Performance & Optimization in React Apps

2023/06/30

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React, a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces, offers various ways to optimize the performance of your applications. Performance in React apps can be categorized into two aspects: loading performance and runtime performance.

Loading performance refers to how fast the content is loaded when a user visits your webpage. Key metrics to consider are First Contentful Paint (FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), Time to Interactive (TTI), and Speed Index. To optimize loading performance, it is important to send as little code/media as possible over the network and optimize everything.

Runtime performance, on the other hand, measures how smoothly your application runs and functions after the initial load. Metrics such as frame rate, CPU usage, and memory usage are important in assessing runtime performance. In most cases, modern React apps perform well by default. However, for complex components or features that exhibit slow behavior, optimization tactics may be necessary.

One valuable resource for understanding React rendering problems is Alex Sidorenko's series "A Visual Guide to React Rendering." This series explains how rendering can cause cascading effects across a large application.

For more insights on measuring runtime performance and other helpful resources, developers can refer to the Dev Radar magazine. Stay tuned for upcoming articles on React performance and optimization.