Next js is a react framework for production Today I will tell you what is next js and why you should use Next js for your upcoming project. If you don’t know about Next js then don’t worry I will tell you everything about next js.
I personally shifted from react to next js for many reasons and don’t worry next js is similar to react js so you just have to learn what next js provides and you too should start learning next js I will tell you why to learn next js later.
Before we start, If you are interested in web development and want to become a web developer then you can read this guide – Roadmap to become a full stack web developer this guide will help you to become a web developer.
What Is Next JS?
Contents
Next js is a react framework that is used for production apps that doesn’t mean you can’t use react for production. It is developed by Vercel it is an open-source project which was released in 2016 it is a new framework.
Next js offers similar features that react js provides like live reload it uses the react framework but Next js provides static site generation and server side rendering which has many benefits we will understand this more.
What is static site generation in next js?
Static site generation means all the pages will be generated or created at the build time means let’s say you have created a homepage that requests some products from the database it will generate the home page when you run the build command.
This way your website will be static and you can upload the Html pages on a server or use a CDN. Remember if some data changes in your application you need to rebuild your website. This method is suitable if you don’t have pages with a lot of data changing.
If you have a website that requires to show the user the latest data then you should not use the static site generation method you should use the server side rendering method so let’s see
What is server side rendering in next js?
Server side rendering means the page will be generated each time when a user requests it, see in the static generation the page was only generated once at the build time but in server side generation it generates at each request.
This means the user will always see the latest data on the page This doesn’t mean that the user browser will reload after he requests a new page the page will be generated quickly without reloading the browser.
Why you should use Next js
Now we have seen static site generation and server side rendering. You should use one of the methods according to your needs. You may also be asking what is wrong with react js why I have to learn an additional framework.
Well React js is a very great and fast framework and next js is built on top of react js which means that next js is an upgraded version of react js. Next js provides many features which react doesn’t provide.
Features of next js
These are some of the features which are provided by next js so read them carefully because next js really has important features which react js doesn’t provide.
1. It is SEO friendly
The main feature of next js is that it is SEO friendly. You can do SEO of each page in next js and if you have used react js, if you view source of a page made with react then you will see that it doesn’t have the content, just javascript code.
Which is really bad for SEO purposes when search engine crawlers visit your website it becomes difficult for them to find your website content but with next js, it is server side rendered so the full content is visible which makes next js SEO friendly.
You should not use react js if your goals are to rank your website products or posts in search engines.
2. Easy routing
Next js provides a simple routing you just need to create the page you want to in the pages folder you can easily create dynamic routes in next js you don’t have to install a third party router like react.
In react js you had to install a third-party router to do routing which would make your code more complex.
3. You can also create backend
In next js you can also create a backend for your application. You can write server side code, connect to the database and send requests to the database. You don’t have to create a separate backend for your application.
You can create your API routes in next js itself and the backend code will not be visible to your users. If we compare it to react js it is just a frontend framework you would require to create a separate backend for it.
4. Easy deployment
You can easily deploy next js application on vercel it is deployment platform for next js application it is same company who developed next js you can deploy your next js application for free on vercel. You can view more about this at their official website here – Visit vercel website.
Other additional features
Fast refresh – Next js provides fast refresh and live editing which provides a good user experience and helps in faster development.
Image optimization – Next js provides an image component that is automatically optimized for lazy loading and resizing.
Typescript support – Next js supports typescript if you want to use typescript then you can use typescript in next js.
Code splitting and Bundling – Next js does optimized code splitting and bundling it does everything at the back you don’t have to do anything.
Zero config – Everything is handled by next js all the optimization, code splitting and bundling you just have to focus on the building the main application
There are many other features that next js provides like font optimizations, internationalization, built-in css support, hybrid ssr and fast refresh. There are more features the next js provides out of the box you can visit next js official website for more info – Visit next js site.
How to get started with next js
You have read what is next js, why you should use it and features of next js so if you want to get started with next js then you can easily start by using the following command.
npx create-next-app app-name
This is just like creating a react js project just need to add next instead of react you can easily shift from react project to next js.
Prerequisites to use next js
What you need to know or learn to use next js. Next js is built on top of react js so you need to learn and know about react js to know react js you need to know the basic frontend languages this are languages you need to know
- HTML – HyperText Markup Language
- CSS – Cascading style sheets
- Javascript – a programming language
- React js – Frontend framework
Before using or learning next js you need to know these languages and technologies so happy learning and using next js. If you want to know more about frontend development than read this guide – Frontend developer roadmap.
Summary
This was the guide on what is next js and why you should use next js in 2021. I personally love next js. I mostly use next js for my projects and you too should use next js because I have explained to you why if you don’t know, read it again.
I hope you found this guide helpful and useful. if you liked it do share it with your programmer friends and do subscribe to our newsletter for future updates of our latest guides and articles.
Thank you for reading. Have a nice day 🙂
