Unlock the Power of Pagination: Boosting UX and Rankings
When it comes to organizing content on a webpage, pagination is a game-changer. By dividing information into manageable chunks, you can significantly improve user experience (UX) and ultimately boost your website’s ranking. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to create two different types of pagination components using React and Tailwind CSS.
Setting Up the Project
To get started, set up a new React project on your local machine by running the following command. Next, install Tailwind CSS and other dependencies, including Create React App (CRA) and CRACO, a configuration layer for CRA. This will allow you to override the PostCSS configuration.
Configuring Tailwind CSS
Create a new file called craco.config.js and add Tailwind CSS and autoprefixer as PostCSS plugins. Then, create a tailwind.config.js file and add the necessary code to your default index.css file.
Structuring the Pagination Component
Our project will follow a specific structure, with separate files for handling and displaying the pagination component. Let’s take a closer look at some of these files and folders.
Pagination Using Navigation Buttons
The first type of pagination component we’ll create uses Next and Previous buttons to navigate through the data on a webpage. Our App.js file will render the current page information, and the Tailwind CSS utility classes will remove the need for external CSS.
How it Works
The currentPage function indicates the current page number, while postsPerPage determines the total number of posts rendered per page. The currentPosts array is calculated by passing the indexOfFirstPost and indexOfLastPost to the slice() function. To move back and forth between pages, we’ll use the paginateFront and paginateBack functions.
Pagination Using a Numbered List
The second pagination component we’ll build uses a numbered list for navigation instead of Next and Previous buttons. We’ll update our App.js file and the props sent to the pagination component.
Dynamic Page Navigation
We’ll create an array that dynamically calculates the number of pages needed for the given amount of data. Then, we’ll append the data inside the pageNumbers array and create an unordered list that renders list items by looping through the array. Each page number will have a click handler that updates the currentPage and renders the required content on the frontend.
Highlighting the Active Page
To highlight the active page, we’ll set different Tailwind CSS classes based on a check. If the pageNumber is equal to the currentPage, we’ll differentiate it from the other <a> tags by giving it a red border and font color.
Get Started with LogRocket
Now that you have a thorough understanding of pagination, it’s time to take your application to the next level. LogRocket is a powerful tool for modern React error tracking, and it’s easy to get started. Simply sign up, install LogRocket via npm or script tag, and initialize it client-side. With LogRocket, you’ll be able to track errors, improve UX, and boost your website’s ranking.