When I joined the engineering team at my current company, I was brought in to help modernize a large financial web application. The system had been originally built using PHP, and while it functioned well enough for a time, it had become increasingly difficult to maintain and scale—especially on the frontend.
The team had already made the decision to transition to a modern stack: React, Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. My role was to help implement that new frontend, contribute to component design, and support a smooth migration path. In this article, I’ll share why this move made sense, how we approached the migration, and what lessons we learned along the way.
⚠️ Why We Moved Away from PHP
The original system followed a monolithic PHP architecture. The frontend and backend were tightly coupled, making even simple UI changes cumbersome and risky. Any small update—say, a button or form layout—often required backend adjustments, increasing the chance of regression bugs.
Challenges included:
- Poor component reusability
- Inline, inconsistent styling
- Slow performance on data-heavy pages
- Difficult developer onboarding
- Lack of mobile responsiveness and SEO control
⚙️ Why We Chose Next.js and TypeScript
We selected Next.js because it offered the best mix of server-side rendering, performance, and developer experience. It gave us the flexibility to build dynamic pages while still maintaining good SEO—essential for dashboards and user-facing views.
We used:
- Next.js for routing and SSR
- TypeScript for safer, more maintainable code
- Tailwind CSS for consistent, scalable UI
This modern stack allowed us to build faster and more reliably while reducing bugs and developer ramp-up time.
Related links: TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
🔁 Our Migration Strategy
Since the PHP system was still active, we chose incremental migration. We:
- Identified high-priority views (like dashboards)
- Rebuilt them in Next.js
- Connected to the existing backend via REST APIs
- Handled authentication/session logic carefully
- Gradually routed users to the new frontend via feature toggles
This avoided a risky "big bang" rewrite and allowed us to learn and iterate safely.
💡 Lessons Learned
Throughout the migration, a few lessons stood out:
- 🔍 Don’t migrate everything at once—focus on high-impact features first.
- 🧱 Build shared components early to avoid duplication.
- 🧪 Test with real users—especially in fintech where UI expectations are high.
- 🛠 Maintain tight team feedback loops and documentation.
✅ Final Thoughts
Modernizing a legacy app isn’t easy, but the long-term benefits are worth it. Migrating from PHP to Next.js improved performance, UX, and developer speed across the board.
If you’re working on a similar migration, start small, be strategic, and use tools that align with your team’s strengths.
Thanks for reading! If you’ve gone through a frontend migration—or are planning one—I’d love to hear what worked for you in the comments 👇
About the author
Aamna Majid is a senior frontend engineer with 4+ years of experience building modern web applications using React, Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. She’s passionate about clean UI architecture, performance optimization, and helping teams modernize legacy systems.
📬 Connect with her on LinkedIn
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