What’s New in Next.js 14?

The most recent version of the popular React Framework for building and developing web applications, Next.js 14, was released on October 26th, 2023. It promises to simplify and improve the speed of development making it an excellent choice for any developer out there that wants to begin building fast and scalable web applications.?

Next.js 14 Updates and Improvements.

Next.js 14 includes several updates and improvements which will make the development of web applications a lot faster, let’s look at some of the important updates and improvements:

Turbopack

Turbopack, an exciting feature introduced in Next.js 14, represents a significant leap forward in enhancing local development speed. Building on a continuous improvement journey that began with Next.js 13, it has been fine-tuned for optimizing local development in both Pages and the App Router.

The Rust-based compiler is on the brink of stability, with a renewed focus on ensuring compatibility with all Next.js features.

Turbopack has powered 5,000 integration tests for the Next.js devs, which span seven years of bug fixes and reproductions. While on vercel.com, the results have been remarkable:

• Local server startup speeds have surged by up to 53.3%.
• Fast Refresh now delivers code updates up to 94.7% faster.

These gains aren't just theoretical; they reflect tangible improvements, especially in larger applications with extensive module graphs. With 90% of the Next.js dev tests now successfully passing, you can anticipate consistently faster and more reliable performance when using next dev --turbo.

As we approach the milestone of 100% test passage, Turbopack will transition to a stable state in an upcoming minor release. Rest assured, we remain committed to supporting the use of webpack for custom configurations and ecosystem plugins.?

Server Actions

In Next.js 14, Server Actions represent a substantial evolution in granting developers greater authority over server-side rendering. This empowering enhancement equips developers with the capability to fetch essential data from the server before page generation, ensuring that vital information is readily available when the page loads. This not only accelerates the initial load times but also minimizes superfluous client-side requests.

These Server Actions are seamlessly woven into the fabric of the entire App Router model, offering a versatile toolkit that enables developers to:

• Dynamically revalidate cached data using functions like revalidatePath() or revalidateTag().
• Effortlessly steer users to different routes with the redirect() method.
• Manage cookies efficiently through the cookies() function, both for setting and retrieval.
• Harness optimistic UI updates, enhancing user experience, with the useOptimistic() utility.
• Handle and elegantly display server-side errors through the useFormState() function.
• Keep users informed with loading states on the client side, thanks to the useFormStatus() function.

This multifaceted suite of capabilities empowers developers to not only fine-tune server-side rendering but also to create more responsive and robust web applications with Next.js 14.

Enhanced Metadata Options

Importantly, the incorporation of meta tags into the initial page content ensures a seamless user experience. This practice prevents issues like page flickering due to theme color changes or layout shifts resulting from viewport adjustments.

Moreover, Next.js 14 distinguishes between blocking and non-blocking metadata, enabling a smoother experience. Only a select few metadata options are marked as blocking, ensuring that non-blocking metadata won't hinder partially prerendered pages from serving the static shell.

Notably, the following metadata options are now deprecated and will be phased out in future major releases:

• viewport: Previously responsible for setting initial zoom and viewport properties.
• colorScheme: Used for specifying support modes (light/dark) for the viewport.
• themeColor: Defined the color for the chrome surrounding the viewport.

Next.js 14 introduces the replacement options of viewport and generateViewport while retaining all other metadata options.

Partial Prerendering

The newest star in the release of Next.js 14 is Partial Prerendering. In a world where there is a constant battle between SSR and SSG, Next.js 14 gives you the best of both worlds. It provides you with a fast initial static response whilst streaming dynamic content based on your React Suspense boundaries, all this whilst eliminating the need to learn any new APIs. Thus giving you the speed of static sites and the dynamism of server-rendered applications.

To begin development with Next.js 14, you can make use of the official documentation or reference the Next.js 14 learn available on the website.?