Getting started in React

To begin creating an interface in React, the first thing we need to do is break down the interface into conceptual components. We start with a large component, for instance, a news feed. We then say our large component is made up of, or composed of, other smaller components. In the case of our news feed, these smaller components might be individual news items. Each news item, in turn, might be composed of several even smaller components, such as images, a description, and a byline.

This process should continue until the smallest components are bite-sized, reusable visual units that can no longer be easily broken down into smaller pieces. Doing this exercise sets us up well for writing our first code in React. Here is what this process might look like for our hypothetical news reader application.

First, identify and give a name to the largest component we can find, in this case, a NewsFeed:

Now, draw boxes around the next largest set of components, the NewsItem components:

Next, we can zoom in on a single NewsItem and identify the components that it is made of. Here, we can see that there is an Image, a Title, a Description and a Byline:

We've now laid the groundwork to start creating a React application. We have identified six components and their relationships: the NewsFeed, which is composed of NewsItem components, which in turn are composed of Image, Title, Description, and Byline components.