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Imo, makes it the best bet for building anything. There's still a new JS framework everyday but if you ignore all that noise and for production-quality softwar

Imo, makes it the best bet for building anything. There's still a new JS framework everyday but if you ignore all that noise and for production-quality software just have a look at React and the most popular meta framework on it, Next.js, you'll be more than alright.

sph 4y ago
Next.js is not a good general purpose React framework. It is good for static sites with sparse dynamic pages but nothing more complex. And the documentation is still woefully inadequate. Don't be like me, choosing to build an entire app on Next.js and hating every moment of it after the honeymoon period ended 2 weeks in. Live and learn.
- tr1ll10nb1ll 4y ago
  You might be much more experienced than me so feel free to discard my suggestions if you objectively know you're right. However, I would strongly disagree with you on the part about it not being suitable for complex applications. If you feel that way, you can choose to have a decoupled backend (which is what I do with Django) or go all in with full-stack integrations (tRPC in conjunction with edge functions) on top of Next.js. I have seen great apps built with both of those ideologies.
- benoits 4y ago
  What do you recommend instead (or are looking at)?
  - sph 4y ago
    Sorry, I wouldn't know. I got out the frontend world after that experience, and I don't think I've seen any solid answer yet.
    - solardev 4y ago
      Can I ask how long you ended up using Next for? Did you quit frontend dev after 2 weeks, or only after working through the challenges etc.? My Next honeymoon has been going on for a couple years now, and I think it's an AMAZING developer experience compared to anything I've worked with before (Perl/PHP/Laravel/Symfony/Angular/jQuery/React)... it's the framework that made me choose to specialize in frontend because it was so nice. What didn't work for you?
      - sph 4y ago
        I designed and led that project for 3 years. The technology choice was mine, so it was a learning experience. Frontend was something I did alongside the rest of the stack, but I've seen so many terrible libraries by inexperienced developers come and go post jQuery, I actively avoid frontend-focused roles now.
        solardev 4y ago
        > I've seen so many terrible libraries by inexperienced developers come and go post jQuery, I actively avoid frontend-focused roles now. I don't blame you, heh. Every year I feel like the fragmentation is getting worse, not better. It's fun for a while, but makes it really hard to plan for long-term stability and maintainability. It's likely anything I write today will be unusable in 2 years.
        sph 4y ago
        I am still annoyed I took the time to learn Webpack and its overly complex configuration a few years back, and the world has already forgotten all about it. There definitely is the feeling that learning a new frontend library is a terrible use of your time.
- leerob 4y ago
  Hey there, I'm on the Next.js team. Sorry about this experience. I would argue Next.js is a general purpose React framework – we enable you to take advantage of all the latest React features. Apologies if there was a gap in the documentation. Could you share more so we can improve? You can also email lee at vercel dot com.

sph 4y ago

Next.js is not a good general purpose React framework. It is good for static sites with sparse dynamic pages but nothing more complex. And the documentation is still woefully inadequate. Don't be like me, choosing to build an entire app on Next.js and hating every moment of it after the honeymoon period ended 2 weeks in. Live and learn.

tr1ll10nb1ll 4y ago
You might be much more experienced than me so feel free to discard my suggestions if you objectively know you're right. However, I would strongly disagree with you on the part about it not being suitable for complex applications. If you feel that way, you can choose to have a decoupled backend (which is what I do with Django) or go all in with full-stack integrations (tRPC in conjunction with edge functions) on top of Next.js. I have seen great apps built with both of those ideologies.
benoits 4y ago
What do you recommend instead (or are looking at)?
- sph 4y ago
  Sorry, I wouldn't know. I got out the frontend world after that experience, and I don't think I've seen any solid answer yet.
  - solardev 4y ago
    Can I ask how long you ended up using Next for? Did you quit frontend dev after 2 weeks, or only after working through the challenges etc.? My Next honeymoon has been going on for a couple years now, and I think it's an AMAZING developer experience compared to anything I've worked with before (Perl/PHP/Laravel/Symfony/Angular/jQuery/React)... it's the framework that made me choose to specialize in frontend because it was so nice. What didn't work for you?
    - sph 4y ago
      I designed and led that project for 3 years. The technology choice was mine, so it was a learning experience. Frontend was something I did alongside the rest of the stack, but I've seen so many terrible libraries by inexperienced developers come and go post jQuery, I actively avoid frontend-focused roles now.
      - solardev 4y ago
        > I've seen so many terrible libraries by inexperienced developers come and go post jQuery, I actively avoid frontend-focused roles now. I don't blame you, heh. Every year I feel like the fragmentation is getting worse, not better. It's fun for a while, but makes it really hard to plan for long-term stability and maintainability. It's likely anything I write today will be unusable in 2 years.
        sph 4y ago
        I am still annoyed I took the time to learn Webpack and its overly complex configuration a few years back, and the world has already forgotten all about it. There definitely is the feeling that learning a new frontend library is a terrible use of your time.
leerob 4y ago
Hey there, I'm on the Next.js team. Sorry about this experience. I would argue Next.js is a general purpose React framework – we enable you to take advantage of all the latest React features. Apologies if there was a gap in the documentation. Could you share more so we can improve? You can also email lee at vercel dot com.