Mastering Next.js (A Comprehensive Guide to Key Features)

Next.js is a powerful React framework that allows developers to easily develop full-stack web applications. It is one of the most popular choices for building websites that are fast, scalable, and SEO-friendly due to its extensive features and developer-friendly tools. In this article, we will take a deep dive into the main features of Next.js and see how they can be used to build outstanding web applications.

1. Server-side rendering (SSR)

SSR is a great way to improve the initial loading time and SEO of your website using the Next.js framework. By creating HTML on the server side and sending it to the client, Next.js decreases the loading time of the page and improves the search engine optimization (SEO) of the page without any additional effort.

2. Automatic Code Splitting

Next.js is the one that automatically divides your code; thus, only the necessary JavaScript and CSS code are loaded for each page. This functionality not only speeds up your website but also decreases the first load time.

3. File-system-based Routing

Next.js comes up with a file-system-based routing technique to ease the management and organization of the routes of your web application. The paths are automatically created based on the file names that are located in the pages directory; you can thus easily include new pages and make routing updates.

4. Static Generation

Next.js provides you with the possibility of static generation, which makes it possible to build high-performing and scalable websites and web applications. The framework makes a static HTML version of the site, which can be easily served by a CDN or any static web server.

5. API Routes

Next.js offers an easy technique to create the API endpoints without the need of setting up a separate server. API routes are serverless functions that are used to make API calls from the front end of your web application.

6. Customizable App and Document Components

Next.js permits you to modify the App and the Document components, which are essentially the two root components of a Next.js application. Through this feature, you can include global styles, scripts, and meta tags to your website.

7. Built-in CSS Support

Next.js offers out-of-the-box CSS support, making it simple to integrate styles into your Next.js application just in terms of configuration. Styled-jsx and Emotion are among them, but it also supports other popular CSS-in-JS libraries.

8. Easy Integration with Other Libraries and APIs

Next.js was built to be easily connected with other libraries and APIs, thereby allowing you to enhance your Next.js application. Voluntarily, you can achieve it by including libraries of your own or utilizing the APIs available.

9. Hot Code Reloading

Next.js deploys hot code reloading, which implies that the changes made in your code are spontaneously reflected in the browser without rebooting the server. This feature allows for the development process to be fast, as the developer does not have to be concerned with refreshing the page.

10. Efficient Caching

Next.js is an efficient caching solution; it helps to reduce the load of the server, and subsequently, it improves the performance of a website. It caches the generated HTML files and JavaScript files before they are served up to the browser to cut down the initial load time for returning visitors.