Crafting Exceptional User Interfaces: A Deep Dive into Handling States in React Apps
When building a web application, creating a seamless user experience is crucial. While excellent UX/UI designs provide a solid foundation, it’s up to developers to bring these designs to life by considering all possible states. In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for handling loading, error, and empty states in client-side rendered React applications.
Designing a Real-World React App
Let’s imagine we’re building a single-page application (SPA) featuring a table of cat breeds from Wikipedia. Our goal is to recreate this table using React and Chakra UI. The design we’re aiming for is simple yet effective.
The Importance of Loading States
When requesting data from a server, we need to indicate to users that something is loading while we wait for the response. Without this, users will be left staring at a blank screen. We can add a Spinner to our TableComponent to create a more realistic experience.
Refining Our Approach
However, we need to consider scenarios where we don’t want to display a spinner every time we fetch data. For instance, when navigating between pages or implementing a search feature, it’s better to show the already available data instead of a spinner. To achieve this, we can introduce a second loading state that allows us to display our TableComponent while still indicating that something is happening in the background.
Handling Empty States
Since our data comes from a server, we can’t guarantee that there will always be data available. If we receive an empty list, our current implementation would only show the Table headers, which could be confusing for users. To address this, we can add an empty state with an appropriate message to our component.
Error States: The Final Piece of the Puzzle
When relying on a server response for data, it’s essential to consider the possibility of request failures. In such cases, we need to display an error message to users. By adding an error state to our component, we can ensure that we’ve thought of every possible scenario.
Scaling Data-Fetching UIs
Implementing a scalable data-fetching solution for client-side rendered React apps requires the right tools. We can use established data-fetching libraries like React Query to handle data synchronization and caching. By creating custom React hooks for each request, we can implement loading, error, and empty states for each component. Additionally, using a component library or building reusable components can help maintain UX/UI consistency across the application.
The Future of Data Fetching: React Suspense
A major React update is on the horizon – React Suspense for data fetching. This feature will allow us to declaratively wait for anything asynchronous, including data. By switching from a “fetch-on-render” to a “render-as-you-fetch” approach, we can revolutionize the way we think about data in React.
Conclusion
By following these best practices and considering the latest developments in React, we can create exceptional user interfaces that provide a seamless experience for our users. Remember to stay up-to-date with the latest React updates and experiment with new features to take your app to the next level.