How to Set Up Server Side Rendering (SSR) With ReactJS

This post will examine various web application rendering types well examine server-side rendering (SSR) in react in detail and contrast its benefits with client-side rendering which is more common undoubtedly a large portion of you launch your apps using react cli also known as creating react app CRA although this tactic has numerous advantages using CRA when developing has some disadvantages as well when you view the pages source code, for instance, you will notice that a webpage from a web app launched using CRA includes a section that is primarily empty and only the part
This is due to the fact that CRA renders your application on the client side, necessitating the user’s browser to download the built.js file prior to the rest of the page loading. The site’s initial load time increases as a result of some web crawlers being unable to index the site.
Does this improve the effectiveness of your app? Yes, this is the situation where React’s server-side rendering is useful.

What is server-side rendering (SSR)?

JavaScript renders your website’s content on the server rather than in the browser using server-side rendering. A PHP or WordPress website, for instance, loads its pages from HTTP content and renders the HTML on the server before sending it.
In contrast, a React application built with CRA only sends the client an a.js file; after that file has loaded, the JavaScript engine of the client’s browser creates the HTML. Typical examples of traditional SSR programming languages and frameworks include PHP, Java, ASP.NET, and Node.js.
Client-side libraries have replaced the classic SSR programs that dominated the early web. Server-side rendered React apps use the Node server platform nowadays, in contrast to earlier server-rendered apps.
Compared to client-side rendered apps, SSR apps have a number of disadvantages, but they also offer faster initial load times and better SEO performance. The server first creates a new page for the browser with each request. As a result, each time a request is sent to the server, the browser will need to reload all of its scripts, styles, and templates.

What are single-page applications?

Single-page applications (SPAs) or client-side rendered (CSR) apps employ JavaScript to render content in the browser rather than refreshing pages after each call to the server. Raw HTML documents are provided by the server, while JavaScript renders the content into HTML.

What are static-generated applications?

Creating static-generated websites requires the use of a static site generator, such as Gatsby. There is no requirement for Node or any other server-side capability in order to publish these static files to a static hosting server. As a result, when the app is first opened in the browser, it operates similarly to a standard SPA. The information is always seen in its entirety right away.
Static-generated programs do not support real-time rendering. Real-time web applications like chat or forum software should not be created using this rendering method.

Why move to React server-side rendering (SSR)?

As I mentioned before, server-side rendering describes the process of rendering and loading a page from the server. However, after the release of server-side (universal) React, things have changed somewhat.
A server-driven initial page loads, whereas client-driven subsequent pages load directly. You get the best of both worlds thanks to the potency of the first server-side material and the speedy subsequent loads, which only request the content necessary for subsequent requests.

What is the Disadvantage of rendering on the server side?

Disadvantages of server-side rendering could include:

As server-side rendering is not the norm for JavaScript websites, the server bears the full cost of rendering content for users and bots, which can be expensive and resource-intensive.

Although it is effective to render static HTML on the server, doing so for larger, more complicated apps can cause load times to rise.

Third-party JavaScript code might not be compatible with server-side rendering.

Although rendering on the server is appropriate for static site generation, more complicated apps may have slower page rendering overall due to frequent server calls and entire page reloads.

Server Side Rendering (SSR) vs Client Side Rendering (CSR)

Instead of getting all the material from the HTML document, client-server rendering renders the content in the browser using a client-side JavaScript library. When a new page loads, the browser does not send a fresh request to the server. Search engine rankings may be adversely affected by client-side generated apps, as the content is not created until the browser loads the page. The developer will evaluate elements including the scope of the project, the complexity of the program, the user base, and user experience priorities when deciding between server-side and client-side rendering.
Along with the above-mentioned advantages, transferring to SSR also comes with the following advantages:
Although it is possible to start without frameworks, I wouldn’t recommend it because a React SSR project has many moving parts and many aspects to consider. You are in charge of performing operations like bundling, minification, hot reloading, and others on your own, for instance.

React SSR frameworks

I suggest investing in a framework if you want to render React on the server side. Think about these frameworks: