Let’s face it, building web-apps can be like wrestling a grumpy badger sometimes. To top this, frameworks such as NextJS, VueJS, etc keep adding new features, make breaking changes that are hard to follow.
ReactJS has now followed the footsteps of its siblings and released a new, most awaited version, called React v19. As of now, only a beta version is released and a general public version is due in next few weeks.
Even according to Andrew Clark, a core team member for the ReactJS project, React is expected to undergo massive changes this year.
So, buckle up dev, because we’re about to untangle the jargon and explain why React 19 might just make your coding life a little less frustrating and maybe even a tad more enjoyable.
The latest iteration boasts a range of features designed to simplify development and enhance performance. Let’s delve into these exciting additions:
- React Compiler
- Actions
- Server-Side Components
- Asset Loading
- Document Metadata Management
- New Hooks
Since now we know the features being introduced in the React 19 Beta, lets dive deep into these features one by one:-
React Compiler
React Compiler is no longer a research project. React 19 introduces the compiler to transform the React code into regular JavaScript. The compiler now also powers Instagram in production and would be host its open source release in the coming future.
This can potentially lead to significant performance improvements, particularly for complex applications. The React compiler might safely compiler the code taking care of both the rules of JavaScript and the rules of React.
Actions
Managing data and interactions within web pages is often a complex task. Actions in React 19 provide a new way to handle these aspects. They streamline common use cases like forms and data mutations, automatically managing states and transitions.
import { useActionState } from ‘react’;
function SubmitForm() {
const [name, setName] = useState(“”);
const [submitAction, isPending, error] = useActionState(
async (prevState, formData) => {
const response = await fetch(‘https://api.example.com/submit’, {
method: ‘POST’,
body: JSON.stringify(formData),
});
const data = await response.json();
return { success: data.success, message: data.message };
}
);
const handleSubmit = (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
submitAction({ name });
};
return (
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
<label htmlFor=”name”>Name:</label>
<input
type=”text”
id=”name”
value={name}
onChange={(e) => setName(e.target.value)}
/>
<button type=”submit” disabled={isPending}>
{isPending ? ‘Submitting…’ : ‘Submit’}
</button>
{error && <p style={{ color: ‘red’ }}>{error.message}</p>}
</form>
);
}
Server-Side Components
React 19 ushers stable server-side components. This can help in SEO and initial page load times. These components render on the server before being sent to the user’s browser, resulting in faster initial page loads and improved search engine visibility.
import { useLoaderData } from ‘react-server-components’;
export default function BlogPost({ post }) {
return (
“blog-post”>
{post.title}
{post.content}
);
}
export async function getLoaderData({ params }) {
const postId = params.id;
const response = await fetch(`https://api.example.com/posts/${postId}`);
const post = await response.json();
return { post };
}
Asset Loading
React 19 introduces improvements to asset loading, making your web applications feel smoother and more responsive. Here’s a breakdown of what it offers:
Background Loading
Gone are the days of waiting for images, stylesheets, and fonts to load before your content appears. React 19 automatically loads these assets in the background as users explore your page. This prevents delays and ensures a more seamless user experience.
Suspense with Asset Loading
- Suspense, a feature introduced in previous React versions, allows you to display a fallback UI while components are waiting for data to load. React 19 integrates Suspense with asset loading. This means you can display a placeholder or loading indicator while images, fonts, or stylesheets are being fetched, eliminating the issue of “unstyled content flickering” during the initial render.
Improved User Experience
- By pre-loading assets and utilizing Suspense, React 19 minimizes waiting times for users. This translates to a smoother browsing experience as users can interact with and view your content without interruptions caused by asset loading.
New Resource Loading APIs
- React 19 introduces new Resource Loading APIs like preload and preinit. These APIs provide fine-grained control over when specific resources should be loaded and initialized. This allows developers to optimize loading strategies based on the criticality of different assets.
Optimizing your application’s SEO is now easier with the <DocumentHead> component in React 19. This component allows you to effortlessly manage document metadata like titles and descriptions, improving your website’s ranking in search results.
import { DocumentHead } from ‘react-dom/server’;
function MyPage() {
return (
<html>
<head>
<DocumentHead>
<title>Page Title</title>
<meta name=”description” content=”Page Description” />
<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.example.com/my-page” />
</DocumentHead>
</head>
<body>
<h1>React 19</h1>
<p>Content of your page…</p>
</body>
</html>
);
}
Enhanced Hooks
React 19 takes hooks, a popular feature introduced in previous versions, to the next level. New hooks like use() and useFormStatus() provide greater control over forms and data management, further simplifying development workflows.
use()
The use API allows you to directly call Promises or async functions within your functional components. Its primary purpose is for managing data fetching and asynchronous operations within your components.
import { useState, use } from ‘react’;
function MyComponent() {
const [data, setData] = useState(null);
const [error, setError] = useState(null);
const fetchData = async () => {
try {
const response = await fetch(‘https://api.example.com/data’);
const data = await response.json();
setData(data);
} catch (error) {
setError(error);
}
};
use(fetchData);
if (error) {
return Error fetching data: {error.message};
}
if (!data) {
return Loading data…;
}
return (
My Data
{data.message}
);
}
useFormStatus()
The useFormStatus hook is designed to simplify form handling within your applications. It provides information about the current submission status of the parent <form> element. It also helps you manage the UI based on whether the form is being submitted (pending) or not.
import { useFormStatus } from ‘react-dom’;
function SubmitForm() {
const [name, setName] = useState(“”);
const { pending } = useFormStatus();
const handleSubmit = (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
};
return (
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
<label htmlFor=”name”>Name:</label>
<input
type=”text”
id=”name”
value={name}
onChange={(e) => setName(e.target.value)} />
<button type=”submit” disabled={pending}>
{pending ? ‘Submitting…’ : ‘Submit’}
</button>
</form>
);
}
Additional Enhancements
React 19 also includes additional enhancements like Web Components support, improved document metadata handling, and finer control over asset loading using Suspense. These features offer greater flexibility and control over the application’s behavior.
It’s hard to say whether Next.js will lose relevance with React 19’s release in 2024, but here are a few that we can say about Next.js and React 19:
- Next.js advantages: Even with React 19’s improvements, Next.js still offers several advantages, including server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG) for improved performance and SEO. Next.js also provides a framework for routing, data fetching, and code-splitting, which can simplify development.
- React 19 features: React JS is expected to introduce new features like concurrent rendering and automatic batching, which could improve performance in some cases. However, it’s important to note that Next.js can also leverage these features when using React 19.
- Long-term trends: The overall trend in web development is towards frameworks that provide more structure and tooling, benefiting developers and applications. Next.js fits well into this trend and will likely remain a popular choice over React.
- Different purposes: React 19 is a library that provides the building blocks for web applications. On the other hand, Next.js is a framework built on top of React that offers developers additional features and tools. Think of React 19 as the Lego bricks and Next.js as a pre-designed Lego set with instructions.
So, React 19 and Next.js are more likely to co-exist and complement each other, rather than React 19 replacing Next.js.
React has a grand vision. They aim to blur the lines between the front-end and back-end while maintaining their advantage in client-side capabilities and providing infrastructure for the community’s full-stack frameworks.
With these advancements, React 19 empowers developers to build performant, SEO-friendly, and user-centric web applications with greater ease. Whether you’re a seasoned React developer or just starting out, React 19 offers a compelling set of features to streamline your development process and create exceptional user experiences.
Source: hashnode.com