An Introduction to Server-Side Rendering (SSR) with Next.js

Server-side rendering (SSR) is a technique used in web development where the HTML content is generated on the server instead of in the browser. This improves the initial load time, enhances SEO, and offers a better user experience. In this article, we’ll dive into SSR and how Next.js simplifies the process of setting it up.

What is Server-Side Rendering (SSR)?
Server-side rendering refers to the process of rendering a client-side JavaScript application on the server. Instead of the client waiting for JavaScript to load and render the page, the server pre-renders the content and sends the fully rendered page to the browser. This results in a faster initial page load and improved SEO because search engines can easily crawl pre-rendered content.

Why Use SSR?

• Improved SEO: Since search engine bots can easily read HTML content, SSR ensures that content is discoverable, helping with ranking.
• Faster First Page Load: SSR can significantly reduce the time it takes for the user to see something on the screen, which is especially important for performance.
• Better User Experience: By rendering content on the server, the user gets a fully populated page without waiting for JavaScript to fetch and render content on the client.

How Next.js Simplifies SSR
Next.js is a React-based framework that allows for easy implementation of SSR. It provides several built-in features, such as getServerSideProps, which makes it simple to fetch data and render it on the server before sending it to the client.

To enable SSR in Next.js, you just need to export a function called getServerSideProps from a page component. This function runs on the server for each request, fetching the necessary data before rendering the page.

Example:

import React from 'react';

function Home({ data }) {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Welcome to SSR with Next.js</h1>
      <p>{data}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

export async function getServerSideProps() {
  const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data');
  const data = await res.json();
  return { props: { data } };
}

export default Home;

In this example, the getServerSideProps function fetches data from an API on the server side before rendering the page.

SSR vs. Static Site Generation (SSG)
Next.js supports both SSR and Static Site Generation (SSG). While SSR renders pages on every request, SSG pre-renders pages at build time. The choice between SSR and SSG depends on the specific needs of your application:

• Use SSR when the content changes frequently or needs to be personalized for each user.

• Use SSG when the content is static and can be generated at build time, offering faster load times.
  When to Use SSR

• Dynamic content that changes frequently based on user data.

• SEO-focused pages that require search engines to crawl the content effectively.

• Personalized user experiences where data needs to be fetched on each request.

Conclusion
Server-side rendering in Next.js is a powerful tool for enhancing performance, SEO, and user experience. By leveraging Next.js’s built-in SSR capabilities, you can easily implement SSR for your React application with minimal configuration. It’s a great choice for applications where content must be dynamically fetched and rendered on each request.