feat(home): homepage positioning — hero, CTAs, featured work, now (#546)

* feat(home): sharpen hero to lead with Rails value

Rewrite the hero's supporting copy so it foregrounds the specific,
differentiated value — fast CI and test suites, developer tooling, and
team-velocity workflow work — while keeping the personal, understated
voice and the existing primary CTA above the fold.

Closes #517

* feat(home): add clear hero call-to-action buttons

Replace the single text-link CTA with a button group: a primary
"Read the writing" action above the fold plus two secondary CTAs
("Browse projects", "Listen to Remote Ruby") that route visitors to
the most important destinations. CTA copy stays goal-aligned without
signalling job-seeking.

Closes #518

* feat(home): add featured work proof section

Surface the strongest proof points above the post list: a data-driven
"featured work" grid (Podia, Remote Ruby, and flagship open source)
with a concise explanation and link per card, so visitors grasp the
technical depth within seconds instead of digging. Items live in
src/_data/featured.yml and render through a new FeaturedCard component.

Closes #519

* feat(home): add a current-activity "now" section

Add a compact "now" strip directly below the hero that surfaces the
freshest real-world signals — current role, latest Remote Ruby episode
(with date), and most recent talk — pulled from existing site data so it
stays current automatically. Reorder the homepage so "now" and featured
work lead, keeping old post dates from dominating the first screen.

Closes #520

Author: andrewmcodes

src/_components/featured_card.erb

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+<%= render Link.new(
+  href: field(:href),
+  external: true,
+  class: "group flex flex-col gap-1 bg-sage-1 hover:bg-sage-2 transition-colors py-3.5 md:p-5"
+) do %>
+  <div class="flex items-center gap-2.5 mb-1">
+    <span
+      class="
+        inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 font-semibold text-[15px] tracking-tight text-sage-12
+      "
+    >
+      <%= field(:title) %>
+      <%= render Icon.new(
+        name: "arrow_top_right",
+        class: "w-3 h-3 text-sage-8 group-hover:text-mint-11 transition-colors",
+      ) %>
+    </span>
+    <% if field(:kind) %>
+      <span
+        class="
+          ml-auto font-mono text-[10px] uppercase tracking-[0.06em] rounded-full border
+          px-1.5 py-px text-sage-10 border-sage-4
+        "
+      >
+        <%= field(:kind) %>
+      </span>
+    <% end %>
+  </div>
+  <div class="text-[13.5px] leading-snug text-sage-11 my-1 mb-4 text-pretty"><%= field(:desc) %></div>
+  <% if field(:label) %>
+    <div class="mt-auto font-mono text-[11.5px] text-sage-10"><%= field(:label) %></div>
+  <% end %>
+<% end %>

src/_components/featured_card.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Card highlighting a featured proof point (work, open source, podcast, writing).
+#
+# Reads a plain hash from `src/_data/featured.yml` so the homepage owns the
+# content while the design system owns the treatment.
+class FeaturedCard < Bridgetown::Component
+  # @param item [Hash] a featured item from `src/_data/featured.yml`
+  def initialize(item:)
+    @item = item
+  end
+
+  # Reads a field by either string or symbol key.
+  # @param key [String, Symbol] the field name
+  # @return [Object, nil] the value, or nil if absent
+  def field(key)
+    @item[key.to_s] || @item[key.to_sym]
+  end
+end

src/_components/home_hero.erb

@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@
       text-[16.5px] text-sage-11 max-w-[600px] leading-[1.65] m-0 mb-4 text-pretty
     "
   >
-    I write about Rails, Ruby tooling, and the stuff I learn while shipping
-    software for a living. Most posts started as a note I was writing for
-    myself and turned out to be useful for somebody else.
+    I spend my time on the parts of Rails that compound — fast CI and test
+    suites, developer tooling, and the workflow details that make a team
+    quicker. Most of what I learn shipping software for a living ends up
+    written down here.
   </p>
   <p
     class="
@@ -36,11 +37,19 @@
     <%= render Link.new(href: "/speaking/", variant: :inline) do %>talks and podcasts<% end %>
     here. Mostly so I can find them again later.
   </p>
-  <%= render Link.new(href: "/posts/", variant: :action) do %>
-    Read the writing
-    <%= render Icon.new(
-      name: "arrow_right",
-      class: "transition-transform group-hover:translate-x-1",
-    ) %>
-  <% end %>
+  <div class="mt-8 flex flex-wrap items-center gap-3">
+    <%= render Button.new(href: "/posts/", variant: :primary, size: :xl) do %>
+      Read the writing
+      <%= render Icon.new(
+        name: "arrow_right",
+        class: "ml-1.5 inline-block transition-transform group-hover:translate-x-0.5",
+      ) %>
+    <% end %>
+    <%= render Button.new(href: "/projects/", variant: :secondary, size: :xl) do %>
+      Browse projects
+    <% end %>
+    <%= render Button.new(href: "https://remoteruby.com/", variant: :ghost, size: :xl) do %>
+      Listen to Remote Ruby
+    <% end %>
+  </div>
 </section>

