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Next.js Roadmap: Beginner to Advanced


This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kyle Y. Parsotan

⚡ Next.js Roadmap: Beginner to Advanced

🟢 1. Prerequisites

Before diving into Next.js, make sure you’re comfortable with:

  • HTML & CSS: Structure and styling
  • JavaScript (ES6+): Arrow functions, destructuring, modules
  • React: Components, props, state, hooks (useState, useEffect)

🔵 2. Getting Started with Next.js

  • Install with npx create-next-app
  • Understand the file structure (pages, public, styles)
  • Learn how routing works with the pages directory
  • Create your first page and navigate with Link

🟣 3. Rendering Strategies

Next.js supports multiple rendering methods:

Method Description
Static Generation (SSG) Pre-renders at build time (getStaticProps)
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) Renders on each request (getServerSideProps)
Client-Side Rendering (CSR) Traditional React rendering
Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) Updates static pages after deployment

🟠 4. Routing & Navigation

  • Dynamic routes (pages/blog/[id].js)
  • Catch-all routes (pages/docs/[...slug].js)
  • Programmatic navigation with useRouter
  • Middleware (Next 13+) for advanced routing logic

🟡 5. Styling in Next.js

Choose your preferred method:

  • CSS Modules (built-in)
  • Tailwind CSS (popular utility-first)
  • Styled-components or Emotion (CSS-in-JS)
  • Global styles with globals.css

🟤 6. Data Fetching & APIs

  • Use getStaticProps and getServerSideProps
  • Create API routes in pages/api
  • Fetch data with fetch or axios
  • Use SWR or React Query for client-side caching

⚪ 7. Authentication & Authorization

  • Use libraries like NextAuth.js or Clerk
  • Protect routes with middleware or server-side checks
  • Handle sessions and tokens securely

🧪 8. Testing

  • Unit testing with Jest
  • Component testing with React Testing Library
  • E2E testing with Cypress or Playwright

🚀 9. Deployment & Optimization

  • Deploy to Vercel (official platform)
  • Use environment variables
  • Image optimization with next/image
  • Performance tuning with Lighthouse and Web Vitals

🧠 10. Advanced Features

  • App Router (Next.js 13+): app/ directory, layouts, server components
  • Middleware for request handling
  • Internationalization (i18n)
  • Static file serving from public/
  • Custom _app.js and _document.js for global config

📚 Recommended Resources


This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kyle Y. Parsotan