Part 79: Enhancing User Experience with a Search Box in Next.js

[App] Client-Side Data Fetching

[App] Client-Side Data Fetching

When building web applications, enhancing user experience is a crucial aspect. A well-implemented search functionality can significantly improve the navigability of your site, especially when dealing with a large amount of content. In this blog post, we'll explore how to add a search box with autocomplete functionality to a Next.js application using a library called Headless UI.

Why Use Headless UI?

Headless UI provides unstyled UI components that integrate seamlessly with Tailwind CSS, allowing developers to focus on functionality while maintaining flexibility in styling. For our search functionality, we will utilize the Combobox component, which offers a robust autocomplete feature, including keyboard and mouse navigation and accessibility support.

Implementing the Search Box

Step 1: Setting Up the SearchBox Component

We'll begin by creating a new component called SearchBox. This component will be responsible for rendering the search input and handling user input to display relevant suggestions.

Create a new file called SearchBox.jsx in your components directory:

// components/SearchBox.jsx
'use client';

import { Combobox } from '@headlessui/react';

export default function SearchBox() {
  return (
    <Combobox>
      <Combobox.Input placeholder="Search…" />
    </Combobox>
  );
}

Notice that we use the use client directive at the top. This is essential because the Combobox component relies on client-side functionality.

Step 2: Integrating SearchBox into the Page

Next, we'll add the SearchBox to our ReviewsPage, positioning it alongside the pagination bar.

In your page.jsx file, update the layout as follows:

// app/reviews/page.jsx
import SearchBox from '@/components/SearchBox';
import PaginationBar from '@/components/PaginationBar';

export default async function ReviewsPage({ searchParams }) {
  const { page, pageCount, reviews } = await getReviews(searchParams);

  return (
    <>
      <Heading>Reviews</Heading>
      <div className="flex justify-between pb-3">
        <PaginationBar href="/reviews" page={page} pageCount={pageCount} />
        <SearchBox />
      </div>
      <ul className="flex flex-row flex-wrap gap-3">
        {reviews.map((review, index) => (
          <li key={review.slug}>
            {/* Render review content */}
          </li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </>
  );
}

By using flexbox with justify-between, we ensure that the search box aligns neatly with the pagination bar.

Step 3: Installing Headless UI

To use the Combobox component, we need to install the Headless UI package. Run the following command in your terminal:

npm install @headlessui/react

This will add the package to your package.json dependencies.

Step 4: Handling Client-Side Rendering

After setting up the SearchBox, you might encounter a hydration warning in the console, indicating a mismatch between server and client rendering. This is a common issue when dealing with client-side components in a server-rendered application.

To address this, ensure that the SearchBox is a Client Component by including the use client directive, which we've already done.

Conclusion

Adding a search box with autocomplete functionality enhances the user experience by allowing users to quickly find the content they need. By leveraging the Headless UI library, we can implement this feature efficiently without sacrificing accessibility or usability. This approach demonstrates how to integrate third-party components into a Next.js application effectively.

With these steps, you can create a more interactive and user-friendly interface, improving the overall navigation of your application. As you continue to build and optimize your Next.js projects, consider how similar enhancements can contribute to a better user experience.