("click", () => {
    const nextHidden = !list.hidden;
    list.hidden = nextHidden;

    const expanded = String(!nextHidden);
    button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", expanded);
    button.textContent = nextHidden ? "Show focus areas" : "Hide focus areas";
  });
</script>

This is the difference between “interaction” and “UI trick.” The content exists in the DOM. The button toggles visibility, and the ARIA attributes stay honest so assistive tech understands the state change.

Now verify it like a normal person. Click the button. Confirm the list appears. Click again. Confirm it hides. Then hit Tab and confirm the button is reachable by keyboard and still works when you activate it.

Step 3: Add minimal styling that improves scanning

Most portfolios get worse when styling becomes the main event. Keep the typography and spacing clean first. Effects can wait.

File: styles.css

:root { color-scheme: light dark; }

body {
  margin: 0;
  font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif;
  line-height: 1.6;
}

.site-header {
  max-width: 70ch;
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 2.25rem 1.25rem 1.5rem;
}

main {
  max-width: 70ch;
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 0 1.25rem 3rem;
}

nav a {
  margin-right: 1rem;
}

.lede {
  margin: 0.5rem 0 1rem;
}

.projects {
  padding-left: 1.1rem;
}

.projects li {
  margin: 0 0 0.75rem;
}

.muted {
  display: block;
  opacity: 0.75;
}

.focus button {
  padding: 0.6rem 0.9rem;
}

.skip-link {
  position: absolute;
  left: -999px;
  top: 0;
}

.skip-link:focus {
  left: 1rem;
  top: 1rem;
  padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem;
  background: #000;
  color: #fff;
  z-index: 10;
}

Reload the page and do the same scan test again. Can you read the header, see Projects, and see Contact without hunting. That is the actual goal. If it scans clean now, you have permission to add small personality later.

The interaction rules I follow

When people say “make it interactive,” they usually mean “make it feel alive.” That is fair. The problem is that most interactive ideas also hide content. The easiest way to avoid that trap is to keep a clear boundary between what must be visible and what can be optional.

Below is a simple reference table. It is not theory. It is just a way to decide whether an idea is helping or harming the scan experience.

Interaction	Usually safe	Usually risky	Why it matters
Theme toggle	✅	❌	Doesn’t hide content, just changes presentation
“Show more details” below a summary	✅	❌	Keeps the scan path intact
Project filtering	✅	⚠️	Safe if an “All” view exists and nothing disappears permanently
Hover-only reveals	❌	✅	Hover does not exist on touch devices and often hides important info
Tabs for core sections	❌	✅	Forces clicks to discover basic content
Auto-animations on load	⚠️	⚠️	Can be fine, but it can also distract from scanning

Accessibility checks that are actually worth doing

You do not need a full audit to avoid the most common problems. You need a small handful of checks that catch the things people break with interaction.

First, keyboard only. Reload the page, do not touch the mouse, and hit Tab through the header links and the toggle button. If the page becomes annoying to use, it will be annoying for more people than you think.

Second, reduced motion. If you later add animation, respect prefers-reduced-motion. If your portfolio depends on motion to communicate structure, you are building a demo of animation, not a portfolio.

Third, readability without JavaScript. Turn off scripts or use a browser extension to block them. The Projects list and Contact section must still exist and make sense.

The part recruiters actually care about

Most reviewers are not judging your animation skills. They are judging whether you can communicate clearly, structure information, and ship something that doesn’t break. If your portfolio makes them work to find basic facts, you are losing points for the wrong reason.

The fastest win is always the same: make the first screen boring in the best way. Name, role, one sentence, projects, contact. Then add the small interaction after the essentials are already visible.

Closing

A good interactive portfolio is not a playground. It is a readable page with one or two deliberate interactions that do not hide the important content. Build the readable base first, add one safe interaction, and verify it works with keyboard navigation. If you do that, the portfolio stays fun without becoming a puzzle.