Top 6 React JS Best Practices
React/ReactJS framework has remained on the list of the most popular libraries for developing UIs when developing web apps. It is widely used by tech giants and also has a vast user community.
As ReactJS is a feature-rich and open-source JS library, developers prefer to choose this library while developing a dynamic frontend. If you are thinking of a suitable front end for your project, React can be one of the best alternatives available.
When you recruit India based reactjs programmers, make sure that they are skilled in developing easily scalable, user-friendly, and manageable projects. However, to develop such a productive web app, there are certain ReactJS best practices that developers should implement in their projects.
In this article, we will discuss the top 6 ReactJS best practices that will help developers quickly build React web apps. Let’s discuss them.
Why is it essential to implement React best practices?
Writing code for creating apps is not enough, the code should be maintainable and clean. Before switching over to React best practices, let’s see why it is necessary to implement them.
A developer must understand that only coding will not help them to build a dynamic app. Their code should be scalable, maintainable, and reliable.
Code readability is the priority. The software requires a whole team for its maintenance and support. Hence, one should maintain coding standards that improve code readability so other developers can easily understand that code.
Like different products, your software should also be clean and well-packed. Implementing the best practices will help you write cleaner code.
Now, let’s see which React best practices should be used by React developers for the easy development of web apps.
Top 6 ReactJS Best Practices to implement in your React project
Let us see which six practices are essential to implement in React project development.
1# Develop and use Reusable Components
React reusable components serve as part of the UI used in different parts of the app that helps you develop more as compared to UI instances.
When you see a button component at various places in the app that too with different colors and features, it is just one button component that is updated as needed and reused at different places.
Additionally, there’s a rule of one component = one function, which enhances the reusability of components. One should skip trying to develop a new component for each function. Instead, one should reuse components in different places in your project. This process will help you get consistency across the whole project.
In some situations where a component is huge, and gets difficult to manage, you can break it into smaller components. Developers should make sure that components can be abstract but not over complex. Here’s an example:
class IconButton extends React. Component {
[…]
render() {
return (
<button onClick={this.props.onClick()}>
<i class={this.props.iconClass}></i>
</button>
);
}
}
This is a simple instance of a reusable button component.
2# Follow a proper coding structure
Primarily, there’s no defined structure, but here are some coding styles that developers should follow throughout the app codebase. Here are some points that will explain how to structure your code:
Put all the import tags at the top of the code. You can prioritize them as follows:
React imports <> Library imports <> import * as <> import ./<some file>Ensure that all import tags are in new lines each, and this will make the code readable, clear and understandable.
Utilize index.js for every folder for exporting so that all imports get referenced on this file, and there’s no need to write import statements in every file.
In React both double quotes and single quotes are used and if the consistency is not maintained, it will create confusion. So, use any one type of quote throughout the code.
Consider using double quotes for JSX and single quotes for JS.
Mostly beginners will merge two-three components in one file and play with that. However, it’s not a good practice. Hence, divide the whole project into components and start working on them one by one.
When you try to use CSS with JSX, it’s not a good practice. Make the className of every element and their styling should be put under suitable CSS files.
3# Use Children’s Props
JSX expressions should precisely consist of opening and closing tags. The in-between content is called distinct prop: props.children.
This content is a robust part of the React documentation & props.children is a special prop that passes automatically to every component. The aim is to choose the information between the opening & closing tags while invoking components.
Stack Overflows survey suggests that 68.9% of responses show interest in getting engagement with the React framework.
The capacity to get and render child properties is one of the most popular components of the ReactJS framework. It makes it effortless to develop reusable components. Everything you need to perform is- enclose the props.children with certain actions or markup:
function house(props) {
return <h3> Hello { props.children }!</h3>;
}
function room() {
return (
<>
<h1>How Are You?</h1>
<house type=”duplex” />
</>
);
}
4# Adhere to the Naming Convention
An accurate naming convention improves the code readability. It applies to variable names as well as component names, and also to hooks.
The documentation of React will not offer an official pattern for naming the components. There are two popular naming conventions known as PascalCase and camelCase.
PascalCase is used mostly for different component names:
import React from ‘react’;
function StudentList() {
return (
<div>StudentList</div>
)
}
export default StudentList
The component mentioned above is StudentList, and its name is quite readable than studentlist or Studentlist.
Simultaneously, the camelCase convention is used for Hooks, variables, arrays, functions, etc.
Here’s an example of camelCase:
const [firstName, setFirstName] = useState(“Kavya”);
const studentList = [];
const studentObject = {};
const getStudent = () => {}
5# Organizing similar files in one folder
While deciding the folder structure of your React app, you can choose the component-centric structure. It means that you can store all files of one component in a single folder.
If you are developing a Navbar, for instance, create one folder and name it Navbar. It can contain component files, style sheets, and different JS files and assets that are created for the Navbar component.
A single folder can be the collection of all component files and makes it easy to share, reuse, and debug. When you want to know how any component works, you only need to open one folder for that.
Here are some additional React best practices:
Keep the reusable components in a separate folder. If there are components that are used in more than one area of your app, place them in a folder named Components. Through this process, one can locate the components easily.
Utilize the index file for abstracting the implementation factors of the component file. Keep in mind the Navbar instance, make a separate Navbar folder & in it, add the file named index.ts or .js.
Try to keep the utility functions in one distinct folder like helpers or lib. This folder will assist you to reuse and manage functions in the later phase.
6# Use Linter
The Linter tool will help you improvise your code quality. ESlint is one of the popular Linter tools used for JS and React frameworks. But how does this tool help in improving the quality of the code?
This tool helps in maintaining consistency in the code. When using a similar tool, you can decide the rules that you want your developer’s team to work on while working on that project. These rules can include project requirements, whether to use double or single quotes, braces, which naming convention should be used, etc.
ESlint will observe your code and will notify you when any coding rule is broken. The line or keyword that breaks the rule will be underlined in red color. So, it is easily noticeable where the error is generated.
As every programmer writes code as per their coding style, the linter tool helps them to code in a similar style.
These tools can also fix bugs quickly. We can find spelling mistakes, variables that are left unused after being declared, and similar functions. Mostly small errors are fixed automatically while you are writing the code.
ReactJS Best Practices- Final Verdict
These six ReactJS best practices that we discussed in this article will help you develop your React app quickly. If you want to know more about best practices, comment in the below section. We will get back to you in no time. Till then, if you are planning to choose React for your next project, it can be a suitable option for frontend development if it fulfills your requirements.