Introduction
Now, it’s not even a secret anymore amongst the developers that Next.js is indeed an amazing product. It has been the default framework for building a web app in diverse industries, and its adoption is rapidly increasing.
By default, Next.js is remarkable, but it’s just the beginning.
Do you have an idea about the most amazing fact of Next.js?
Well, Next.js projects can also leverage the benefits of the broad library ecosystem of React.
It’s interesting, right?
Therefore, in this article, we’ll go through the default libraries of Next.js that you can use to transform your web applications in 2023 and even beyond! However, before that let’s take a glance at what Next.js exactly is.
What is Next.js?
Simply put, Next.js is an awesome JavaScript framework that makes it simple to create server-side rendering (SSR) web apps.
In essence, Next.js, a popular JavaScript framework, is developed on top of React to support the development of scalable and fast apps. The fact that it makes the process of creating SSR web apps simpler is one of its biggest features. Next.js employs server-side code to manage to render rather than relying on client-side JavaScript code to do so. This means that your web app will load more quickly and will perform better in search results.
And that’s not all!
Additionally, Next.js has a ton of extremely helpful features that can help your app run better, like automatic code splitting and caching that is optimized. Even better, it offers dynamic imports, which let you load JavaScript modules as needed and enhance the overall performance of your project.
As a result, Next.js is a strong framework that can assist developers of all skill levels in creating scalable, high-performance online apps without having to worry about the finer technical points. Next.js is unquestionably worthwhile to test, whether you’re working on a small personal project or a huge commercial operations project!
Are Libraries really necessary?
Before diving into the list of trending libraries of Next.js, we want to address this question: ‘Are libraries really necessary?’
Well, certainly, you do need the assistance of libraries if you want to create a web application quickly.
Furthermore, it truly relies on what you want your Next.js application to achieve. There are many excellent libraries available to you that can assist you in expanding the functionality and capabilities of your app, but whether or not they are required truly depends on your unique use case.
You might not need to use any libraries at all if you’re developing a simple application without complicated features. However, using the libraries might be quite beneficial if you’re creating a more complicated application.
Yes, libraries are necessary for both making your life easier and completing the work more quickly because making simple websites might not be your go-to use case that the majority of you will be into.
That’s why, now we are going to learn about the popular Next.js Libraries that are set to become the next big thing in 2023.
Popular Libraries of Next.js in 2023
With its comprehensive set of features, including server-side rendering, automatic code splitting, and optimized performance, Next.js has become a go-to framework for developers around the world. So, let’s take a look at the seven most popular libraries of Next.js in 2023 and beyond…
- Styled-Components
- Next SEO
- Tailwind CSS
- React Query
- Next-auth
- React-icons
- Chakra UI
- Framer-motion
- Mantine UI
Styled-Components
Have you ever experienced how difficult it is to manage CSS files for a big project? You no longer have to be concerned about CSS file organization, class naming conflicts, or specificity issues thanks to styled components. As a substitute, you can define each component’s style as a template literal, which makes it simple to see the component’s styles quickly.
It is a well-liked library that enables programmers to insert CSS code right into their React components. It allows dynamic styling based on props or global theme variables, and it offers a simple-to-use API for building and managing styles.
To provide unified styling throughout your application, define a global theme object. For instance, you could create a theme object that includes the major and secondary colors, font styles, and other design elements of your application. The theme object can then be used to design styles for your components. You only need to alter the theme once, and all your components will be modified as necessary.
Next SEO
Next Developers may improve the search engine optimization of their Next.js applications with the aid of the SEO library. It basically gives you a collection of tools and components that make it simple to handle canonical URLs, create sitemaps, and set metadata.
Why is this crucial, then? Therefore, when you construct a website, you want people to be able to find it when they use search engines like Google to look for relevant terms. Search engines, however, can only comprehend your website based on the details you give them. Metadata is the data that search engines use to figure out the content of your website and how to rank it in search results, and it is used in this situation.
Setting metadata for your Next.js application, such as page titles, descriptions, and keywords, is made simple. Sitemaps, which are essentially a list of all the pages on your website that you want search engines to index, can also be generated using this tool. You can make sure search engines are aware of all the pages on your website and can effectively crawl them by uploading a sitemap to them.
Tailwind CSS
Web developers are increasingly using the popular utility-first CSS framework known as Tailwind CSS. Without having to start from scratch with unique CSS code, Tailwind allows you to rapidly and easily construct stunning, responsive user interfaces.
