Introduction to Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

Server-Side Rendering (SSR) is a powerful technique that allows your Next.js application to render pages on the server and send fully-rendered HTML to the client. This provides benefits like improved SEO, faster initial page loads, and better user experiences. In this deep dive tutorial, we'll explore SSR in Next.js.

Setting up a Next.js Project for SSR

1. Start by creating a new Next.js project. If you haven't already installed Next.js, you can do so with:

    npx create-next-app my-ssr-app

2. Create a new page in the "pages" directory, for example, ssr.js:

    // pages/ssr.js
    import React from 'react';
    function SSRPage({ serverData }) {
        return (
            <div>
                <h2>Server-Side Rendering</h2>
                <p>{serverData}</p>
            </div>
        );
    }
    export async function getServerSideProps() {
        // Fetch data from an API or database
        const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data');
        const data = await response.json();
        return {
            props: {
                serverData: data,
            },
        };
    }
    export default SSRPage;

In this example, the getServerSideProps function is used to fetch data on the server and pass it as a prop to the component.

3. Access the SSR page by visiting /ssr in your application. The data is fetched and rendered on the server, providing the benefits of SSR.

Conclusion

Server-Side Rendering in Next.js is a powerful feature that can improve the performance and SEO of your web application. It allows you to fetch and render data on the server, providing a better user experience. For more advanced features and use cases, visit the Next.js website.