10 React Best Practices to Improve Your React Code

No matter how considerable time has passed and what competitors appear on the market, React is still at the top of frameworks. So, look through our tips, let us know if you have any more questions, recommendations or best practices that the React or developer community may adopt. And feel free to hire react js developer.

What is React? Usage of React

Since it simply needs a basic understanding of HTML and JavaScript, React has become increasingly popular among react development businesses as a front-end web development solution. One of the most popular front-end JavaScript libraries for building web applications is ReactJs. React has been chosen above other well-known libraries and frameworks for creating sophisticated user interfaces by about 8,000 firms worldwide.

React.js is an open-source JavaScript programming language framework. With this framework, developers can create user interfaces of different levels of complexity for single-page applications. You can use this technology to handle the presentation level of web and mobile applications. React currently has the largest community of any other framework. Take advantage of open data libraries and react tips from creators react best practices of around the world to make your interaction with the framework as productive as possible.

React was first used in the Facebook social networking feed in 2011. With this framework, developers can create react archit ecture diagram large web and mobile apps and modify data without reloading the page. It’s a fast, simple, and scalable framework. Use reactjs best practices with a combination of other libraries to create interesting applications. So here we go with react JS best practices. 

For writing substantially less code than you would, for instance, with vanilla JavaScript when creating interactive user interfaces and web applications. By building reusable components—which you may conceive of as separate Lego blocks—you design your applications with React. Components in React represent any composable behavior, including state, lifecycle, and rendering. Some external libraries, such as Relay, provide components additional duties, like describing data dependencies. It’s ok that those concepts will return to React in some other form as well.

React Challenges

Though React solves the problems of front-end developers when developing interfaces for dynamic websites and SPA applications, there are specific challenges of React each developer may face during the work. Redrawing the classic bundle of JavaScript and HTML outwardly becomes much more complicated. React, on the other hand, does not limit the possibilities of the developer, unlike any frameworks.

Why do managers of many companies choose React, although they are often poorly acknowledged in development? They just think that it will be easier to find developers this way. That’s right, the job market for React is huge. Anyway, the tools must be selected for the project particularly. Ideally, the choice should be made by the developers themselves. If it’s React, great, everyone is happy.

React is definitely an excellent solution for custom projects. Practically it does not limit you in anything, allowing you to do what you want and how you want. If you have some design experience and a sense of beauty, you can make some cool stuff. However, there is always a price to pay for freedom. And that’s another React challenges.

If you work on one React project, for example, it means working on ONE React project simultaneously. Each developer has his own vision of how to write React code and organize the application architecture. And often, these differences are quite significant from developer to developer.  Below, you will also find more practices to overcome the challenges and improve the work.

React Best Practices

Shall we begin with React component best practices? Let’s take a look at some best practices for using this framework. Follow these simple react programming tips to make your React application competitive and work correctly. Hire reactjs developers. The practices we mentioned are successful examples of how you can improve the functioning of your project.

1.Keep components small and function-specific

What are the benefits of components? It is known that thanks to the React framework, you can get huge components that help you accomplish several tasks. But the best way to design components is, of course, to make them simple and small. That way, you can provide one component to perform just one function. If a single component can render a certain part of an application page or change its behavior, you have done your design task well. 

Components will most often be completely self-contained. That makes maintenance and testing at different stages of development much easier. It’s also important that developers reuse each component in numerous projects at once. You can borrow components that perform common functions from community react js development forums. Remember that the smaller the component, the easier it is to optimize performance and the update process. 

For example, we can move this function into a separate file:

export function capitalizeFirstLetter(string) { return string.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + string.slice(1); }

And then import it into the component:

import { capitalizeFirstLetter } from ‘./stringlib’;

As you can see, we  keep functions pure; smaller components give you more room to implement your projects. At the same time, larger components will take up more space and be less flexible. You can use components as you see fit and combine them depending on the goals and needs of your particular project. Take advantage of the expertise of the framework community because there are many solutions for different tasks.

2.Put CSS in JavaScript

At the first stage of project development, keeping all CSS styles in a single SCSS file is usual. By implementing a global prefix, you can prevent all possible name conflicts. Still, there are cases where this solution will not be appropriate—for example, scaling a project. To develop the best and most appropriate code for large-scale web applications, we frequently adjust:

  
    

//Box.jsx

import React from “react”;

import “./box.css”;const Box = () => <div className=”box-text”>Wesionary Team</div>;

export default Box;//Box.css

.box-text {

    display: flex;

    align-items: center;

    justify-content: center;

    height: 100px;

    width: 100px;

    background-color: rgb(206, 65, 65);

    border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);

}

  

Creating a style and theme can be very challenging during the development of large projects. However, maintaining these large SCSS files is not an easy task either. It is the reason why the concept of CSS-in-JS solutions appeared. Such libraries are based on this concept: EmotionJS, Styled Components, Glamorous. 

