Understanding Next.js 13 Rendering Strategies: A Deep Dive into CSR, SSR, SSG, and ISR With Visual Explanation and Comparison.
Hello, Medium community! 👋 In today’s post, we’re diving into the world of web development and discussing four popular approaches for building web applications. Let’s dive into the fascinating realm of rendering techniques:
- CSR — Client Side Rendering.
- SSR — Server-Side Rendering.
- SSG — Static Site Generation.
- ISR — Incremental Static Regeneration.
In the ever-evolving landscape of web development, how we render our web applications profoundly impacts user experience and performance. In this blog, I will break down each strategy with points such as the process behind the scenes, the use case, and the pros & cons.
Client-Side Rendering (CSR):
Client-side rendering (CSR) is the default rendering strategy in React JS and Angular JS applications. In CSR, the initial request loads a minimal HTML file with JavaScript files responsible for rendering the application. The client’s browser then executes the JavaScript, fetching data from APIs and rendering the page on the client side.
This approach is commonly suitable for single-page applications (SPA) and applications that need interactions (e.g. Games) and highly dynamic content such as forms, and chat applications. This allows for dynamic and interactive user experiences, but the initial page load might be slower, affecting both user experience and SEO.
Example in Next.js 13:
By default, Next.js 13 uses React Server Components. This allows you to automatically implement server rendering with no additional configuration, and you can opt into using Client Components when you need, You need to add the “use client” keywords on the top of every client component. Depending on this keyword Next js will detect the client components. In this example, we create a counter-component.
Here “use client” keywords will ensure that this component will execute on the client's browser.
Pros:
- Rich client-side interactivity.
- Fast subsequent navigation.
- Suitable for web applications with real-time updates.
Cons:
- Slower initial page load.
- SEO challenges (search engines may struggle to index content).
- Increased client device processing.
Server-Side Rendering (SSR):
Server-side rendering (SSR) involves rendering the web page on the server and sending the fully rendered HTML to the client. This approach provides fast initial page loads and improved SEO since search engines can easily crawl the content. However, it might result in slower subsequent navigation due to the need to request and render new pages from the server.
Example in Next.js 13:
Server-side rendering (SSR) involves rendering the React components on the server and sending the fully rendered HTML to the client. As I mentioned earlier, by default, Next.js 13 uses React Server Components.
When a user requests this page, the server will fetch all the todos from this remote URL, render the component, and send back HTML to the user.
Pros:
- Fast initial page load.
- Good for SEO.
- Dynamic content can be mixed with static content.
Cons:
- Slower subsequent navigation.
- Increased server load for rendering.
- Limited client-side interactivity.
Static Site Generation(SSG):
SSG technique was introduced to solve some limitations of SSR. In the SSR technique, the server will render a web page on each request. In SSG, to avoid the rendering in each request, we generate those files in the build time so that we can instantly serve the pages when a user requests them. This technique will come in handy if you want to build a web application full of static content like a blog. One drawback is that the content might be out-of-date and your application is needed to build and deploy each time when you change the content.
Pros:
- Blazing fast page load.
- Reduced server load.
- Excellent for security (no direct database access).
Cons:
- Content can be stale until the next build.
- Limited real-time interactivity.
- Not suitable for highly dynamic applications.
Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR):
ISR is a hybrid approach that combines SSG and CSR. It generates static pages like SSG but allows certain pages to be regenerated on-demand, providing the best of both worlds. This ensures a balance between fast page loads and up-to-date content.
Pros:
- Fast initial page load.
- Near real-time updates for specific pages.
- Improved SEO compared to pure CSR.
Cons:
- Complexity in implementation.
- Not suitable for highly dynamic real-time applications.
Conclusion:
The choice of web development approach depends on your project’s requirements and goals. SSR and SSG excel in performance and SEO, while CSR offers dynamic interactivity. The emerging ISR approach bridges the gap between SSG and CSR, allowing for both speed and dynamic content updates.
Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and careful consideration of your project’s needs is crucial. Feel free to share your thoughts or experiences with these approaches in the comments! 🚀
If you have any questions or need assistance with anything else, feel free to ask! 😊👍
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