What is Next JS and Why Use it for Your Next Project? (2024)

Consumers have changed their attitude towards digital purchasing and considering how everyone’s in a rush all the time, people don’t want to be on a website or webshop that takes time to load. This draws utmost attention to the importance of user experience because that can make or break the deal.

As per the Frontend 2020 survey, over 50 percent of the respondents admitted to using Next JS for their projects. This puts Next JS as the most ubiquitous frontend development framework in line with top javascript frameworks like React, Vue, or jQuery. This blog is a holistic overview of what warrants such popularity, the projects that are ideal for this framework, and ways to acquire the skillset for it.

Features of Next JS

• Server-Side rendering
• Static site generation

Server-side rendering and static site generation with Next JS

Next.js solved the much-faced problem by developers which was how the web applications were rendered on the client-side. The Single-page Applications (SPAs) had improved UX because of less reloading which resultantly made them more interactive.

Although it does improve the UX, web crawlers often find it difficult to read the text content of these applications, the reason why they don’t appear in popular search engines like Google.

Next.jS has provided an excellent solution for the server-side rendering (SSR) of the React components. Developers can render the JavaScript code on the server which will allow them to send simple indexable HTML to the user. Next.js made this rendering possible. It works on issues like caching, server load, on-demand content, and the architecture of the application leaving you with time to spend on developing the business logic and other important components of the app.

What makes it ideal for static site generation?

It’s essentially another way to build SEO-friendly websites and applications. This method generates HTML in the build time rather than in the runtime. This type of website is exceptionally fast but not as suitable as SSR for an interactive web application because it thrives on user input and changes based on the incoming input. It works perfectly with blogging applications whereby the content doesn’t have to be changed based on the given input.

Benefits in the World of Next JS (What NextJs is Good For?)

There have to be some remarkable benefits for it to be regarded better than React in some cases and there definitely are.

Following are the benefits of using Next JS

• Better search engine optimization

By opting for SSR instead of client-rendered JavaScript, you can up your game of visibility considerably in the search engine. It will give you the liberty to create an application that has all the desired functionalities and is interactive as per your requirements but at the same time gives all the SEO benefits of a static text-based website. This will put you at a better competitive advantage.

But, how many developers take into consideration the SEO factor while developing an app is a pertinent question to this discussion. As per the State of Frontend report, more than half of the developers don’t consider SEO as an important factor while developing an app.

• Better looking URLs

Next JS comes off with an added feature to improve the social media booting of your application. It allows you to programmatically customize your open graph meta titles for each page which ultimately makes your URLs more accessible for social media to boot. This improves SEO as a whole.

• Enhanced performance

It is better in terms of performance and can greatly enhance the performance of your application adding to the overall user experience. It considers the amount of time a user will have before viewing the content on your website and preferably maintains it under 1 second.Users value applications that load faster and save them time. That is why it plays an important role in keeping the customers hooked to your application.

The Objectives for Opting Next JS

If you ought to determine when you should adopt Next JS and how it can help you achieve set goals and objectives then you need to define your objectives. Following are the line of objectives/goals that can be achieved using Next JS.

• Increase in sales and conversion rates
• Better marketing and reach
• Competitive edge
• Enhanced user experience
• Cost-effective
• Offers scalability

The Right Time for Next JS Adoption

What projects would work better if done with Next JS? In the words of Rafał Kucharski, Lead Frontend Developer at a Software House:

“When you believe SEO and organic traffic to be crucial for your organization, try to reduce the time it takes to first draw or need OG tags. Next is the best option. E-commerce is one area in which all of these apply. But the same goes for any web portal, blog, or even social and streaming service. Of course, we always analyze the needs and expectations of each client individually and then make recommendations, but this is a good rule of thumb in this case.

For us, React applications are the starting point. Next.js is what we suggest when the analysis finds that SSR is going to be beneficial for the client. This is often the case with applications that are open to the public and do not require authorization to view their content.”

This is to give you an idea of what projects work better if developed with Next JS.

What does NextJS have for Developers?

Next JS has numerous exciting features for developers, primarily the reason why it has gained immense popularity among developers.

Following are some of the pros that it has to offer for the developers:

Supports CSS - Allows developers to import files from a JavaScript library thus giving off the developers the ease to work with it.

Fast live editing experience - Comes with a fast live experience that saves time.

Community support - The community and popularity of Next JS are growing simultaneously. This helps developers as they don’t have to be on their own in finding solutions to everything as they can look for it and someone might have the solution for it.

Built-in new next/image component - This feature automatically optimizes images.

Supports TypeScript - Supports the automatic TypeScript configuration and compilation.

Conclusion

NextJS has something for everyone, from developers to marketers, businesses, corporates, and retailers. It has gained popularity for its features and the support it renders to developers and businesses alike.