Use the libraries listed above, depending on what your project requirements are. For example, you can use Styled Components or Glamorous for more complex themes.

3.Use a linter

Linking is one of the important elements in the project development process that allows you to run a program to analyze the code for possible errors. 

For example: During set up, use yarn create react-app react-linting or npx create-react-app react-linting to construct a React app to get started. We must expand the default configuration of Build React App, which already includes some of the required ESLint packages.

Usually, developers use this element to solve problems related to the programming language. However, you can also use it to fix other issues, such as incorrect code style, automatically. If you use the linter in your React code, you can keep your code free of bugs and errors.

4.Comment only where necessary

It is one of the framework’s best practices react and an opportunity to achieve two goals simultaneously. Use the ability to leave comments only when necessary and benefit the development process. 

For example:

That way, you can leave visual clutter in the code and avoid possible conflict between comments and code. If you are going to change the code later on, comments can prevent your product from working correctly.So remember that you should only leave comments where you can’t otherwise. 

5.Use capitals for component names

If you use JSX for development, all new component names must start with capital letters. It is necessary so that JSX can identify and handle them differently from the default HTML tags.

Here’s an example that provides the correct output using capital letters:

  
    

import React, { Component } from “react”;

import ReactDOM from “react-dom”;
class Button extends Component {

    render() {

        return <button className=”App-button”>Yo!</button>;

    }

}
ReactDOM.render(<Button />;, document.getElementById(“root”));

  

If your application is not written in JSX, you can use lowercase letters again. However, keep in mind that this may affect the reuse of components in other projects.

6.Separate stateful aspects from rendering

All components in the React framework may or may not have been stated. Those components with state tracking capability store the component’s state data and provide the necessary context for development. 

On the other hand, those components without a state have no memory and cannot provide context for other UI components. They take input from the parent component and return JSX elements in return. Keep in mind that it’s possible to scale and reuse them, and it’s also similar to pure functions in JavaScript.

One of the best React good practices is to keep the structure and loading logic of external data with state preservation separate from the rendering logic without state preservation. In that case, you’re better off having multiple or one component with state tracking to load data and a separate component without a state to display that information. It reduces the complexity of the components considerably.

Later versions of React have an advanced feature called React Hooks, which gives you the ability to create components for state tracking functions. As a result, this makes it possible to remove the need for class-based components.

Let’s say your project receives information during rendering. You need to manage the information in the main component and then pass the complex rendering task to a subcomponent as properties.

7.The code should be testable

The code you write as part of your project can easily be tested and verified. Keep this simple rule in mind when writing code. By the way, here’s one of the best react practices. Give test files the same name as the original file, adding the suffix ‘.test.’ It will make it much easier for developers to find files that have already been tested before.

Use applications like Cypress.io or JEST to test your React code. Your project code should behave properly and be easily and quickly tested by testers. If your code is difficult to test, you will have problems with other phases of project development.

8.All files related to anyone component should be in a single folder

An obvious but important tip is that you should keep all files that belong to the same component in the same folder. It also applies to code-style files. Thus, each component folder should include a group of files corresponding to it. It keeps the hierarchy consistent across the entire codebase. Component.js, Component.css, and Component.test.js are required files in your app’s directory structure:

  
    

└── /src

├── /assets – Contains static assets such as images, svgs, company logo etc.

├── /components – reusable components like navigation bar, buttons, forms

├── /services – JavaSript modules

├── /store – redux store

├── /utils – utilities, helpers, constants.

├── /views/pages – majority of the app pages would be here

├── index.js

└── App.js

  

One folder should contain CSS styles, images, tests, and other subcomponents related to a specific component. If you name the files succinctly and logically place similar and related files together, you’ll have an easier time finding them later if required.

