When I started web development, PHP ruled the world. Then came jQuery, then Angular, React, and now Next.js has become my favorite tool. Let me explain why.

What Makes Next.js Special?

Next.js is a React framework created by Vercel that elegantly solves the most common problems in modern web development.

Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

// app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
export default async function BlogPost({ params }: { params: { slug: string } }) {
  const post = await getPost(params.slug);
  
  return (
    <article>
      <h1>{post.title}</h1>
      <div>{post.content}</div>
    </article>
  );
}

Content is rendered on the server, which means:

Better SEO
Faster initial load
Consistent experience

Static Site Generation (SSG)

For pages that don't change frequently, you can pre-render them at build time:

export async function generateStaticParams() {
  const posts = await getAllPosts();
  
  return posts.map((post) => ({
    slug: post.slug,
  }));
}

Comparison with Other Frameworks

Feature	Next.js	Create React App	Gatsby
SSR	✅	❌	❌
SSG	✅	❌	✅
API Routes	✅	❌	❌
ISR	✅	❌	❌
Learning Curve	Medium	Low	Medium

The New App Router

Next.js 14+ introduced the App Router, which fundamentally changes how we structure our applications:

Server Components by Default

Components are now server-side by default, reducing JavaScript sent to the client.

Nested Layouts

app/
├── layout.tsx       # Root layout
├── page.tsx         # Home page
└── blog/
    ├── layout.tsx   # Blog layout
    └── page.tsx     # Post list

Streaming and Suspense

import { Suspense } from 'react';

export default function Page() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>My Dashboard</h1>
      <Suspense fallback={<Loading />}>
        <SlowComponent />
      </Suspense>
    </div>
  );
}

Ideal Use Cases

E-commerce: Product pages with SSR for SEO
Blogs: Static content with SSG
Dashboards: Interactive apps with Server Components
Landing pages: Optimized performance

When NOT to Use Next.js?

Mobile apps (use React Native)
Very simple single-page projects
If your team doesn't know React

My Favorite Stack with Next.js

Styling: Tailwind CSS
Database: Supabase or PlanetScale
Auth: NextAuth.js
Deployment: Vercel (obviously)
CMS: Sanity or Contentful

Resources to Get Started

Want a modern web application built with Next.js? Contact me and let's make your project a reality.

Why Next.js is the Framework You Should Learn in 2026