Introducing the Comeback Dashboard — A Modern Demo Admin UI

I built a small, production-minded admin dashboard to demonstrate realistic UI patterns and deployment practices. You can view the live demo here: https://the-comeback-dashbaord.vercel.app/

This post explains why I built it, the technology choices, and practical lessons you can reuse in your projects.

What the demo shows

• App Router patterns in Next.js: server components, client components, and server actions.
• A TypeScript-first codebase with clear types between UI and server actions.
• Utility-first styling with Tailwind CSS and theme presets.
• Accessibility-first components and keyboard navigation patterns.
• Small, testable components and a clear folder structure suitable for scaling.

Technology choices (short)

• Next.js (App Router): For server rendering, routing, and server actions. It keeps the critical path fast and simple.
• TypeScript: Type-safety across client and server layers.
• Tailwind CSS: Rapid, consistent UI styling and theme presets.
• Vercel: Zero-config deployment and edge-friendly hosting.

Architecture notes

The demo follows a simple separation of concerns:

• Server components render core UI and fetch canonical data.
• Client components handle interactivity and local state (e.g., table row drag, view options).
• Server actions provide lightweight, type-safe handlers for small CRUD flows — kept minimal to demonstrate the pattern without adding backend complexity.

Performance & accessibility

I optimized for:

• Fast server-side renders for the main pages to improve SEO and perceived performance.
• Minimal client-side JavaScript where possible; hydrate only interactive parts.
• Semantic markup, focus management, and keyboard support across interactive controls.

These are practical, not academic: small wins that materially improve user experience and search discoverability.

Deployment

Deployed on Vercel for instant previews and simple CI. For a public release I'd wire up preview deployments, automated accessibility checks (axe), and a small e2e smoke test.

Lessons & takeaways

1. Prefer clear separation: server components for content, client components for interactivity.
2. Keep server actions tiny and explicit — easier to test and reason about.
3. Accessibility and performance pay off in discoverability and developer confidence.

Next steps / invite

I can extract a trimmed public repo, add a demo dataset, and include a step-by-step README if you'd like to showcase this as an example project or starter. I can also generate social preview images and a short demo video.

---

Thanks for checking out the demo — feedback welcome. If you'd like screenshots or a public repo extraction, say the word and I’ll prepare it.