Summary

In this chapter, you learned that React can be rendered on the server, in addition to the client. There are a number of reasons for doing this, like sharing common code between the frontend and the backend. The main advantage to server-side rendering is the performance boost that you get on the initial page load. This translates to a better user experience and therefore a better product.

You then progressively improved on a server-side React application, starting with a single page render. Then you were introduced to routing, client-side reconciliation, and component data fetching to produce a complete backend rendering solution.

In the following chapter, you'll learn how to implement React Bootstrap components to implement a mobile-first design.