The Superpowers and Kryptonite Brought by Next.js
01 — Talk Abstract
A field report on building a cutting-edge digital marketing app and patient-appointment platform supporting 8M+ patients annually — where Next.js delivered, and where it bit back. The real triumphs and trials of running a high-performance commerce platform in production.
- Next.js at Scale
- Web Performance
- Observability
- GraphQL
02 — What you'll learn
- How server-side rendering lifts Core Web Vitals, SEO, and perceived performance.
- Why feature toggling makes rollouts safer and gives you control over what ships.
- Running OpenTelemetry observability outside of Vercel — and the prefetch & memory-leak pitfalls to watch for.
- Setting realistic expectations: Next.js is powerful, not a silver bullet.
03 — Notes
Event Details#
- Event: Windy City DevFest 2024
- Date: August 28, 2024
- Time: 13:00 - 13:45
- Location: Google Chicago Office, Chicago, IL
- Room: Map
- Reference Links:
Talk Description#
In today's digital landscape, creating a robust and scalable web application is essential for reaching and retaining millions of users. Our journey involves building a cutting-edge digital marketing app, managing patient appointments, and showcasing an extensive office directory—all designed to support over 8 million patients annually.
What You'll Learn:
- The Power of Server-Side Rendering: Discover how server-side rendering can significantly boost your web vital scores, enhance SEO, and provide a seamless user experience.
- Leveraging Feature Toggling: Learn why feature toggling is a game-changer for your development process, allowing for smoother rollouts and better control over your app's features.
- GraphQL in Action: See how GraphQL can revolutionize the way you manage data across multiple brands, providing flexibility and efficiency.
Challenges and Solutions:
- The Observability Dilemma: While Next.js offers great potential, observability can be tricky, especially when dealing with OpenTelemetry outside of Vercel. We'll explore strategies to overcome this challenge.
- Experimental Features: Sometimes, pushing the envelope requires using experimental features. We'll discuss the risks and rewards of this approach.
Lessons Learned:
- Prefetch Pitfalls: Understand the quirks of prefetch requests, including how to handle this scenario.
- Memory Management: Explore common memory leak issues and how to mitigate them effectively.
- Realistic Expectations: Next.js is powerful, but it's not a silver bullet. We'll discuss its limitations and how to navigate them.
Join us for an insightful session where we dive deep into the technical triumphs and trials of building a high-performance digital commerce platform with Next.js.
The platform behind this talk is written up in the multi-brand Next.js platform case study and in Share Packages, Not Applications.