Introduction to Static Site Generation (SSG)
Static Site Generation (SSG) is a powerful feature in Next.js that allows you to build websites with pre-rendered pages at build time. This means that the HTML for each page is generated during the build process, resulting in fast-loading, SEO-friendly, and highly cacheable websites. In this tutorial, we'll explore SSG in Next.js.
Creating an SSG Page
1. Start by creating a new Next.js project. If you haven't already installed Next.js, you can do so with:
<pre>
npx create-next-app my-ssg-app
</pre>
2. Create a new page in the "pages" directory, for example, ssg.js:
<pre>
// pages/ssg.js
import React from 'react';
function SSGPage({ data }) {
return (
<div>
<h2>Static Site Generation (SSG)</h2>
<p>{data}</p>
</div>
);
}
export async function getStaticProps() {
// Fetch data from an API or database
const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data');
const data = await response.json();
return {
props: {
data,
},
};
}
export default SSGPage;
</pre>
In this example, the getStaticProps function is used to fetch data during the build process and pass it as a prop to the component. This page will be pre-rendered as an HTML file during the build.
3. Build your Next.js application using:
<pre>
npm run build
</pre>
4. Start your Next.js application using:
<pre>
npm run start
</pre>
5. Access the SSG page by visiting /ssg in your application. The page loads quickly and is SEO-friendly, as it is pre-rendered.
Conclusion
Static Site Generation in Next.js is a game-changer for building fast and highly optimized websites. It allows you to generate pre-rendered HTML pages, resulting in better performance and improved SEO. For more advanced features and use cases, visit the Next.js website.