Next.js is a recently open-sourced popular React SSR, i.e., React Server-side rendering framework that helps you build an application that is SEO friendly and requires minimal configuration.
SEO Meta tags can be assigned on the server on account of server-side rendering before returning to the client.
This enables the search engines to crawl through the data without running any JavaScript. This makes it especially suitable for blogs and news websites.
It is also a universal JavaScript framework for server-rendered applications. It presents the user with the smallest possible API surface residing on top of React which makes app and website development more comfortable and less tedious.
Next.js Origin
Next.js framework is backed by an organization called ZEIT. It was open-sourced on 25th October 2016. It is built on top of React, Bable, and Webpack.
ZEIT has mentioned in their blog that their site is currently powered by Next.js
The first launch of next.js was when it was open-sourced on 25th October 2016. Soon after Next.js 2.0 on 27th March 2017 was launched and was followed by successive versions.
The latest version launched is Next.js 5.0.
Next.js is popular among many and so is typescript. So eventually, people would want to use them together which might as well be happening already.
What exactly is Typescript?
Typescript is another programming language that is developed and maintained by Microsoft. Typescript too is open source and is a syntactically strict superset of JavaScript.
So, what options do we have for using next.js and typescript together? The first one that strikes is to use the official next-typescript package from ZEIT which uses ts-loader and works just fine.
However, there is another option awesome-typescript-loader. Performance optimization is the main reason for using this, integration with Babel and running type checker in separate processes are additional reasons.
The following are some of the features of Next.js:
- It is server-side rendered by default.
- The page loads are faster on account of code splitting.
- The client-side routing is page-based and simple.
- Zero setups are required. The file system is used as an API
- Deployment is comparably simple.
Next.Js Applications
Next.js is currently being used in a number of fields such as database and artificial intelligence. The following is a non-exhaustive list of some of the examples of its applications:
- Elton John’s personal site eltonjohn.com which is currently featuring his “farewell-yellow brick road,” his final tour, is running on Next.js.
- IOTA has made use of Next.js for their data platform data.iota.org on which they allow transactions.
- Docker, a company known for its specialization in containerization, has developed its customer support portal, success.docker.com.
- Magic Leap, a startup working in the field of Augmented Reality Space, has its website magicleap.com powered by this popular framework.
- NPM, the default package management tool for Node.js, has its search tool powered by Next.js at npmjs.com/search.
It is now clear that this framework isn’t going to come and go in a couple of months but is here to stay.
Programmers are increasingly becoming inclined towards using it for their application development. We are expecting to see more of it and what ZEIT might have in store for us till the next release. Stay updated with more such tech-related information through our insightful blogs posted regularly.