In the ever-evolving landscape of web development, Next.js has emerged as a dominant force, and for good reason. As a React framework, it provides a robust set of features that address many of the challenges associated with building modern web applications.
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG) are two of its cornerstone features. SSR allows pages to be rendered on the server, which dramatically improves initial page load times and is a massive boon for SEO. SSG, on the other hand, pre-renders pages at build time, resulting in lightning-fast performance for content-heavy sites like blogs and portfolios.
Next.js also simplifies routing with its file-system-based router. Creating a new page is as simple as adding a file to the pages directory. This intuitive approach, combined with features like API routes for building backend endpoints, makes Next.js a full-stack framework that can handle everything from the front-end to the back-end with grace and efficiency.