React continues to evolve, and with React 18.3, the useOptimistic hook was introduced to improve UI responsiveness by allowing updates before async actions are confirmed. Let’s compare it with the classic useState and explore when and how to use it.
React.js, launched in 2011 by Facebook, is a widely-used JavaScript library for building dynamic user interfaces. As a library, it provides tools for creating UI components but leaves the overall application management to you. Next.js, introduced in 2016 by Vercel, is a framework built on React that offers a comprehensive solution for developing modern web applications, including features like routing, performance optimization, server-side rendering (SSR), and static site generation (SSG). In this article, we compare Next.js to a standard React application (e.g., created with Vite or Create React App) to help you choose the best option for your project in 2025.
A sitemap is a key file for SEO—it allows search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo to efficiently crawl and index all your website's available pages, even if some aren’t directly linked. Thanks to Next.js, you can easily generate either a static or dynamic sitemap based on your app’s routing strategy. Whether you're using file-based routes or dynamic content from APIs or CMSs, Next.js adapts to your needs.
In Next.js, navigating between pages is seamless thanks to the component and the useRouter hook. They allow for fast, client-side routing without full page reloads, while supporting performance features like route prefetching.
