ReactJs: best practices for better developments.

React has been used by many front-end engineers at both startups and established companies like: Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, Yahoo, Uber, The New York Times, and more. This is due to the high performance it offers, the ease of use and its scalability.

Some time ago we told you here in our blog about ReactJS, one of the most popular JavaScript libraries for the development of mobile and web applications, and, in that article we explained that React is generally used to build the user interface (front-end) of web applications offering fast page rendering and better performance. Today we want to give you some indications regarding the best practices when using this library so that you can start programming with it.

It is important to remember that good practices or recommendations will always vary depending on the project or the needs that we have as developers, however, there are some that are transversal in most projects. Keep reading!

Good practices for developing with ReactJS

1.Organize the directory structure. There is no set pattern to organizing the folder structure, however, you can organize your directory structure. That is, you can set the resources in such a way that container components are present in one directory, reusable components in another, and so on. The way in which you arrange everything is your decision and depends exclusively on your way of working.

At this point, it is important to distribute everything so that any other developer can understand the relationship of the components by looking at the folder structure and associating it with the project interface.

2.Design simple and reusable components. ReactJs is extremely flexible, allowing developers to create whatever components they want. To take advantage of this, it is important to analyze the functional needs that you must supply with said component and create it in an understandable, intuitive and easy-to-evolve way; so you can reuse it in the future.

A component in React, is a piece of software that allows you to split UI elements into independent, recyclable parts. The components help us to see the construction of the software in a very similar way to a Lego.

3.Do not repeat code. As the code grows, thanks to new functionalities, the programmer must be able to quickly and constantly identify patterns that allow him to simplify instructions.

4.Name your components in the correct way. Since our components must be focused on being reusable, it is important to name them in a way that we can quickly relate them to their functionality. That is, if the name of a component is related to the view in which we use it and not to its functionality, we limit it to being reusable in different views; so, if you have components named by context and not by their function, rename it.

In addition to following these tips, you can also use some of the libraries available for ReactJS, some are:

• React router: Library for building routes, redirects, browsing history and validations.
• Formik: Library for the construction of forms, validations, errors and dynamic fields.
• Expo: It is a set of tools, libraries and services which allow you to develop native apps on iOS and Android written in JavaScript.
• Next.js: Framework for building SSR, routing and SEO-friendly applications based on React.
• Gatsby: Framework for building static websites using React based on JAM stack.
• Redux: Support library for state management in Javascript applications.
• Jest: Library for unit testing and integration in Javascript.
• Testing library: It is a set of testing utilities for user-centric UI testing.

Since its launch, the use of ReactJS has increased significantly, becoming today one of the most used front-end technologies. The most important element of React is "the component"; As a general rule, when designing an application with React, what we are doing is creating independent and reusable components in order to create increasingly complex user interfaces, and here lies the importance of component organization.

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