Building SPA using Next.js

Building a single-page application (SPA) can be a challenging task, especially when it comes to setting up the infrastructure and handling the client-side routing. Fortunately, Next.js is here to make things easier. Next.js is a React-based framework that provides server-side rendering and easy-to-use API routes, allowing developers to create SPAs that are fast, scalable, and easy to maintain. In this blog, we'll explore how to build a SPA using Next.js.

What is a Single-Page Application?

A single-page web app (SPA) is a type of web application that loads a single HTML page and then updates the content dynamically based on the user's interaction with the application. This approach is different from traditional web applications, where the server sends a new page for each request. SPAs are faster and provide a smoother user experience since they don't require the browser to reload the page for every action.

Why Use Next.js for SPAs?

Next.js is a React-based framework that provides server-side rendering, automatic code-splitting, and easy-to-use API routes. These features make it an excellent choice for building SPAs.

Server-side rendering

One of the most significant benefits of Next.js is its ability to perform server-side rendering (SSR). SSR generates HTML on the server and sends it to the client, reducing the load on the client-side and improving performance. Next.js also allows you to choose which components you want to render on the server and which ones you want to render on the client, giving you more control over the application's performance.

Automatic code-splitting

Next.js automatically splits your code into smaller chunks, which are loaded as needed, reducing the initial load time of the application. This feature is especially useful for large applications with a lot of components.

Easy-to-use API routes

Next.js provides easy-to-use API routes that allow you to create serverless functions that can handle backend logic. This approach is useful for handling authentication, sending emails, and other server-side operations.

Building an SPA with Next.js

To build an SPA with Next.js, you need to follow these steps:

Step 1: Install Next.js

First, you need to install Next.js. You can do this by running the following command:

npm install next react react-dom

Step 2: Create a new Next.js app

Next, you need to create a new Next.js app. You can do this by running the following command:

npx create-next-app my-app

This command will create a new Next.js app in a directory called my-app.

Step 3: Create the pages

Next, you need to create the pages that will make up your SPA. You can create a new page by creating a new file in the pages directory. For example, if you want to create a page called about, you can create a new file called about.js in the pages directory.

/pages
/about.js
/index.js

Step 4: Create the layout

Next, you need to create the layout for your SPA. You can do this by creating a new file called _app.js in the pages directory. This file will be used to wrap all the pages in a common layout.

Step 5: Add client-side routing

Next, you need to add client-side routing to your SPA. You can do this by installing a package called next/router and using it to handle client-side navigation. Here’s an example of how to use it:

import Link from 'next/link';
import { useRouter } from 'next/router';

function Home() {
const router = useRouter();

Final Thoughts

SPA developed using Next.js has the major benefit in SEO. Search engine optimization plays a crucial role in driving traffic to your website or application and can have a significant impact on your business. It is essential to ensure that your website is optimized for search engines and looks good on search result pages.

React, by itself, can sometimes struggle to provide a seamless SEO experience. However, with powerful frameworks such as Next.js, we have a plethora of tools at our disposal to deliver an exceptional user experience and enable search engines to crawl our websites efficiently.