A Quick Move to Next.js

Here I go again, moving my site to yet another framework. This time to Next.js. Here's why:

To get my hands on a React framework

Honestly, most of my client work comes in the form of custom Wordpress sites and writing Javascript without using a library or framework. I take pride in that, but I also really wanted to get my hands on a React framework. I dabbled with Next.js back in 2020, but wanted to get some real experience with it. And given that my site isn't too big, it only took me about the equivalent of one work day to fully put it together. Not bad.

It better suits my needs

Maybe that's not entirely true, but compared to 11ty, the documentation is much more fleshed out and full-featured. I still love the unbelievable flexibility and simplicity of 11ty, but some things with Next.js are just more easily done out of the box. Images and using the Next.js router are two that immediately come to mind.

I still think an SSG makes the most sense for this site

I still maintain that an SSG is perfect for this site, but my lack of writing over the past year tells me that authoring in Notion.so and then transcribing it to Markdown is just too laborous. I plan to pair Next.js with a yet-to-be-decided CMS. I'm still looking into the pros and cons of a git-based or an api-based headless CMS.

A note on web standards

It would be reticent of me to not mention that React doesn't exactly jibe with my strong belief in web standards. I also recoginize that there is way too much technical debt with the amount of Javascript that's deployed these days. However, I also believe there has to be a balance between progress, performance, and developer experience, and I believe that Next.js accomplishes all three really well.

And with that, I'm on to powering this site with Next.js.