It does not matter whether you want to build a comprehensive web app or a website; the popularity of Gatsby.js has been increasing steadily as a meta-framework for building on the web with React. Many React developers love it since it enables them to work with modern tools with quick startup times, and it is also loved by the users, given that the sites happen to be quite fast when it comes to loading and navigation.
In the following paragraphs, we will look at the features offered by Gatsby.js and its pros and cons.
What exactly is Gatsby.js?
Gatsby.js is considered a meta-framework built on top of React, specializing in producing fully interactive and fast-loading Jam stack sites. It is quite well-known due to its comprehensive plugin ecosystem, remarkable documentation, fantastic developer experience, as well as robust integrations with almost any data source and API.
Essential features of Gatsby.js
It is a fact that Gatsby.js happens to be a meta-framework on top of React, and there are quite a few restrictions to what can be built with it – in case it is feasible to make using React, it will also be possible to build with the help of Gatsby.js. Nevertheless, more powerful features are added by it on top of React, which helps enhance site performance, user experience, and shipping velocity.
1. Gatsby.js enables you to collect your information from anywhere
Perhaps, the most significant benefit of using Gatsby.js is that it can load data from almost any source into an even data layer. A thriving ecosystem of source plugins will enable you to integrate with the SaaS solutions and 3rd-party tools without much configuration plus API support to add custom data to the data layer of Gatsby.js. This implies that you will be capable of building sites with an even developer experience irrespective of where the data is derived.
This implies that your team doesn’t need to select between a pleasing workflow for the developers or a pleasing content management system intended for the content managers. It will be feasible to use any tool you like for building sites using it, and developers will be able to create sites by using a contemporary GraphQL and React workflow.
2. Gatsby.js provides you with a fantastic experience
Gatsby.js has been designed with performance in mind. The build process has been optimized for optimizing site performance utilizing several strategies such as:
- Inlining of critical assets
- Effective splitting of codes for serving only the required code for every page
- Heavy optimization of images for minimizing asset sizes and slow loading of images
- Smart asset preloading for minimizing load times while navigating
Gatsby.js helps create a high-speed site, and it will also help save a considerable amount of time while making the right things relatively easy in terms of performance.
3. Gatsby.js comes with a comprehensive open-source ecosystem
The open-source community happens to be the greatest strength of Gatsby.js. Developers can make use of a substantial assortment of API hooks for customizing Gatsby.js at every single step of the development process, for example, converting information from one particular format to another, loading information, adding 3rd-party tools, and so on.
More than 2000 plugins have been created by the Gatsby.js community, which implies that it would be possible for you to come across a ready-made tool for performing your tasks.
4. The documentation of Gatsby.js is world-class
The tutorial of Gatsby.js happens to be the gold standard for any open-source documentation. It is comprehensive, clear, and offers context on what is being done by Gatsby.js and on all the things from starting your development project to taking the underlying tools’ help. This is considered one of the biggest successes attained by Gatsby.js since it helps to make it accessible to newbies and experienced developers.
Next, we like to mention some advantages and drawbacks of Gatsby.js.
The pros:
- A fantastic choice for small and simple websites
- Simple to modify data while working on the CMS
- Comparatively faster websites
The cons:
- Does not permit dynamic pages
- It is quite difficult to invalidate the cache
- You will not come across a proper preview mode
- The building time becomes relatively slow since there are lots of data
Conclusion:
Although Gatsby.js happens to be comparatively new, it can boast of having a large and active community. In case you are searching for tutorials, you need not search forever. The community will provide you with everything you need to get started. You will also come across lots of individuals who are eager to assist you on Stack Overflow, Twitter, and so on.