src/_components/home_now.erb

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+<ul class="flex flex-col gap-3.5 m-0 p-0 list-none">
+  <li class="grid grid-cols-[92px_1fr] gap-4 max-sm:grid-cols-1 max-sm:gap-0.5">
+    <span class="font-mono text-[11.5px] text-sage-10 lowercase pt-px">building</span>
+    <span class="text-[14.5px] leading-snug text-sage-11 text-pretty">
+      Shipping Ruby on Rails at
+      <%= render Link.new(href: "https://www.podia.com/", variant: :inline) do %>Podia<% end %>,
+      with a soft spot for CI, tooling, and developer experience.
+    </span>
+  </li>
+  <% if episode_url %>
+    <li class="grid grid-cols-[92px_1fr] gap-4 max-sm:grid-cols-1 max-sm:gap-0.5">
+      <span class="font-mono text-[11.5px] text-sage-10 lowercase pt-px">podcasting</span>
+      <span class="text-[14.5px] leading-snug text-sage-11 text-pretty">
+        Co-hosting
+        <%= render Link.new(href: episode_url, variant: :inline) do %>Remote Ruby<% end %><% if episode_date %>, latest episode out <%= episode_date %><% end %>.
+      </span>
+    </li>
+  <% end %>
+  <% if talk_field(:title) %>
+    <li class="grid grid-cols-[92px_1fr] gap-4 max-sm:grid-cols-1 max-sm:gap-0.5">
+      <span class="font-mono text-[11.5px] text-sage-10 lowercase pt-px">speaking</span>
+      <span class="text-[14.5px] leading-snug text-sage-11 text-pretty">
+        Most recently gave
+        <%= render Link.new(href: "/speaking/", variant: :inline) do %><%= talk_field(:title) %><% end %><% if talk_field(:venue) %> at <%= talk_field(:venue) %><% end %><% if talk_date %> (<%= talk_date %>)<% end %>.
+      </span>
+    </li>
+  <% end %>
+</ul>

src/_components/home_now.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Compact "currently" strip of the freshest real-world signals.
+#
+# Surfaces active work (role, latest podcast episode, most recent talk) so the
+# homepage shows current momentum instead of leaning on blog post dates, which
+# can read as stale even when the work behind the scenes is active.
+class HomeNow < Bridgetown::Component
+  # @param episode [Hash, nil] latest episode data (`site.data.remote_ruby`)
+  # @param talk [Hash, nil] most recent talk from `src/_data/talks.yml`
+  def initialize(episode:, talk:)
+    @episode = episode
+    @talk = talk
+  end
+
+  # @return [String, nil] the episode listen URL
+  def episode_url
+    @episode && @episode["url"]
+  end
+
+  # @return [String, nil] the episode publish month, e.g. "Jul 2026"
+  def episode_date
+    raw = @episode && @episode["published_at"]
+    return nil unless raw
+    Date.parse(raw.to_s).strftime("%b %Y")
+  rescue ArgumentError, TypeError
+    nil
+  end
+
+  # Reads a talk field by either string or symbol key.
+  # @param key [String, Symbol] the field name
+  # @return [Object, nil] the value, or nil if absent
+  def talk_field(key)
+    return nil unless @talk
+    @talk[key.to_s] || @talk[key.to_sym]
+  end
+
+  # @return [String, nil] the talk month, e.g. "Jun 2026"
+  def talk_date
+    d = talk_field(:date)
+    return nil unless d
+    (d.is_a?(String) ? Date.parse(d) : d).strftime("%b %Y")
+  rescue ArgumentError, TypeError
+    nil
+  end
+end

src/_data/featured.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Curated proof points surfaced in the homepage "featured work" section.
+# Each item is a real thing worth pointing people to first.
+- title: Podia
+  kind: work
+  desc: Ruby on Rails engineer building the all-in-one platform creators use to sell courses, digital downloads, and community. The day job that keeps everything else grounded in real product work.
+  href: https://www.podia.com/
+  label: podia.com
+- title: Remote Ruby
+  kind: podcast
+  desc: The weekly podcast I co-host on Rails, Ruby, and whatever the community is talking about that week — 350+ episodes and counting.
+  href: https://remoteruby.com/
+  label: remoteruby.com
+- title: Rails Extension Power Pack
+  kind: open source
+  desc: A curated VS Code extension pack for Ruby on Rails development. One of my most-installed open source projects.
+  href: https://github.com/andrewmcodes/rails-extension-power-pack
+  label: github.com/andrewmcodes
+- title: Shared GitHub Actions
+  kind: open source
+  desc: Reusable GitHub Actions and CI building blocks I lean on across projects — the CI-and-tooling work I care about, out in the open.
+  href: https://github.com/andrewmcodes/actions
+  label: github.com/andrewmcodes

src/index.erb

@@ -12,6 +12,28 @@ title: andrewm.codes
   <%= render HomeHero.new %>
 
   <%= render PageSection.new(spacing: :home_first) do %>
+    <%= render SectionHead.new(
+      title: "now",
+      description: "What I'm actively working on right now.",
+    ) %>
+    <%= render HomeNow.new(episode: latest_episode, talk: latest_talk) %>
+  <% end %>
+
+  <% if site.data.featured&.any? %>
+    <%= render PageSection.new(spacing: :home) do %>
+      <%= render SectionHead.new(
+        title: "featured work",
+        description: "A few things I'm proud of and point people to most often.",
+      ) %>
+      <%= render CardGrid.new do %>
+        <% site.data.featured.each do |item| %>
+          <%= render FeaturedCard.new(item: item) %>
+        <% end %>
+      <% end %>
+    <% end %>
+  <% end %>
+
+  <%= render PageSection.new(spacing: :home) do %>
     <%= render SectionHead.new(
       title: "recent posts",
       link_label: "all posts",