What is Server- side rendering?

Server-side rendering is a web application technique that involves the server generating fully-rendered HTML pages which helps in faster initial page loads and better user experience. With server-side rendering, the server pre-generates and promptly delivers the web page content to the browser upon user request.

Benefits of Server-side rendering

Knowing the benefits of Server-side rendering is important as it helps you to gain more insight into it. By understanding the benefits of Server-side rendering, you'll gain insights into how it can improve your application's initial page load speed, SEO friendliness, user experience, and more.

Here are some of the benefits of Server-side rendering:

1. Faster Initial Page Load - With Server-side rendering, the server delivers fully-rendered HTML pages to the client, resulting in faster initial page loads and improved performance.

2. Enhanced SEO - Search engine crawlers can easily access and index fully-rendered HTML content, which makes Server-side rendering beneficial for SEO. Server-side rendering can also improve the visibility and ranking of the web page in SEO results.

3. Improved User Experience - In Server-side rendering the server sends a complete HTML page, this ensures that users can see and interact with content quickly. It also reduces the time spent waiting for JavaScript to load and execute, resulting in a smoother user experience.

4. Efficient Caching - With server-side rendering, rendered pages can be cached effectively on the server, easing server burden and enhancing scalability. By implementing caching strategies, subsequent requests can be fulfilled using pre-rendered pages, leading to improved performance.

Applying Server-side rendering in Next.js

Having explored the benefits of server-side rendering and how it works, let's dive into the practical steps to implement it with Next.js.

Next.js has 2 functions that handle Server-side rendering, which are getServerSideProps() and getStaticProps() . Both functions are used for data fetching and pre-rendering. Before we use these functions, let us set up a Next.js project

Setting up a Next.js project

To set up a Next.js project, follow these steps:

1. If you are using npm, open your terminal and run npx create-next-app@latest if you are using yarn run yarn create next-app to create a next.js project.

2. Give your project a name(in this case we will be using my-app as our project name) and complete the prompt to create a Next.js application.

3. Once all dependencies are installed and the app is created, navigate to its directory by running cd my-app.

4. Run npm run dev if you are using npm or yarn dev if you are using yarn to start the development server.

5. Open your localhost in your browser to see the app running.

Creating Pages and Components

Now that you have successfully created a Next.js project, you can then delete all the existing styles and codes in your project so that you can have an empty project. Navigate to the pages directory and open the pages/index.js file and add a simple page component like the one below

import React from 'react';

const HomePage = () => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Server-side rendering with Next.js</h1>
    </div>
  );
};

export default HomePage;

Utilizing getServerSideProps function

Next.js provides a special function called getServerSideProps that allows you to fetch data on the server before rendering the page. The getServerSideProps function is important in Server-side rendering in Next.js because it helps to fetch data on each request and this allows for real-time or dynamic content.

For example, if you have a website that has data that changes frequently and needs to be updated on every page request, the getServerSideProps can be useful as it can help in displaying the updated data.

Below is a code snippet on how your code would look when using the getServerSideProps function in your Next.js project.

import React from 'react';

const ProductsPage = ({ products}) => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Products List</h1>
      <ul>
        {products.map((product) => (
          <li key={product.id}>{product.title}</li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
};

export async function getServerSideProps() {
  const response = await fetch('https://fakestoreapi.com/products/');
  const products = await response.json();

  return {
    props: {
      products,
    },
  };
}

export default ProductsPage;

In the code above, we defined the ProductsPage component that takes products as a prop. The ProductPage component then renders a list of products with their titles. We also defined the getServerSideProps function which is a Next.js function that allows you to fetch data on the server before rendering a page. Inside the getServerSideProps function we then fetch data and the data is then passed as a prop to the ProductsPage component.

When the page is loaded, the getServerSideProps function is called, and the fetched data is passed to the ProductsPage component as a prop which is then mapped and displayed.

This way we will be able to successfully fetch our data and render it using the Server-side rendering.

Utilizing getStaticProps function

The getStaticProps function in Next.js is used to generate data at build time. The benefit of using getStaticProps is that it allows you to generate the HTML files ahead of time, meaning that the content is already available when a user visits the page. This results in faster page loads and improved performance for your application. Also, since the HTML files are pre-generated, they can be cached and served directly. This caching mechanism allows subsequent visitors to the page to receive the cached data, which further enhances performance and reduces the need to re-fetch the data for every request. It's important to note that the getStaticProps function is particularly efficient for data that doesn't change frequently.

Since the data is generated at build time, any changes to the data would require a rebuild of the application. If you have data that does not change frequently and does not need to be updated on every page request, the getStaticProps can be useful.

Below is a code snippet on how your code would look when using the getStaticProps function in your Next.js project.

export async function getStaticProps() {
  const response = await fetch('https://fakestoreapi.com/products/');
  const products = await response.json();

  return {
    props: {
      products,
    },
  };
}

In this case, we defined the getStaticProps function that fetches data from an API at build time and returns it as a prop to the component that is being rendered.

So, when a user requests the page, the data is already there and can be served instantly without needing to make an API call. This approach improves the performance and user experience of the application by minimizing the delay caused by API calls during runtime.

Note that the getStaticProps is best used for data that doesn't change frequently.

Top Tips for Implementing Server-Side Rendering with Next.js Effectively

There are other tips to follow when implementing Server-side rendering with Next.js in other to maintain excellent performance standards and create a seamless user experience in your application.

Listed here are a few of them:

1. Optimize data fetching

2. Optimize rendering

3. Use caching

4. Leverage code splitting

5. Optimize for responsiveness

Conclusion

Server-Side Rendering with Next.js unlocks numerous benefits, including improved performance, SEO friendliness, and enhanced user experience. By following the strategies outlined in this article, you can improve the performance and SEO of your web applications and provide a seamless user experience.