There are hundreds of programming languages out there but only a few were used extensively across web development and the web design circle. One programming language that has made the biggest impact in the least amount of time is ReactJS. It has completely transformed web development. If I had to recommend one program language that every budding web designer and developer should learn, I would suggest ReactJS.
Unfortunately, it is not that easy to learn as there is little to no documentation available and the faster pace of development forces developers to constantly update their skill set. That is why we have put together effective tips from experts to help you get the best out of ReactJS.
In this article, you will learn about seven ReactJS tips from the experts so you can make the most of this powerful web development language.
1. Differentiate Elements
Whether you are developing a app or a website, it is important to separate elements from one another. This means that you will have to create separate functions for fetching data and displaying it instead of using one function to achieve both objectives. In ReactJS, this can easily be achieved with containers and presentational components.
A container created for fetching data will only serve this purpose and does not know anything about how to display information. This means that containers are independent and won’t affect each other. As a result, every component of the application should create its own container. This makes unit testing a breeze too.
2. Add Style
The way your website looks plays an important role. ReactJS allows you to add style with CSS and also supports styled-components. It resolves a major problem when it comes to styling the application as it prevents clashing class names and confusing conventions. In React, every component can have its own style offering developers more room for styling different components separately. This means that developers can adjust visuals without tinkering with classes and inline style sheets. Styled components let you use a placeholder and adjust sie dynamically
3. Set Error Boundaries
Irrespective of how good you are at coding, errors will somehow make their way to your projects. When it is hard to identify errors, web developers tend to leave the app in an unstable state, which makes life difficult for users. React uses a different method to resolve this issue.. In react, unattended errors can unmount the whole application. ReactJS introduced the concept of setting error boundaries. This means that if an error occurs inside a component, it continues to rise up until it hits the root, where it either unmounts the application altogether or identifies a component that can handle the error. This paves the way for the creation of generic components for error handling purposes. Mobile app development company uses this process to fix errors and bugs.
3. Write Clean Code
Every web developer wants to keep their code as clean as possible but only a few manage to succeed at it. ReactJS linter tool helps you achieve this goal by laying some rules that you should follow to write clean code. Moreover, it also highlights areas where you have broken the code so you can fix it easily. This will improve the code quality and keep your projects well organized. There are many plugins available that you can use to take things to a new level.
4. Split Code
If you have ever created one-page apps, you might be familiar with the high file sizes. This happens because everything is put into a single file which increases its size by manifolds. Thankfully, there are tools that can help you split such files into smaller more manageable chunks. When you are using ReactJS, you might have to create many smaller components, which also allows you more opportunities for code splitting.
Web developers working on a large application with routine should split the code by route instead of splitting the code by components. You don’t have to worry about code execution either as the common paths can be pulled with a single request, which accelerates code execution.
5. Speed Up Rendering
Since we are on the topic of speed, let’s talk about one great advantage React has over its competitors. React let you load your website’s initial view in the server which saves you from showing a black screen to visitors where they have to wait for your web page to load. This substantially improves the user experience by minimizing the perceived load time. Additionally, these also web crawlers and make it easy for search engines to parse your website thus increasing your chances to rank higher on search engines.
React offers the option to render pages on the node server. It creates a special method that outputs the HTML as a string and is put inside the body section of the code. Moreover, React also detect pre-rendered section of the page and starts off from where it left off, reducing the page load time even further. Developers can achieve server rendering through routine, code splitting or static containers.
6. Use Internationalization For Global Audience
If you are one of those businesses that cater to a global audience or planning to expand beyond your country’s boundaries then, you can take advantage of internationalization. This makes it easy for you to engage the local audience. Previously, you have to rely on resource-hungry and bulky libraries for translation and numbering but not anymore.
The Native Intl API is now available for all the web browsers, which saves you from additional download costs and slow and large libraries. This native library is capable of automatically translating different strings, currency, numbers and dates. Each component mirrors the setting available in Intl API allowing you to show web pages to global audiences in their own language, which was not possible before.
Which is the best ReactJS tip you have ever received? Which is your favorite ReactJS tip that you frequently use? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below.