Building a News App Using React and the New York Times API

In this tutorial, I will show you how I built a news app using React and the New York Times API. This project was a great way for me to learn more about React, how to work with an API, and how to deploy a web app with Vercel.

What We Will Cover:

• Getting news articles from the New York Times API
• Adding pagination and smooth animations
• Deploying the app on Vercel

1. Project Overview

The New York Times News App is a simple web application that lets users see the latest news from the New York Times. The app gets data directly from the New York Times API and shows it in a clean and easy-to-use interface.

Key Features:

• Pagination: Users can easily move through different pages of news articles.
• Smooth Animations: Articles load with a smooth transition, making the app feel more polished.
• Deployment: The app is deployed on Vercel, so it’s available to anyone online. You can check out the GitHub repository to see all the code and learn more.

2. Setting Up the Project

Before we start coding, make sure you have the following on your computer:

• Node.js and npm: You will need these to run the React app and install other tools.
• A New York Times API Key: You can get this by signing up on the NY Times Developer Portal. Installation Steps Let’s set up the project on your local computer.

1. Clone the Repository:

git clone https://github.com/tomasdevs/the-new-york-times-app.git
cd the-new-york-times-app

2. Install Dependencies:
We need to install the tools for both the client and server parts of our app.

cd client
npm install
npm install react-transition-group
cd ../server
npm install

3. Set Up Environment Variables:
Create a .env file in the server folder and add your New York Times API key:

NYT_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

3. Building the Application

Fetching Data from the New York Times API

In the Articles.js component, I used the Fetch API to get the latest news articles. Here’s how it works:

const response = await fetch(
  process.env.NODE_ENV === "production"
    ? `https://api.nytimes.com/svc/topstories/v2/home.json?api-key=${process.env.REACT_APP_NYT_API_KEY}`
    : `${process.env.REACT_APP_API_URL}/api/articles`
);

This code makes sure that when the app is live, it gets data directly from the New York Times API. During development, it gets data from a local server, which makes testing easier.

Adding Pagination and Animations

To handle pagination, I added simple logic that divides the list of articles into pages. I also used react-transition-group to add smooth animations when moving between articles:

<TransitionGroup component="ul" className="articles-list">
  {currentArticles.map((article, index) => (
    <CSSTransition key={index} timeout={500} classNames="article">
      <ArticleItem article={article} />
    </CSSTransition>
  ))}
</TransitionGroup>

4. Challenges and Lessons Learned

Handling CORS Issues

At first, I had some problems with CORS when trying to get data from the New York Times API during local development. I solved this by setting up a simple backend server that acted as a proxy. For the live version, I fetched data directly from the API to keep things simple.

Managing Environment Variables

I also learned how important it is to manage environment variables properly, especially when deploying to platforms like Vercel. This is important to keep sensitive data, like API keys, safe.

5. Conclusion

This project was a great learning experience. It helped me improve my skills in React, API integration, and web deployment. I’m really happy with how the app turned out, and I’m excited to build more complex projects in the future.
If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to reach out or leave a comment. You can also check out the code on GitHub and try it yourself.
Try the live demo here!

Thanks for reading!