You may simply make unique designs that adhere to your brand’s style manual or design system thanks to its extensive collection of utility classes. Tailwind may easily assist you with achieving your desired look and feel whether you’re building a straightforward landing page or a complicated online application. Additionally, it guarantees that your website or application looks fantastic and performs flawlessly on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
No matter your level of experience or where you are in your career as a web developer, Tailwind can help you organize your tasks and produce beautiful designs that your users will adore. Why not test it out and see how it can help your projects?
React Query
A library called React Query makes data retrieval and caching in React apps easier. In addition to caching data for you, it offers a declarative API for making asynchronous calls, minimizing the need for pointless network requests. As a result, your application can run faster and offer a better user experience.
The capacity of React Query to manage challenging data-fetching circumstances is one of its main advantages. It makes it simple to collect and manage data in a variety of contexts because it supports pagination, polling, and other advanced capabilities out of the box. Additionally, it offers a potent caching system that lets you store data in memory or on disc, guaranteeing that future requests are processed incredibly quickly.
It’s a package you’ll want to include in your Next.js arsenal because of its strong data fetching and c aching capabilities, flexible API support, and simplicity of usage. Therefore, be sure to check out React Query right away if you’re searching for a way to make your React applications faster and more accessible.
Next-auth
Due to its simplicity and adaptability, the next-auth package, which offers authentication and authorization for Next.js apps, is becoming more and more well-liked among developers. Developers can quickly add user authentication and authorization to their applications with Next-auth, ensuring that the data of their users is secure and protected.
Its support for a variety of authentication sources, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and GitHub, is one of its best features. Users will be able to access your app using their existing social network accounts, which can enhance their user experience and make it simpler for them to utilize it. Additionally, Next-auth also provides a flexible API for custom authentication flows, so developers can customize the authentication process to fit their specific needs.
It is a wonderful option for developers who want to add user authentication and authorization to their apps due to its support for a wide variety of authentication providers, customized authentication processes, focus on security, and serverless authentication.
React-icons
The library React-icons offers a complete collection of icons for React apps. It offers a versatile API for user-created icon sets in addition to supporting a large number of icon packs, such as Font Awesome, Material Design, and Bootstrap. React icons can be used with Next.js to enhance the aesthetic attractiveness of your application by adding high-quality icons to the user interface.
It also offers a variety of props that you can use to alter the symbols’ design and functionality. For instance, utilizing React’s built-in event handling, you may change the icon’s size, color, and stroke, or even add animations or interactions.
By bundling icons into your application’s code, you can reduce the network requests your application needs to make, leading to faster load times and a better user experience. And because react-icons are created using semantic HTML and ARIA attributes, they are fully accessible to users with disabilities.
Chakra UI
Chakra UI is a popular open-source component library that provides a set of accessible and reusable UI components for React applications. It is designed to help developers build beautiful and responsive user interfaces quickly and easily, without having to write CSS from scratch.
It provides a range of styling options, including pre-built themes and custom theming support, so you can easily tailor your UI to match your brand and design aesthetic. Additionally, Chakra UI includes a wide range of components, including buttons, forms, and models, which can be easily incorporated into your Next.js application.
One of the main benefits of using Chakra UI with Next.js is that it allows you to leverage the framework’s built-in server-side rendering capabilities. This means that your application’s UI can be rendered on the server side, improving performance and reducing the amount of time it takes for your pages to load.
Framer-motion
Have you heard about framer-motion? It’s a powerful and flexible animation library for React applications, including Next.js. Framer-motion offers a wide range of animation types, including keyframes, physics-based animations, and gestures, making it easy to create visually stunning and engaging user interfaces.
One of the things that makes framer-motion so great is its declarative API for creating animations. With this API, you can define your animations using plain JavaScript objects, making it easy to understand and modify your animations as your application evolves. And since it’s built on top of React, you can use all the power of React’s component-based architecture to create reusable and composable animations.
With physics-based animations, you can create animations that feel more natural and lifelike, adding a level of polish and professionalism to your application. And with the library’s support for gestures, you can create interactive animations that respond to user input, creating a more engaging and immersive experience for your users.
Mantine UI
Mantine UI is a great library for building user interfaces with Next.js. It is an open-source library that provides a wide range of components and styling options, making it easy to create beautiful and functional interfaces in your Next.js applications.
It provides a wide range of customizable components, including buttons, inputs, and models, that can be easily styled to match the look and feel of your application. This makes it easy to create a consistent user interface across your entire application, improving the overall user experience.
Mantine UI is a fantastic library for building user interfaces with Next.js. Its flexibility, functionality, and accessibility make it a great choice for any project. If you’re looking for a powerful UI library to use in your Next.js application, we highly recommend giving Mantine UI a try!
