Editor’s Note
Curatti isn’t known as a technical blog. However, this article was a little too informative to pass over when offered. If you don’t ‘get’ everything Robert Mora is talking about here, I promise you’ll be far from alone. But sometimes, business owners just need to know what’s out there and be able to somehow relate to a techie. Perhaps have a response marginally more intelligent that “huh?” when they talk to us, lol. A Framework is an essential building block of web applications, And Robert LOVES ReactJS.
ReactJS: The Friendly Framework
There are many web development libraries and frameworks based on JavaScript. In fact, the numbers keep increasing. Which brings us to the question of which is the right client-side technology to use.
React and Angular are no doubt the most popular among online business owners. But there are still some factors that make users prefer React JS over angular. Both are great platforms. But ReactJS is user-friendly and has features that make it suitable for online businesses and SEO purpose.
The Lowdown on React JS
React JS was developed by Jordan Walke, one of Facebook’s software engineers. Its first application was on the newsfeed of Facebook in 2011. Adoption by Instagram followed in 2012.
With React, it is possible for webmasters and online business owners to develop large web-based applications that change data while reloading pages. Webmasters can also use React together with other forms of frameworks or JavaScript libraries like Angular in MVC. React is for those that want a framework that is scalable, fast and simple. In fact, it is faster than Angular.
React is an open source JavaScript (JS) library used for developing user interfaces, basically for the single-page applications. Webmasters use it to handle the view layer of the web, as well as mobile apps. There are many benefits of using React as you can see. Webmasters also use this client-side technology to develop UI components that are reusable.
Hence its popularity and increase in use. It has great influence on SEO as we are going to be looking into in a short while.
Understanding the Important Features of React JS
1. JSX
React uses JSX for template creation instead of the usual JavaScript. JSX is a very simple JavaScript that permits HTML quoting. And using the HTML syntax, JSX helps to render subcomponents.
2. React Native
There are also native libraries that were announced by Facebook in 2015. These libraries give the architecture of ReactJS to other native applications such as UPD and IOS.
3. Virtual Document Object-Model
React has features that enable it to create a unique data structure which helps to compute changes initiated as well as updating the browser. In addition, this offers a unique feature that enables programmers to code with ease. It is as if every web page is rendered by the React library with each change. Whereas in truth, only components that were actually changed are rendered.
ReactJS is one of the platforms that was developed to make front-end web app development a lot easier. But it also has more advantages over other frameworks. The front-end community is changing every day, and is not easy to start learning new frameworks. ReactJS has amazing features that make it a great platform. And above all, it is SEO-friendly.
1. Easy for newbies to learn and understand
ReactJS is easy to learn compared to other front-end frameworks. A newbie in the online business world with basic programming knowledge can easily understand React. When dealing with ReactJS, the basic programming knowledge that you need to possess is HTML and CSS. Angular, on the other hand, is more difficult to learn. If you have not familiarized yourself with typescript, then do so before learning Angular. Typescript on its own is not easy to learn, so be prepared for a long learning curve.
2. Simple framework
ReactJS is also much simpler to use than many frameworks or libraries. The well-defined lifecycle and component-based approaches, as well as the use of plain JavaScript, are part of the reasons ReactJS is so simple to understand and learn. With it, anyone with basic programming knowledge can build and support professional mobile and web applications. It also makes use of a unique syntax known as JSX that allows an easy combination of JavaScript and HTML.
3. Allows the reuse of code components
One major advantage Facebook brought with ReactJS is the possibility of reusing code components. Webmasters can now use codes of different levels anytime, and this saves time. Usually, system upgrades are a headache to webmasters, as other components can be affected by any changes made.
With ReactJS, it is easier to manage updates. The reason is that all the components of the system are completely isolated. As a result of this, changes initiated in any of the components will not affect the others. It makes it possible to reuse components that didn’t produce changes, and this makes programming more comfortable and precise for online business owners. You can learn a lot from Alex Grigoryan’s guide on code reusability.
4. Data flows in one direction
Many view-models of JS representation have a disadvantage, where changes in child elements cause changes in the parent. But Facebook took care of this issue with React JS.
React JS uses just one direction data flow – downward. And in this type of structure, there is no way that child elements can affect the parent data. So if a developer wants to change any object, all that is required is to modify the state of that object and update. In the same way, only components permitted will also be upgraded.
The Cons of React
1. Poor documentation of React
New tools are being released every now and then, making documentation more
difficult. New libraries such as Reflux and Redux have made promises to improve the
whole ReactJS ecosystem. Many webmasters struggle with implementing or integrating these latest tools with React. Because many developers think that React technology is upgrading and updating faster than they can comprehend, they personally document any tool they make use of to execute any current projects.
There are diverse problems to be solved.And currently, the ReactJS community is simply not big enough to provide the needed solutions.
Features of Angular 2 VS ReactJS
SEO is obviously vital to webmasters and online business success. The issue React sites have is that content is generated on the client. However, this makes it more difficult for the content to be indexed by Google. The effect of this is that users can search for but will never find a page.
Though one solution to this problem is server-side rendering, the fact is it does not work for everyone. The great news for webmasters is that Google might still find the React component when just the client-side is rendered.
As earlier said, client-side rendering doesn’t prevent Google crawlers from picking up and indexing your site, unless you use React Router, which isn’t search-engine friendly. You can check your website by accessing Google’s search console, which is completely free. Webmasters and online businesses use these tools to check their websites.
When checking a website, these search tools usually request for the “property” of your webpage.
The reason for asking for your property is to verify if you are the original owner of the site. You have to verify by submitting a special document.
Once verification is completed, you can progress to the “Fetch As Google” page Google has provided for website checking. Click “Fetch and Render” to see how Googlebots are viewing your ReactJS-driven page and how they will index it.
Takeaways
ReactJS is a great framework for online business. It is user-friendly and great for SEO purposes. The information in this post is useful to webmasters to have sound knowledge of the ReactJS. You will also know why your React content is not being indexed by Google and the step to take.
Over To You
Are you a techie? If so, what do you think of ReactJS? Can you maybe give a counter-argument in favour of another framework? We’d love to hear from you!
Featured Image: https://www.barcelonacodeschool.com/product/ticket-reactwkndnov4front-end-development-with-react-js-weekend-workshop-20171104/
CURATTI GUEST