Chapter 1: A Brief Introduction to Next.js
Next.js is an open source JavaScript web framework for React that ships with a rich set of features out of the box, such as server-side rendering, static site generation, and incremental static regeneration. These are just some of the many built-in components and plugins that make Next.js a framework ready for both enterprise-level applications and small websites.
This book aims to show you the full potential of this framework while building real-world applications and use cases, such as e-commerce websites and blogging platforms. You will learn the basics of Next.js, how to choose between different rendering strategies and deployment methodologies, and different tips and approaches for making your web application both scalable and maintainable.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- Introduction to the Next.js framework
- Comparing Next.js with other popular alternatives
- Differences between Next.js and client-side React
- Anatomy of a default Next.js project
- How to develop Next.js applications using TypeScript
- How to customize both Babel and webpack configurations
