Next.js is a latest and popular React framework for building full-stack web applications. You use React Components to build user interfaces, and Next.js for additional features and optimizations. Next.js also abstract and automatically configures tooling needed for React, like bundling, compiling, and more. This allows you to focus on building your application instead of spending time with configuration.
Whether you’re an individual developer or part of a larger team, Next.js can help you build interactive, dynamic, and fast React applications.
What are the problems that Next.js addresses compared to React?
Server-Side Rendering(SSR):
Problem: React actually renders the components on the client side which means it shows first empty HTML then content in it gets populated dynamically through JavaScript which results in a poor SEO.
Solution: Next provide you a default feature which is SSR, it gives you a method ‘getServerSideProps’
Or ’getInitialProps’ through which you can fetch data on the server before rendering the page. At the end server send fully rendered HTML to the client enhancing the SEO.
Static Site Generation (SSG):
Problem: In React it becomes quite complex and time consuming when building static pages which requires server-side rendering or manual pre-rendering.
Solution: Next provide you a default method called ‘getStaticProps’, using this developers can pre-render the pages at build time, reducing server load and improving performance.
Automatic Code Splitting:
Problem: In React it becomes quite challenge when managing the code splitting.
Solution: Next offers you the automatic code splitting feature.
Internationalization(i18n):
Problem: implementing internationalization in react is complex sometimes required third party package like react-i18next.
Solution: Next comes with the built in support for internationalization using libraries like ‘next-translate’
Custom Error Handling:
Problem: React may display generic error messages for different HTTP status codes.
Solution: Next.js allows you to define custom error pages for specific status codes.
What are the use cases of Next.js?
Static websites: Next.js can be used to build websites that don’t change often, such as blogs and marketing sites. This is because Next.js can generate static pages ahead of time, which makes them load faster for users.
Dynamic web applications: Next.js can also be used to build dynamic web applications, which are websites that change frequently. This is because Next.js supports server-side rendering, which means that the pages are rendered on the server before being sent to the user. This can improve the performance of dynamic web applications.
Ecommerce sites: Next.js is a good choice for ecommerce sites because it has SEO capabilities and performance improvements. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s important for ecommerce sites to be optimized for search engines so that they can be found by potential customers. Next.js’s performance improvements can also help ecommerce sites load faster, which is important for a good user experience.
Single page applications (SPAs): Next.js can also be used to build SPAs, which are websites that only load a single page. This can be useful for websites that are interactive and require a lot of JavaScript. Next.js can combine the benefits of SPAs with server rendering for the initial load, which can improve the performance of SPAs.
Conclusion
Next.js is a React framework that offers advantages over plain React, including server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), automatic code splitting, SEO-friendliness, and built-in features for routing, CSS, and API handling. It’s suitable for a wide range of applications, from static websites to dynamic web apps, eCommerce sites, content management systems, and more. Next.js simplifies development tasks, improves performance, and enhances SEO, making it a valuable tool in the React ecosystem. For any kind of web or mobile app development queries or needs, feel free to contact us today!