Major Mistakes ReactJS Developers Should Avoid While Developing a Website

In the web development realm, there is no scope for faking perfections. Like it or not, you are going to make mistakes and sometimes even hit rock bottom but that’s okay because that’s the only way you can learn new things and enjoy the adventure altogether.

A word of advice for every developer out there – make as many bold mistakes as you can, make choices, and make wrong decisions, these flaws can give you experience and altogether make you a better person within a few years down the line.

As the title of the following post implies, I am sure you know that this one is more like a heads-up that must be taken into consideration.

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Before we directly jump on making mistakes, let us take a bit of a detour and focus on what are certain factors or aspects that should be taken into consideration while developing a website by the top website development companies.

Getting started with a React Project? Certain Things to Know in Prior!

Have you ever wondered why Reactjs is so much in demand these days? Well, one of the obvious reasons to consider Reactjs is exceptional user experience. Not to mention, offering a unique user experience can have a tremendous effect on SEO rankings as well as traffic.

It’s been so long since developers have been trying to figure out relevant ways for creating quick and responsive interfaces since long. Fortunately, a Facebook mastermind named Jordan Walke came up with a solution that changed the entire perception of the web development realm.

So what exactly is Reactjs? Well, it is one of the most prominent and leading web development open-source javascript libraries that is loved by everyone including both developers as well as customers. Wondering why?

The library makes it pretty easy to create dynamic web applications
Here developers tend to use virtual DOM so that any changes made can directly reflect in the actual DOM
React promotes reusable components
From the developer’s perspective, it has a small learning curve
React can be used for both web and mobile development projects
Here there is a huge scope for easy debugging.
SEO-friendly
Support by a large and active community

Top Benefits of using Reactjs Technology

To be precise, the Reactjs library is more like a dream come true for several reactjs developers across the globe. I mean it is fast, quick, responsive, scalable, and flexible, what’s there not to like? Further below I would like to mention certain benefits of using Reactjs for your upcoming development project.

Time-effective development
Virtual DOM
Delivering high-performing applications

1. Time-effective development

One of the obvious yet amazing advantages of using the technology is you are able to conduct the development project in a very timely and effective manner. Development is never the same for each and every project.

You see, in some cases, Reactjs developers are asked to deliver projects in a quick manner whereas not otherwise.

Also, one must know that the longer it takes to develop, the more expensive the application development project turns out to be. Fortunately, Reactjs development projects enable several developers to work simultaneously on different application components.

2. Virtual DOM

The Virtual DOM is one of the lightest versions of the Real DOM. What happens is in case of any change, the virtual DOM automatically updates the actual DOM. Earlier what used to happen was, the entire project was updated even if there is any minor changes.

Well, today, only the relevant objects in the real DOM go for an update instead of the entire project. As a result, things become much faster, more efficient, and easier to deal with. Also, other than the virtual DOM, React comprises the model view controller architecture that makes an app amazing in regards to its looks and feels.

3. Delivering high-performing applications

The next benefit offered by Reactjs is that the technology assists well in delivering high-performing applications within the estimated time and budget. After all, what is the ultimate goal of using react technology?

Well, it is to deliver high-performing and dynamic-looking web applications featuring amazing user experience like never before. And as mentioned above, Reactjs offers amazing virtual DOM and server-side rendering which certainly leads to the development of high-performing applications.

And since Reactjs ends up delivering high-end performing applications, it definitely turns out to be one of the most crucial SEO-ranking aspects. So as soon as you launch your website, it is bound to rank higher in comparison to other development projects.

Well, I can definitely go on and on when it comes to Reactjs but since we don’t have it all day long. I would swiftly move on focusing on certain mistakes every Rect developer must avoid while developing a website.

As mentioned earlier, mistakes are inevitable in any development project, and React is definitely not an exception. Basically, all I want is to shed some light on common mistakes made in every stage of the Reactjs development project. Avoiding these common pitfalls can certainly assist you in becoming a better developer. Also, it is the best way to up your game within a short span of time. So let’s begin!

Major Mistakes React Developers Should Avoid

Incomplete input validation
Using the key while rendering the list
Writing logic in components
Scaling too quickly

1. Incomplete input validation

Validating user input on the client and server side is something that must be done seamlessly in any development project. Now if you have been developing for a few years, I am pretty sure you must have heard of the famous advice “do not trust user input” given by experienced ones.

Have you ever wondered why they say so? It’s simply because one of the most common mistakes happens from validation. As a result, what would these common mistakes lead to? SQL injection, which is definitely not good news.

Fortunately, most of the front-end development frameworks tend to provide relevant out-of-the-box solutions that are pretty simple to use. Whereas back-end development platforms tend to use simple annotations as part of standard coding practice.

2. Using the key while rendering the list

Another significant problem is using the key while rendering the list. Initially, when you must have begun using React I am pretty sure you would render a list. For example –

const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

const listItems = numbers.map((number) => <li>{number}</li>);

As soon as you do this, a severe warning is been prompted ⚠️. This means you need to provide the key.

So as a solution, all you just have to do is make a slight change such as try adding the key attribute to each item. 

const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

const listItems = numbers.map((number, index) => <li key={index}>{number}</li>);

The key is basically used to identify all the elements that have changed. For example, which elements are being added or removed later? So for that, you need to ensure to set up a unique key value for each element in the array.

As you can see in the above example, the index is the used value here. Though, the order of the list won’t change and there is no last resort here but one can definitely avoid such mistakes, keeping the overall performance intact.

3. Writing logic in components

When you are looking for a proper way to create components for reusability. I am sure you must know the fact that the presentational and container component first and foremost to show up. Most of the time presentational components are highly associated with the way things most of the time look and container components mainly focus on how everything works.

So here happens the biggest goof-up of all times, the presentation markup and app logic fuses into one single component. The only disadvantage here is that Reactjs developers can no longer reuse any of the components or logic without copying or pasting. When you use presentational and creation patterns, reusability can be achieved seamlessly. In fact, developers can make relevant changes in the UI without messing up the behavior.

4. Scaling too quickly

Another crucial mistake that must be avoided at all costs is launching your MVP in the market in a quick amount of time especially when it’s not ready to scale.

Having this constant pressure can even compel amazing software development teams to build something that directly goes into the trash. Moreover, they often overlook certain development issues and you end up facing some serious problems.

For example, you are willing to store uploaded profile pictures of your end users on the web server. In fact, here you can even serve these images in the form of static content. So when does the problem really occur? It is when the application begins to grow slowly and steadily.

Chances are pretty high that your app’s scalability might fail even because of a simple thing like storing profile images. First and foremost avoid such problems in the first place and in case, and if you end up having one then you must work more on remote storage locations.

Conclusion

And we are done here! As I mentioned earlier, mistakes are pretty much inevitable but avoiding these common ones can save a good amount of time and money. Also, if you liked reading the post feel free to share it with your peers and help us in spreading the word.