Next.js has taken the web dev world by storm
It's the React framework devs rave about praising its power, flexibility, and dev experience
Don't feel like you're missing out!
Here's everything you need to know in 10 tweets
Let's dive in 🧵
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1. Next.js is a React.js framework from Vercel
It couples a great dev experience with an opinionated feature set to make it easy to spin up new performant, dynamic web apps
It's used by many high-profile teams like Hulu, Apple, Nike, and more
2. Next.js was created by and is maintained by Vercel
The team at Vercel, formerly Zeit, originally and launched v1 of the framework on Oct 26, 2016 in the pursuit of universal JavaScript apps
Since then, the team and community has grown exponentially, including contributions from web leaders like Google
3. Next.js & Jamstack Adoption
In the Jamstack world, Next.js pulled a hefty 58.6% share of framework adoption in 2020
Compared to other popular React.js frameworks like Gatsby, which pulled in 12%
*The Next.js stats likely include some server side rendered, arguably not Jamstack
https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2020/jamstack
4. Create a new Next.js app with Create Next App
The easiest way to get started with a new Next.js app is with Create Next App
Simply run:
yarn create next-app
or
npx create-next-app
You can even start from a git-based template with the -e flag
yarn create next-app -e https://github.com/colbyfayock/next-sass-starter
https://nextjs.org/docs/api-reference/create-next-app
5. Next.js Routing
Next.js uses a file-system based router
Meaning the files you create and their names, are what's used to create your website pages
/pages/index.js
\=> / (homepage)
/pages/about.js
\=> /about (About)
You can also add dynamic routes for more complex apps
https://nextjs.org/docs/routing/introduction
6. Next.js was built on Server Side Rendering
The foundation of Next.js comes from SSR
SSR = Server Side Rendering
On each browser request, Next.js renders the React page and serves the HTML to the browser
If any data is needed, getServerSideProps can be used to fetch dynamic data during render
https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/pages#server-side-rendering
7. Next.js supports statically generating apps
It's also capable of SSG
SSG = Static Site Generation
next export takes the Next.js website, renders the project similar to how it would on the server, and saves it as static files and assets
getStaticProps allows you to fetch data at build time
https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/pages#static-generation-recommended
8. Next.js hybrid approach with Incremental Static Regeneration
There's also a hybrid approach with ISR
ISR = Incremental Static Regeneration
Caching mechanisms serve pages statically while refreshing stale content in the background on the server
Setting revalidate on getStaticProps defines how often it refreshes
https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/data-fetching#incremental-static-regeneration
9. Serverless functions with Next.js
Next.js can also create APIs with serverless functions
It also uses file-system based routing to create new routes
/pages/api/my-endpoint.js
=> /api/my-endpoint
Inside, you export a handler function to handle the request and response
https://nextjs.org/docs/api-routes/introduction
10. Next.js & Plugins
Instead of a dedicated plugin ecosystem, Next.js maintains opinionated packages that get bundled into the framework
next/image provides a range of optimizations like compression, automatic modern formats, and responsive sizing
https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/image-optimization
Learn Next.js by building an online store
Next.js is a flexible framework that gives you as a developer a lot of power over creating great experiences on the web.
Want to dive more into Next.js & React?
Check out my egghead.io course Create an eCommerce Store with Next.js and Stripe Checkout
https://egghead.io/projects/create-an-ecommerce-store-with-next-js-and-stripe-checkout