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Max F. Findel
Max F. Findel

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Next.js Conf 2023 was this week, here's what I learned

TL;DR

About the Next.js Conf 2023

I've been a fan of Next.js and Vercel for some years now and I love that they like to make a big party around releasing new features every year 🎉

This year at the virtual event Next.js Conf I really liked that they went back to live presentations and unscripted content ❤️‍🔥 It makes everything much more authentic and much easier to follow. I personally can't sit in front of my computer and watch 3 to 5 hours of scripted video presentations 📺 😩

I spent a bunch of hours watching, taking notes and making some ugly doodles that I'll keep for myself. I really hope someone else can benefit from this 😄 So let's get to it. Here's what I learned from the talks in order:

 1. Guillermo Rauch - CEO, Vercel

  • Next.js 14 is faster than ever on both build and dev time. And it's not even it's final form! 👾
  • They'll keep delivering a great product by following these three goals: Fast Initial Visual, Fast Dynamic Content and Great Developer Experience (DX) 🤓

 2. Sam Selikoff - Founder, Build UI

  • Server Components are the future. Imagine a world where you can copy and paste a <StripeCheckout /> without having to modify ten routes, API calls and user flows 🏖️
  • Maybe right now is a great time to migrate your Next.js project and start using the app/ directory. It's only going to get better. Check out other tutorials at Build UI 🤔

3. Houssein Djirdeh - Senior Software Engineer, Google

  • Make sure to check out @next/third-parties for the best approach to include third party scripts on your project 🌐
  • This work comes from the same people that already delivered <Image />, <Script /> and <Font /> ✍️

4. Michelle Bakels - Program Director, G2i

  • Using Open Source templates for your first big project can get you 80% there and you can learn the rest on your way 🚀
  • Be careful what you commit and what you commit to. You can end up organizing React.js Miami! 🤭

5. Jared Palmer - VP of AI, Vercel

  • If you were hyped about chatGPT, then you must try Vercel v0 to generate React Components ⚛️
  • SDKs and extensibility make Next.js a really great framework for your next AI project 🤖

6. James Mikrut - CEO, Payload

  • It's very probable that Payload gets migrated to Next.js and become even better 🧠
  • If there are whole teams dedicated to improve React, Next.js and ORM's, then it's probably a good idea to let them do the heacy lifting so you can focus on delivering value! 📈

7. Katie Hoesley & Matt Volk, BigCommerce

  • React Server Components are paving the future for agencies and e-commerce, says the clientele from BigCommerce 🫰
  • There are still key issues to solve, but the future looks promising 😎

8. Lydia Hallie - Staff Developer Advocate, Vercel

  • @lydiahallie leverages clear explanations and neat graphics to make all the new changes in React and Next.js understandable 👩‍🏫
  • If the previous talks didn't do the trick, the arguments from this talk really motivated me to test out the new app/ directory and migrate my stale projects 🍞

Thanks for reading

If you want to dive deep into any of these talks, I encourage you to watch the Livestream Recording directly at Next.js Conf.

And that's a wrap! I had a really good time watching these talks, doodling and taking notes for this year's conference. Can't wait to see what they come up with next time. I hope you find my takeaways useful 😊

Top comments (2)

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bogomil profile image
Bogomil Shopov - Бого

Wow! thanks a ton for the overview. I love conference feedback.

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maxfindel profile image
Max F. Findel

Thanks Bogo. Let's see if anything happens around your proposed "dev.to conference" 😄