Latest Tutorials

There’s always been a love-hate relationship with front-end devs and Angular. It’s a really powerful framework, and yet so hard to get into it, especially if you’re a newer engineer. Thankfully, Angular keeps evolving, year by year, and continuously offerring better, easier, and more efficient ways to manage data and reactivity. One such evolution is the conversion of observables to signals using Angular's interoperability API. This post explores this transformative process and its significance in enhancing application reactivity and performance. In Angular, observables are a core part of managing data streams, particularly when fetching data from REST APIs. They provide a powerful way to handle asynchronous data flows. However, managing these observables, especially in complex applications, can become challenging. This is where signals come in, offering a simpler and more reactive way to handle data. The toSignal method, a part of Angular's interoperability API, is pivotal in converting observables to signals. It enhances data stream management, making applications more efficient and responsive. The toSignal API accepts various data types and a source, such as data from a REST API, and can also take an initial value, defaulting to 'undefined' if not provided. A basic example of the toSignal API in use: In this instance, fetchData is a function that returns an observable from a REST API, which is then transformed into a signal. Angular's reactive primitives - effects, computed, and signal - play a crucial role in managing state reactively. The focus here is on the computed primitive, which wraps the environment and implements the first reactive primitive. An observable variable is created to hold API response data, which is then converted to a signal. To utilize the products signal in a component, Angular 17's new @For loop syntax provides a better alternative to the traditional ngFor . This integration significantly simplifies the component's code and enhances reactivity. The conversion offers several advantages: Converting observables to signals in Angular represents a significant step towards more efficient and reactive web applications. By understanding and implementing this process, developers can optimize the performance and maintainability of their applications. As Angular continues to evolve, embracing these advancements is key to staying ahead in the dynamic world of web development. In our next post, we'll delve deeper into sharing data between different components using signals, further enhancing our understanding of Angular's reactivity and boosting application efficiency.

If you’ve read the previous blog posts about server components and state management on this page, you’ll see they’re exceptionally informative, but they might lack a bit in the “real-world application” part. This post is here to change this. Let’s dive into some real-world case studies highlighting the proper use of server & client components to optimize web applications. Consider an e-commerce platform experiencing slow load times due to heavy client-side rendering. The site initially used client components to display product listings, prices, and descriptions, causing delays in page loading and poor user experience. Solution : The development team refactored the product listing page, shifting the rendering of product information to server components. This change reduced the initial load time, as the server pre-rendered the product data, sending a fully formed HTML page to the client. The result was a significant decrease in load time and an increase in user engagement and sales. A project management tool struggled with rendering complex task lists and user data. The unnecessary back-and-forth between client and server to request and render the data resulted in increased load times. After rendering, the component needs to trigger a request to the server, where the actual database query will be performed, and then the data needs to travel back to the client component. Solution : The team tackled the issue by refactoring the task list and user information sections into server components. By using server components, they avoided queried the database query before the components got rendered and got rid of the roundtrip. Rendering this data on the server and sending it to the client, the tool's performance improved dramatically and users experienced faster access to their tasks and personal data, enhancing overall productivity and satisfaction with the tool. A social media platform faced challenges with slow interactivity, particularly in loading user feeds and notifications. The reliance on client components for real-time data updates was impacting the site's responsiveness. Solution : The developers implemented a hybrid approach. They used server components to handle initial feed and notification loading, and client components for real-time updates and interactions. This approach balanced the load between the server and client, leading to a more responsive and engaging user experience. These case studies demonstrate the tangible benefits of applying smart page architecture principles: To apply these lessons in your projects: The case studies highlighted in this post offer a glimpse into the practical application of page architecture in optimizing web applications. By understanding when and how to use server and client components, developers can create web applications that are not only performant but also deliver an even better user experience.

I might risk sounding controversial with this one, but refactoring is not just changing and tweaking a few variables here and there, or moving a function 5 lines up. Refactoring is a form of art. It's about rethinking how each piece contributes to the overall performance and user experience of a web application. In this post, we dive into how smart page architecture, specifically the interplay of server and client components, can significantly enhance the functionality of your web apps. Understanding the roles of server and client components is crucial. Server components, which run on the server, are perfect for non-interactive elements and tasks requiring heavy data processing. They boost performance by reducing the load on the client. Client components, on the other hand, are ideal for interactive elements that require immediate user feedback. Refactoring for enhanced functionality involves more than just rearranging code; it requires a strategic approach to deciding what runs where. The goal is to optimize both performance and interactivity. Consider a task list component in a project management app. Initially, the component might pull a list of tasks from a global state on the client side. This setup works but can be optimized. By passing the initial list of tasks as a prop from a server component, we cut down on unnecessary server requests, thereby reducing loading time and improving performance. Another example is a user information display. If the original code fetches user data via an API call, causing delays, refactoring it as a server component can streamline the process. By fetching and rendering user data on the server, we ensure that the information is ready as soon as the user accesses the page, enhancing the user experience. The advantages of well-thought-out page architecture are manifold: To effectively refactor your web app's components: Refactoring with a focus on smart page architecture is a powerful way to enhance both the performance and functionality of your web applications. By judiciously using server and client components, you can create apps that are not only fast and efficient but also provide an engaging and responsive user experience. In our next post, we'll explore case studies demonstrating these principles in action, providing you with real-world insights into how effective page architecture can solve common development challenges. Stay tuned to elevate your web development skills further.

