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React Components

React is component-based, meaning that everything is a component. For example, you could create a Button component like the one on Design+Code's home page. Components make the code easier to read and cleaner, as they are reusable throughout the website.

Design+Code home page

Component are JavaScript functions that contains JSX elements, which is a mix of Javascript and HTML. A simple function component looks like this:

import React from "react"

const MyButtonComponent = () => {
		return <button>Sign in</button>;
}

export default MyButtonComponent

Learn more about Components in the React Component section of this handbook.

React Hooks

React Hooks make React even simpler. Without writing a class, Hooks lets you control your functional component's state and lifecycle, as well as other features with only a few lines of code. For example, you can import the useState hook into your file and manage your component's state with it:

const [state, setState] = useState(initialValue)

You can also manage your component's lifecycle with useEffect. This replaces the old componentDidMount, componentWillUpdate and componentWillUnmount.

useEffect(() => {
    // code
}, [])

Many other hooks are also available in React Hooks - you can even create your own custom hooks! Learn more about hooks in the following sections of this handbook:

Frameworks

React also comes with a many frameworks that you can use to create and deploy your project faster.

  • Gatsby is a framework for React, and lets you create static content-oriented websites. It takes care of all the configuration for you. Complex websites can also be created with Gatsby - for example, the current Design+Code website was built on Gatsby. You can learn more on how to create your first Gatsby website in the Gatsby and React section of this handbook.
  • NextJS is another framework that you can use to create a server-rendered website using Node.js. You can learn more about the NextJS by reading their documentation.
  • Use Netlify to deploy your web application and let the world see your amazing work! It's easy to integrate Netlify with Github, and builds can be automatically triggered every time you push to your main branch.

Gatsby Home page

Packages

React has tons of packages and libraries that you can utilize for purposes such as navigation, routing, UI components, animations, forms, and so much more! In these packages, everything is already coded for you and you simply need to use it! Some useful React packages are:

If you're using Gatsby, more than 2500 plugins are also available to you. Here are some plugins that might interest you:

  • Contentful, used as a Content Management System.
  • Google Analytics, to measure your website's performance and track user engagement.
  • Stripe, to integrate payments in your Gatsby application.
  • Vimeo, to add videos to your Gatsby application.

React Helmet on NPM

Further learning

You can learn more about React and React Hooks by exploring the other sections of this React Handbook. I also recommend following the React for Designers course as well as the React Hooks course to learn how to create a beautiful project based on React.

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Create your first React app

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Videos

ePub

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Subtitles

1

Intro to React Hooks

An overview of React Hooks and the frameworks you can use to build your React application blazingly fast

3:39

2

Create your first React app

Create your first React project from the Terminal and save it on your local computer

4:23

3

React Component

Create your first JSX component using React

2:54

4

Styling in React

How to style your React components using inline styling, separate stylesheets or styled-components

5:06

5

Styles and Props

Render different styles depending on different properties passed to your component

2:22

6

Understanding Hooks

Learn about the basics of React Hooks, which introduced at React Conf 2018

3:21

7

useState Hook

Use the useState hook to manage local state in your React component

2:54

8

useEffect Hook

Manage with your component's lifecycle with the useEffect hook

3:41

9

useRef Hook

Learn about the useRef hook, which replaces the JavaScript getElementById way

3:00

10

Props

Learn about props in React to pass data from parent to child components

3:11

11

Conditional Rendering

Render different UIs depending on different conditions and states

4:21

12

Load Local Data

Load local JSON data into your React application

4:04

13

Fetch Data from an API

Learn the basics of asynchronous functions and promises by fetching data from an API using fetch, useEffect and useState

5:40

14

Toggle a state

Learn how to toggle a state from true to false and back again

4:05

15

useInput Hook

Create a hook to get the value and the onChange event of input fields

6:04

16

Gatsby and React

Create a static content-oriented website using React on Gatsby

6:44

17

NextJS and React

Create your first NextJS React application

5:24

18

React TypeScript Part 1

Learn how to create a React TypeScript application using the Create React App, Gatsby and NextJS methods

8:19

19

React TypeScript Part 2

Learn the basics of TypeScript and how to use TypeScript in a React component

7:35

20

useScrollPosition Hook

Create a custom hook to listen to the current window position of the user

4:26

21

useOnScreen hook

Create a custom hook to listen to when an element is visible on screen

8:08

22

useContext Hook

Manage global states throughout the entire application

8:32

23

Fragments

Group multiple children together with React Fragments

2:43

24

Lazy Loading

Lazy Load heavy components to improve performance

4:05

25

React Suspense

Wait for data with React Suspense and React.lazy

3:13

26

Environment Variables

Make environment variables secret with a .env file

4:43

27

Reach Router

Create a multiple-pages React application with Reach Router

5:31

28

URL Params

Create unique URL with URL Params

4:04

29

SEO and Metadata

Optimize a React application for search engines with React Helmet

6:47

30

Favicon

Add an icon to a React website

3:03

31

Dynamic Favicon

Change the favicon's fill color depending on the user's system appearance

2:14

32

PropTypes

Implement props type-checking with PropTypes

3:54

33

Custom PropTypes

Create a custom PropType using a validator function

3:58

34

useMemo Hook

Prevent unnecessary re-renders when the component stays the same

4:05

35

forwardRef Hook

Forward a ref to a child component

3:28

36

Handling Events

How to handle events in React

5:44

37

Spread attributes

Learn how to make use of the spread operator

3:35

38

useMousePosition Hook

Detect the user's mouse position on a bound element

4:55

39

useReducer with useContext Part 1

Create a reducer to be used in a context

7:33

40

useReducer with useContext Part 2

Incorporate useReducer with useContext

6:48

41

useReducer with useContext Part 3

Connect the context and reducer with the frontend

5:43

42

Netlify

Deploy to production using Netlify

5:08

43

Gatsby Cloud

Deploy to production using Gatsby Cloud

6:19

44

Gatsby Plugin Image

Use gatsby-plugin-image for automatic image resizing, formatting, and higher performance

8:11

45

useOnClickOutside Hook

Toggle a modal visibility with a useOnClickOutside hook

6:32

46

useWindowSize Hook

Create a hook to determine the width and height of the window

4:14

47

usePageBottom hook

Detect if the user scrolled to the bottom of the page

4:48

48

useLocalStorage Hook

Store an item in a browser's local storage

5:27

49

Three.js in React Part 1

Bring your website to life with beautiful 3D objects

17:33

50

Three.js in React Part 2

Bring your website to life with beautiful 3D objects

11:18