Getting Started with Next.js 16

Next.js has become the go-to framework for building production-ready React applications. With the release of version 16, there are exciting new features that make development even more enjoyable.

Why Next.js?

Next.js provides an excellent developer experience with features like:

• File-based routing - Create routes simply by adding files to your app directory
• Server Components - Render components on the server for better performance
• Built-in optimizations - Automatic code splitting, image optimization, and more
• TypeScript support - First-class TypeScript integration out of the box

Setting Up Your First Project

Getting started is incredibly simple. Just run the following command:

bunx create-next-app@latest my-app

This will scaffold a new Next.js project with all the defaults configured for you.

Creating Your First Page

In Next.js 16 with the App Router, you create pages by adding page.tsx files inside your app directory:

// app/page.tsx
export default function Home() {
  return (
    <main>
      <h1>Welcome to my site!</h1>
      <p>This is built with Next.js 16</p>
    </main>
  );
}

What's Next?

In the following posts, I'll dive deeper into:

1. Server Components vs Client Components
2. Data fetching strategies
3. Styling with Tailwind CSS
4. Deploying to production

Stay tuned for more content!