Summary

In this chapter, you learned that React can be rendered on the server, in addition to the client. There are several reasons for doing this, such as sharing common code between the frontend and the backend. The main advantage of server-side rendering is the performance boost that you get on the initial page load. This translates to a better user experience and, therefore, a better product.

Then, you progressively improved a server-side React application, starting with a single-page render. You were also introduced to routing, client-side reconciliation, and component data fetching to produce a complete backend rendering solution using Next.js.

In the next chapter, you'll learn how to implement modern React UI components using Material UI.