Server components came into the world of web development with the intention of shaking things up. But, two years later, most people still avoid them, either because they don’t want to use them, or because they don’t know how. This is normal, as server components require a different way of thinking and by using them, the line that separates client from server is muddier than ever. This especially impacts state management as there’s data that needs to be accessible by various components, some of which might live on the client, while others might exist on the server. Thankfully, understanding server components and how to pass state between them and the client has never been easier. With the introduction of server components, modern websites become both faster and more interactive, resulting in a better user experience. But if you know how to use client and server components correctly, it also results in less code and easy, simple structures, which also means a better development experience. It’s a win for everyone except the ones that choose to stay behind. This course teaches you not only what you need to know about client components, server components, and state management, but also custom ways you can use starting today to properly architect your page so that you can simply, seamlessly, and inuitively choose the right type of component for the right place. Your teacher through this course is none other than Fernando Doglio, who has been teaching what he knows for over a decade now, has written 8 books on JavaScript, and has several MILLION views on Medium, spreading across 400+ technical articles. The course offers a deep dive into using server components alongside client components. It covers: "Next.js Complex State Management Patterns with RSC" is all about delivering value without wasting your time. We removed all fluff so you can consume and already start implementing the stuff in this course in one afternoon. For front-end developers looking to stay on top of their game and not get left behind when most apps inevitably switch to a combination of client and server components, understanding and utilizing this new thing is crucial. "Next.js Complex State Management Patterns with RSC" offers the knowledge and tools needed to build a modern app the right way confidently. If you’ve been thinking about learning how to use server components and handle state management, now’s the time to do it. Enroll in "Next.js Complex State Management Patterns with RSC" today and take advantage of the limited-time 20% discount.

Knowing how to approach CSS layout can be challenging for web development. Knowing where to start can be so tricky. This problem worsens when we hear CSS Flexbox is for one-dimensional layouts and CSS Grid is for two-dimensional layouts. Not only is this misleading advice, it does nothing to help you know how to start tackling a problem like laying out a simple landing page. No wonder developers gravitate to using a 12-column grid system. Unfortunately, this only delays the problem because, eventually, you will run into a scenario that can only be solved with a 12-column grid. Then you are stuck throwing "mud on the wall" in hopes your layout will stick, leaving you too scared to change a single property since you are never quite sure which combination of CSS properties you need to make it work. However, embracing design patterns simplifies the process. It forces you to think about what technology you should use rather than what problem you must solve. Once you understand your problem more clearly, the choice of display properties is apparent. Ultimately, embracing design patterns creates more maintainable CSS. This tutorial will explore common design patterns, namely The Stack and The Inline Clusters, and how to implement them using Grid and Flexbox. For any design pattern, it is essential first to understand what problem it solves. The Stack design pattern solves the problem of needing to place items on top of each other while maintaining a consistent vertical space between them. You can achieve a Stacking layout using either Flexbox or CSS Grid: Both the CSS Grid and CSS Flexbox achieve the same layout. This highlights that it isn't about asking Flexbox or Grid, but rather what problem I need to solve. Stacking items vertically is one thing, but stacking items horizontally is another. One doesn't just need to place more than one item next to the others; one also needs to align elements vertically and horizontally in that row. This is especially difficult when dealing with different content sizes. The Solution to this problem is the Inline Clusters pattern. The Inline Cluster will place content in a row and will cluster the content according to a specified justification. If you only want to place items inline, you can use CSS Grid. Unfortunately, based on the content justification, this won't achieve the clustering we want. To accomplish that, we would need a flexbox.      The content will be placed inline and then responsively clustered when it runs out of the horizontal room. These are only two of the design patterns you can use. As you can see, design patterns help you identify the problem you need to solve and then give you the freedom to solve that problem however makes the most sense. By learning other patterns such as the Cover Pattern, The Center Pattern, The ColumnDrop, and the Grid patterns, you add even more tools to your proverbial tool belt to help you solve layout challenges. The best part is that once you have solutions like the ones above, you don't have to recreate them. Most layouts on the web are not that unique. They can typically be solved using a handful of design patterns combined together. This helps streamline your development process since you don't have to keep solving the same problems over and over again. Design patterns help you overcome common layout challenges and streamline your development process by incorporating design patterns like Stack, Inline Clusters, Cover, and Grid into your CSS toolkit. These patterns enhance the readability and maintainability of your code and contribute to creating visually stunning and responsive web layouts. Experiment with these patterns in your projects, and witness the transformative power they bring to your CSS skills. Happy coding!