Part 2: Understanding Pre-Rendering in Next.js: A Key Advantage Over Traditional React
[Page] Getting Started
Next.js offers a significant feature that distinguishes it from standard React projects: pre-rendering. This feature plays a crucial role in improving both performance and search engine optimization (SEO). In this post, we'll explore what pre-rendering means and how it compares to the client-side rendering typical of standard React applications.
Setting the Stage
To illustrate the difference, let's consider two projects: a Next.js project (next-blog) and a traditional React project (react-blog). Both are set up with a simple index page displaying the text "My Blog". By comparing these projects, we can understand how Next.js enhances the rendering process.
Traditional React: Client-Side Rendering
In a typical React application, like our react-blog, rendering occurs on the client side—within the user's browser. When you start a React app and inspect the network requests using browser developer tools, you'll notice that the initial HTML document is mostly empty:
<!-- Sample HTML from a traditional React app -->
<body>
<div id="root"></div>
</body>The "My Blog" content isn't in the HTML because React components are rendered in the browser through JavaScript. If you disable JavaScript, the page won't display the React components, highlighting the reliance on client-side rendering.
Next.js: Server-Side Pre-Rendering
In contrast, Next.js pre-renders pages on the server before sending them to the client. When you inspect the network requests in a Next.js app, you see that the server responds with fully-rendered HTML:
<!-- Sample HTML from a Next.js app -->
<body>
<div id="__next">
<main>
<h1>My Blog</h1>
</main>
</div>
</body>Here, the server has already rendered the "My Blog" heading, ensuring that users see content immediately upon loading the page. Even with JavaScript disabled, the page content remains visible, demonstrating server-side rendering.
Advantages of Pre-Rendering
Improved Performance
Pre-rendering enhances the perceived performance of an application. Since the page content is already included in the HTML, it becomes visible as soon as the browser loads the document, without waiting for JavaScript to execute.
Enhanced SEO
Search engines can easily crawl and index pre-rendered pages, improving SEO. With content directly in the HTML, pages are more likely to rank higher in search results, as search engines can access and analyze content without executing JavaScript.
Consistent User Experience
Pre-rendering ensures that all users, regardless of their browser capabilities, can access the content. This is particularly important for users with limited JavaScript support or those who disable it for security reasons.
Conclusion
Next.js's pre-rendering is a game-changer, offering significant advantages over traditional React's client-side rendering. It improves performance, enhances SEO, and provides a more consistent user experience. As you continue developing with Next.js, leveraging pre-rendering will help create faster, more accessible applications that stand out in search engine results.
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