Next.js: The Future Of React?
Tags: nextjs, react, javascript, discuss
Published: 2024-03-06 03:33:42

### 💡 Introduction

Next.js is becoming more and more popular recently.

This article explains exactly why it's getting called **_"The Future Of React"_** and what improvement does it do to our favourite React.

Vercel calls it **_"The React Framework for the Web"_**.

Let's see why.

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### 🧠 TL;DR

- Next.js is a React framework for building full-stack web applications. It provides extra functionalities on top of React.js

- SSR(Server-Side Rendering) offers several benefits, including improved performance and enhanced SEO.

- Rendered data can also be cached to improve performance further, which makes it easier for search engines to index the content.

- Next.js also takes care of SEO and Performance.

***

### 🤨 Why do I need to use another framework?
### I can just use React.js which is already a library!

Well, you can build cool applications with React, but by using a framework like Next.js, you will be creating a React.js app but with some **extra superpowers**(read till the end for a better understanding of what I'm referring to).

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### 🚀 Here's all you need to know about Next.js
### and why it is so good:

Next.js is a React framework that enables the following:

**✅ Middlewares
✅ Typescript Support
✅ Fast Code Refresh
✅ Server Side Rendering
✅ Static Site Generation
✅ Incremental Static Regeneration
✅ SEO, Images and Font Optimizations
✅ Optimized for Production Out of the Box
✅ Improved development and deployment toolchain (w/ Vercel)**

and many more...

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### 💪 What are the benefits of SSR with Next.js?

Let’s talk about it from two angles: Performance and SEO. ✨

By rendering on the server, the fully-rendered initial state of an application **_can be served up on a single request_**. 

What does that mean?

This means **_less work for the browser to do_**, and it also means that **_the content can be easily indexed by a search engine_**.

It also means **_rendered data can be cached (in part or in whole) to improve performance_** even further.

These Next.js features, along with others, help to build on React’s strong foundation.

They also make up for some of the disadvantages of a solely client-side rendering.

If SEO and performance matter to you, Next.js is an amazing addition to your tech stack.

***

### 🆚 Next.js V/S React.js

In a typical React application, the source code of an application will not be available initially and is populated later using JS when the files are requested from a server by a browser.

This **_creates a problem for search engines_** as their crawlers will not be able to crawl the websites beforehand which results in search engines not listing/ranking these websites.

This causes problems for social media applications as well.

They **_aren’t able to generate a preview of the application_**(refer to the image below).

![Image](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/d0a45n6l6b6uui47a6fj.png)

***

### 🤔 Final Thoughts

But, the question remains, **Would you use Next.js over any other framework? and why?**

**Is it the future of React.js and Frontend Development?**

I hope you liked the article! ❤️

Connect with me: [linktree](https://linktr.ee/arjuncodess/)

Happy Coding! 🚀
Thanks for 18744! 🤗