From WordPress to Liquid Glass redesign — in a single day.
In April 2026, the website leadnet.de was completely rebuilt — not by a team, but through a conversation between Frank Bormann (developer and solution for everything) and Kiro (hero for almost everything), an AI-powered IDE by Amazon. Kiro combines a code editor with an AI assistant that writes code, creates files, makes Git commits, and directly accesses AWS services.
The task: Replace an existing WordPress site with a fast, secure, bilingual static website — featuring a blog system, WYSIWYG editor, AWS Translate, text-to-speech, and a modern Liquid Glass design. All without external frameworks, no licences, 100% custom code.
Frank Bormann is currently working extensively with Kiro — including for a specialised training course where customers learn to effectively use AI-powered development tools in their projects. Several small projects have already emerged: a serverless URL shortener, a quiz platform, and this website.
In May 1999, leadnet.de went online for the first time. Frank Bormann started with hosting and IT services — at a time when the internet in Germany was just gaining momentum. The original website is unfortunately no longer available, but the foundation for over 25 years of IT expertise was laid.
🌐
No screenshot available
The original 1999 website is no longer preserved.
leadnet.de — May 1999 (no longer available)
Leadnet was already established — hosting and IT services were the focus, long before cloud computing became a topic. The website reflected the spirit of the times: functional, informative, no frills.
leadnet.de — 2003
The site was redesigned to meet growing demands. The offering expanded towards cloud consulting. A more contemporary design, but still on a traditional foundation.
leadnet.de — April 2016
Switching to WordPress brought a more modern design and easier content management. But also the typical WordPress issues: slow load times, security updates, plugin dependencies, and unnecessary overhead for what is essentially a static business site.
Problem Performance, security, maintenance overhead
WordPress version — December 2023
Feature Migration from WordPress to static HTML
6 pages, clean semantic HTML5, local fonts, contact form with CSRF protection, honeypot, math captcha and rate limiting. No WordPress, no jQuery, no framework.
Version 1 — First HTML prototype
Design Logo, header images, footer background
The site gets its branding: Leadnet logo, page-specific hero banners with background images and text overlay. Images optimised from 3.2 MB to 0.75 MB (77% saved).
Version 2 — Logo and hero banner
Feature 10 English pages, language switcher, hreflang
The website becomes bilingual. 10 new English pages under /en/, DE/EN switcher in the header, hreflang tags for Google, language-aware contact form and JavaScript.
Fix SEO: og:url mismatch, meta keywords removed, JSON-LD schema with areaServed
Version 5 — Bilingual with language switcher
Design First attempt at modern glass effects
Glassmorphism header with backdrop-filter: blur(), translucent cards, softer shadows, CSS custom properties.
Feedback: "The change is too subtle." → Led directly to version 8.
Version 7 — Light Glassmorphism (too subtle)
Design Aggressive glassmorphism on dark background
Completely dark colour scheme for maximum glass contrast. Animated gradient border glow, pulsating light orbs, inner radial glow on card hover, icon drop-shadow glow.
Version 8 — Dark Liquid Glass
Feature Users choose: light or dark
Sun/moon toggle on all 25 pages. System preference as default, user choice persisted in localStorage.
Security HSTS, Content-Security-Policy, Permissions-Policy headers
Fix "IT expertise since 1999" barely visible in light mode → hero overlay contrast increased
Version 9 — Dark Mode
Version 9 — Light Mode
Feature Read-aloud button with AWS Polly Neural
14 content pages get a "Read aloud" button. German voice (Vicki) and English voice (Joanna). MP3s cached by content hash — when text changes, audio is automatically regenerated.
Accessibility prefers-reduced-motion, prefers-contrast, focus-visible on all elements
Security API rate limiting, XSS protection, referer check, page whitelist
Version 10 — Read-aloud button + accessibility
Beyond leadnet.de, several other projects were built during the Kiro evaluation — all serverless, all on AWS, all developed in conversation with the AI.
A serverless URL shortener with QR code generation, custom short IDs, and automatic expiration (7-day TTL). This project was the starting point of the Kiro evaluation — complete with Infrastructure as Code (OpenTofu), custom domain, and rate limiting. Cost: approx. $1/month.
A real-time quiz platform for training and workshops. Participants join via QR code, answers are synchronised in real-time via AWS IoT Core (MQTT). Admin portal with roles (SuperAdmin/Admin), question pool with tags, CSV import/export, configurable timers, and live leaderboard.
Bilingual static website with blog system, custom WYSIWYG editor, AWS Translate for automatic DE↔EN translation, AWS Polly Neural for text-to-speech, Liquid Glass design with light/dark toggle. Completely framework-free.
leadnet.de →Although these projects are built on AWS, Kiro is a universal IDE — it works just as effectively with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, or any other infrastructure. Kiro writes code, not cloud-specific configurations. Terraform for GCP, Azure CLI commands, Kubernetes manifests — everything is possible. The AI adapts to the project, not the other way around.