A Happy Struggle With React-Native-Web

React-native-web is one of the most amazing ideas for UI developers, it makes a longtime dream a reality: the ability to create an application that runs on both phones and browsers with just one codebase.

React-native-web helps us to write the same React code for both React and React Native.

It makes life much easier, and although it has its limitations and signs, it’s a great approach for building multi-platform apps.

The path we followed to arrive at this point is also really attractive:

  • First, React appeared and changed the way we think about creating web apps.
  • Secondly, React Native was released, taking all the good from React and making it accessible to iOS and Android apps. React Native is basically created to work on mobile platforms, and it is highly affected by the way native apps are developed.
  • Finally, react-native-web was created to take those React-Native applications and make them run in browsers again. It is the upgraded version of them. In react Native Web, the developer can easily build websites.

— React Native Web- UI language —

The first reason is that React Native Web uses a kind of subset of React to generate the UI (User Interface). If we want a code that runs on both mobile and the web, we should stick with the more restrictive one; in this case, it’s React Native.

As long as we don’t use modules that require some native functionality, a React Native app should work in browsers through react-native-web out of the box.

The second reason  is that React Native Web is a pure UI language. It defines some base components that define UI primitives, and those are thought to be independent of the platform that runs them. The libraries we can use to develop a react-native-web app.

React Native libraries…

  • On the one hand, we have React Native libraries. We should be able to take these libraries and plug them into our react-native-web project with no issue (unless they run native code or have native dependencies).
  • Unfortunately, performance used to be the main focus among React Native Web developers  and the developers can achieve the best UI performance in the website when rendering is taken to the native side.
  • In this way, the developer can make characters in the JavaScript thread without changing the responsiveness of the interface. Those libraries with native code can’t be used in a react-native-web project. As well as, React Native libraries don’t need to be bundled to work for mobile.
  • So we need to add exceptions to our web pack’s module configuration in order to take them into the bundling. React Native libraries don’t need to be bundled to work for mobile, so we need to add exceptions to our web pack’s module configuration in order to take them into the bundling.

React libraries…

  • On the other hand, the React libraries, which generally thought to work in browsers. They make use of HTML tags to structure the UI; thus, if we use them in our universal app, they will break the mobile version.
  • If you are a React library developer, and you think your library would make sense for mobile applications, you should know it’s possible to make it work in React Native as well by using the same primitives as React Native through react-primitives.
  • Even when we find a React Native library that’s compatible with the web, the process of making it work in our web app is not straightforward. In order to build our web apps, we use a web pack as the bundler. And it usually doesn’t transpile the files inside our node modules folder.

Struggle is a part of everyone’s life and it is all on the people how they handle their struggles and face the challenges. It is human nature that how positively they can handle their challenges and how they fight with their struggling life. As a web developer, there are so many things that should be noted, and some challenges are given below.

Challenges faced by the React-Native-web Developer

5 common challenges faced by web developers:

1. Scalability

  • Scalability is a difficult thing for web developers to manage. It is load balancing between the servers, hence when the load increases when more traffic on the page. And the additional servers that were added to balance it.
  • As well as all the load should not be thrown on a single server instead of which the software should be designed in such a way that it can work on multiple servers. Service-oriented architecture helps developers in managing and improve scalability.

2. Knowledge of Structure & Platforms

  • Frameworks boost performance, offer libraries of coding, and extend abilities. So, the developers need not do hand-coding web applications from the ground up.
  • Frameworks offer features like models, APIs, snippets of code, and other elements to develop effective web applications.

3. UI/UX

  • In the era of smartphones, web developers are expected to develop UI/UX that is responsive and user-friendly. If the web applications frustrate users, then it isn't easy to maintain the customer’s loyalty to your website.
  • Secondly, Website navigation is another part often neglected by developers. Intuitive navigation creates a better user experience for website visitors.

4. Performance

  • Slow web applications are a failure and as an outcome, clients escape your website, thus damaging your revenue as well as your reputation.
  • Some of the performance issues developer faces are Poorly written code, Un-Optimized Databases, Unmanaged Growth of data, Traffic spikes, Poor load distribution, Default configuration, Troublesome third-party services, etc.

5. Security

  • Security is something web developers need to consider at every stage of SDLC (software development life cycle). There are many things to consider when it comes to web application security.
  • Such as denial of service attacks, the protection of user data, database malfunctioning, unofficial access to restricted parts of the website, etc.

Topics you must read to know more about React Native Web:

CONCLUSION

The challenges faced by the developers are like the struggles, that every React Native Developer has to face and accept with happiness. As well as the developer who takes these struggles in a positive way is the top developer.

As a developer, you should always believe that nothing is impossible whether it is coding or assigning the whole project on your own. According to the market, React-Native-Web is the most demanding and upgraded version of React and React Native.

The all-over thing that should keep in every developer's mind is that Web developers are responsible for far more than just building web pages. It is also good to form your career as a web developer, freelancer or remote worker for the company. As the React Native Web is the exclusive and best way to create any website the demand of the developer is the same.

It is like a trend that new technology makes more demand in the market. In freelancing and remote workers the company found the best and top coders of React-Native-web.

FAQ

Q1. What is the purpose of React Native Web?

Ans- React Native for Web is a compatibility layer between React DOM and React Native. It can be used in new and existing apps, web-only and multi-platform apps. React Native for Web uses React DOM to accurately render React Native-compatible JavaScript code in a web browser.

Q2. Does React Native support HTML?

Ans- There's no HTML. Due to the lack of DOM, React Native doesn't use tags like div, section, span, input, etc. But don't worry, almost every HTML tag has an equivalent React Native component, so we are able to use the same mindset of the web to develop with React Native components View, Text, TextInput, etc.