Next-Gen Development: Unlocking the Power of Next.js 9.3 and 9.4
The world of server-side rendering and static site generation has witnessed a remarkable transformation in recent years, and Next.js has emerged as a frontrunner in this space. Since its inception, Next.js has become the go-to framework for hosting static sites, including landing pages, documentation, and blogs. In this article, we’ll explore the significant enhancements introduced in the latest major release versions, Next.js 9.3 and 9.4.
Optimized Static Site Generation
Next.js is a hybrid framework that offers the flexibility to choose between static generation (SG) and server-side rendering (SSR). With the introduction of automatic static optimization in Next.js 9.0, the framework took a giant leap forward. The latest releases have further refined this process with the addition of two new data-fetching methods: getStaticProps and getServerSideProps. These methods enable developers to configure async data fetch at build time, ensuring faster and more efficient page rendering.
Get Static Props: The Key to Static Generation
getStaticProps is a game-changer for static generation. By exporting an async function called getStaticProps from a page, developers can return an object with a props key, which is then passed to the page as props. This enables Next.js to pre-render the page at build time, using any data-fetching method, including direct database access.
Get Static Paths: Defining Dynamic Routes
When working with dynamic routes, getStaticPaths comes into play. This method defines a list of paths to be statically rendered at build time. By exporting an async function called getStaticPaths from a page, developers can specify the paths to be generated, ensuring that Next.js pre-renders all specified paths.
Get Server Side Props: The Power of Server-Side Rendering
getServerSideProps is used to render pages on every fetch, enabling server-side rendering (SSR). When navigating using next/link, a request is made to the server, and getServerSideProps is executed, returning the results to the frontend.
Preview Mode: A New Era of Conditional Rendering
The introduction of getStaticProps and getServerSideProps has enabled conditional, on-demand rendering. Preview mode is a direct result of this enhancement, allowing developers to work with draft versions of their CMS and preview server-side rendered versions instead of statically generated output.
Sass Support and Component-Level Styles
Next.js 9.3 has brought SASS support out of the box, eliminating the need for next-sass. Developers can now use SASS stylesheets by installing sass and creating standard .scss files. Component-level styles are also possible, with the ability to define global SASS and CSS Modules.
Enhanced 404 Page and Fast Refresh
The latest releases have introduced several enhancements to improve the developer experience. Next.js now automatically generates a 404 page, which can be customized by creating a custom pages/404.js. Fast refresh, hot reloading is enabled by default, ensuring that only the edited code file is updated, without losing component state.
Error Locations, Click-to-Open Reference Code Snippets, and More
Other notable enhancements include accurate error locations, click-to-open reference code snippets, and automatic addressing of runtime errors after fixing them.
Enhanced Env Variables Support and Fetch API
Next.js 9.4 has simplified environment variable management by introducing NEXT_PUBLIC_, which ensures that variables are inlined into the browser JavaScript bundle. The fetch API has also been polyfilled in the Node.js environment, eliminating the need for third-party libraries like node-fetch or isomorphic-fetch.
Absolute Imports and Custom Module Aliases
Absolute imports have been introduced to simplify the development process. Developers can now access reusable code using the baseUrl property in jsconfig.json/tsconfig.json. Custom module aliases can also be created using the same config file.
The Future of Development
The latest releases of Next.js 9.3 and 9.4 have brought significant improvements to the framework, enhancing core performance, developer experience, and surface-level features. With its robust feature set and growing community, Next.js is poised to revolutionize the world of web development.