This week, we explored Next.js, a React framework for building efficient web apps. We learned about its server-side rendering capabilities, file-based routing, API routes, and other optimizations like caching. We delved into the water-falling issue in React apps and how it can be mitigated using server-side components. Additionally, we also learnt how Next.js aids in Search Engine Optimization, improving our website's visibility.
While Next.js offers numerous advantages, it also has a limitation that apps built using it cannot be served via CDNs.
We then bootstrapped a simple Next.js app to explore its folder structure, hierarchy, layouts, pages, client and server components, and route parameters. We also learned how to build backends using Next.js by building API routes. Another approach we explored was server actions, allowing us to directly execute server-side code from components without the need for API calls.
This week provided us with an in-depth introduction to Next.js and its features, which can be leveraged to build robust applications.