9.Use defaultProps and propTypes

As your project grows, you may notice a few bugs with type checking. For specific projects, you can use JavaScript applications such as Flow or TypeScript. However, React still has basic type checking capabilities if you don’t use them. To trigger type checking for component props, you can assign a special propTypes property, which you’ll find React services best practices thanks to the large community of users of this framework. An example from GitHub community:

  
    

type Props = {

    size: number,

    value: Point,

    active: boolean,

    onClick?: (value: Point) => void,

    arrowDirection?: ‘left’ | ‘top-left’ | ‘top’ | ‘top-right’ | ‘right’ | ‘bottom-right’ | ‘bottom’ | ‘bottom-left’,

};
export default class ImageFocusPointCell extends React.PureComponent<Props>; {

    static defaultProps = {

        active: false,

        showArrow: true,

    };
    // other code not important for this rule

}

  

10. Keeping code clean

A consistent programming approach known as “clean code” makes your code simpler to write, read, and maintain. A developer frequently works on a problem for a while before submitting a pull request once it has been resolved. I argue that simply because your code “works,” you are not finished. This is your time to tidy things up by deleting any commented-out code, removing zombie code, and restructuring. for example:

  
    

// Dirty

const MyComponent =() =>(

    <div>

    <OtherComponent type=”a” className=”colorful” foo={123} bar={456} />

    <OtherComponent type=”b” className=”colorful” foo={123} bar={456} />

    </div>;

);

  

  
    

// Clean

const MyOtherComponent = ({ type }) => (

    <OtherComponent type={type} className=”colorful” foo={123} bar={456} />

);

const MyComponent = () => (

    <div>

    <MyOtherComponent type=”a” />

    <MyOtherComponent type=”b” />

    </div>

);

  

Standards & Complexity

In React, the use of the DRY (don’t repeat yourself) philosophy is the key. Put all of your CSS files in a single shared folder. If feasible, avoid using Inline CSS (a CSS class should be created when there are more than 2 CSS attributes). Make your code easy to review by using a linter.

If you have ever worked on a large and complex project, you know very well that development standards, style guides, and the like are necessary so that you do not hate everything around you. The more complex the product, the more difficult it is to work with. If you have implemented a system of rules from the very beginning and try to stick to it, you can exit with minimal losses and a stable application. If you deviate and start doing whatever you want, you will experience real pain.

Is React a sophisticated system? Happily, React is simple to learn—but only after you have a solid understanding of JavaScript. Of course, everyone has a different perception of what is tough when learning anything new. No of your level of experience, there are many resources accessible to make learning React simpler.

So, React doesn’t provide any quality guarantees. It allows too much to be responsible for anything, which means that every developer has great opportunities to harm the project. And the larger the team, the more complex the situation. The greater the complexity, the faster it increases, the sooner everything becomes confusing and becomes a nightmare for both users and programmers. So, be careful with that.

Library vs. Framework

There is a meaning that React cannot be used anywhere other than in a React app. Everyone knows that React is a library rather than a framework. You can use the same jQuery with React dataflow, and Angular, and Vanilla JS, and with anything without any problems. On the other side, three means that Angular is a full-fledged framework, which in itself is an application. It gives you everything you need and guides your every move. JavaScript library for creating user interfaces is at hand. It allows you to assemble a complex UI from small isolated pieces of code called “components”. React provides two syntaxes for creating components: class and function.

However, in addition to the library itself, a specialist must be proficient in technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, npm, Git, Babel, WebPack, Redux. Skills in working with other tools may also come in handy, but this already depends on the project.

The “technical” distinction between a JavaScript library (like React) and a framework (like Angular or Vue. js) is that a framework dictates how a developer constructs an application, whereas a library is made up of functions that an application can call to carry out a task. The application code is called by the framework.

Balancing between a library and a framework, React strives to be both at the same time. On the one hand, there are library functions in the basic package to which you can add whatever you want. On the other hand, you can’t grow them into anything other than a React app. You are stuck in the system and now use React as a framework.

Do you want to create your own website? – Feel free to contact us!

If you want to create your own web project based on React coding standards but don’t have a team of experienced developers, you’ve come to the right page. We at Fireart Studio are ready to help you develop an app or a website according to your requirements and goals. Our React.js consultants will be glad to answer your questions and help find the best technical solutions. All you need to do is just contact us and describe your project idea.

Conclusion

We’ve checked on the most popular React best practice. As you can see react explained and the react workflow, and other peculiarities, there are certain tips at your hand that may help you make your interaction with this framework as productive as possible. Or create products from scratch. React gives you the freedom to choose the tools, architecture, and libraries for developing your application. It is also easier and more profitable to find developers. Remember that this particular framework has the largest fan base worldwide, so you can apply common practices that community members share on forums.  Use the services of  javascript development company to achieve great results.

Michal Kapias

Chief Technology Officer

Software developer deep by heart, loves reusable components. Always put client’s needs in a first place, to find a perfect balance for golden triangle: time, money and functionality.