Why Use NextJS and How Can You Upgrade the Old ReactJS Project

In recent years, we’ve seen a lot of new JavaScript frameworks. But, ReactJS, Angular, and VueJs are still the most popular ones. If you’re not sure which one to pick or why NextJS might be a better choice, this article is for you. We’ll explain everything in simple terms.

1. Summary
2. Key Points:

• What you need to know to use NextJS
• How can you improve SEO
• What are the advantages of NextJS
• How to convert a ReactJS Project to NextJS

3.   Conclusion

Summary

NextJS, developed by Vercel, is a full-stack JavaScript framework that is built on ReactJS. It’s a popular choice for developers due to its large community and regular updates.

While it’s a full-stack framework, NextJS is often used for frontend projects because of its SEO capabilities, performance optimization, and caching.

What do you need to know to use NextJS?

To begin with, as NextJS is a JavaScript framework, it’s essential to have a basic understanding of JavaScript. This includes knowledge of variables, if statements, for loops, functions, and arrow functions. The more you know about JavaScript, the easier it will be to work on a project.

NextJS is built on the ReactJS framework but comes with several enhancements. If you’ve previously worked on a ReactJS project, you’re well-prepared to start using NextJS.

However, if you’re new to ReactJS, we highly recommend familiarizing yourself with it first to ensure a smooth development process with NextJS.

How can you improve SEO?

Before we explore how to enhance SEO with NextJS, let’s first understand what SEO is. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of optimizing a website to increase its visibility in user searches and make it more relevant to the user.

NextJS provides an opportunity to improve SEO through server-side rendering. As we’ve mentioned, NextJS is a full-stack framework, meaning it includes server-side capabilities. With server-side rendering, the page is rendered on the server and then delivered to the user with all necessary elements. This allows Google Crawlers to inspect the entire HTML and rank the page more effectively.

Advantages of NextJS

NextJS offers several advantages over its competitors, including server-side rendering, caching, state management from the React framework, and enhanced security.

i. Server-side Rendering: This feature aids in SEO and page management. The framework can make a call to an API or a backend server to fetch data and then render it. However, fetching a large amount of data can sometimes slow down the rendering process.

ii. Caching: NextJS can cache requests or entire pages. There are three caching strategies:

• For data that changes frequently, you might opt for no caching to ensure the most up-to-date data is displayed.
• For static pages that fetch data from an API that updates monthly, you can cache the information at build time. To update the data, simply rebuild the project.
• For pages that need to load quickly but also update data later, NextJS introduced a feature called ‘revalidate’. The page is cached at build time and when the page is loaded, the data is refreshed after a specified period of time. This gives you the performance of a static page with the latest data.

iii. State Management: As NextJS is based on the React framework, it allows for state management without reloading the page. This creates a real-time effect and enhances user experience.

iv. Security: NextJS improves security by handling certain requests on the server side, which hides environmental variables from the client and protects private data.

How to convert a ReactJS project to NextJS

Converting a React app to a NextJS 13 app involves several steps:

1. Update package.json and dependencies:

• Remove react-scripts (but keep react and react-dom).
• If you’re using React Router, you can also remove react-router-dom.
• Install next.
• Add NextJS-related commands to scripts. One is next dev, which runs a development server at localhost:3000. You should also add next build and next start for creating and starting a production build.

2.   Create /app directory:

• Create the app directory which will represent the router for the NextJS app.
• Each folder name represents a route and the page.jsx( or .tsx) will represent the index for that specific route.
• You can also create layouts and use them on multiple pages.

3.   Use use client in files where React elements are used in order to work properly.

4.   Move Static images into the /public directory.

Conclusion

To sum it up, Next.js can make your project work better and lets you manage the content you send to the user. It also makes your environmental variables more secure and creates a good user experience on your website. We hope this post helped you understand the use of NextJS and its advantages.