Content reigns supreme. This is a well-known fact among website owners. However, simply creating content is not sufficient. You also need the ability to efficiently manipulate it — adding, editing, or removing it from your site.

In the early days of the Internet, working with content was a daunting task for ordinary users. Everything changed with the advent of content management systems (CMS). These systems allowed even those without prior experience in digital technologies to easily and quickly perform basic operations with website content.

Among the CMS options available, WordPress stands out as one of the oldest and most popular platforms. Countless websites, ranging from blogs to online stores, are built on WordPress. What makes this CMS so appealing is its user-friendly and intuitive admin panel. It enables site administrators to effortlessly handle both back-end and front-end tasks.

A significant shift occurred in the WordPress landscape a few years ago. The introduction of the REST API as part of the system’s core opened up new possibilities for WordPress development teams. They can now work with technologies beyond PHP and HTML to create custom WordPress themes.

The WordPress front-end was decoupled from the back-end, allowing for independent development and even running from separate servers. This change created a myriad of opportunities.

Developers started utilizing various JavaScript frameworks to build custom WordPress themes or enhance existing ones while still leveraging WordPress to retrieve and send data to the database.

One of the most popular frameworks for this purpose is React.js, a JavaScript library released by Facebook in 2013. Let’s explore why React.js has gained such acclaim.

REST API: The Architectural Style Enabling React WordPress Theme Development

When discussing the development of a WordPress theme using React, it is essential to explain the cornerstone concept that makes it all possible — the REST API. In previous versions of WordPress, the REST API was implemented as a plugin. However, it has now been integrated into the core system, making it one of the most revolutionary enhancements in WordPress history.

API stands for Application Programming Interface, while REST represents Representational State Transfer. REST API comprises a set of rules that define how website data should be manipulated (creating, reading, updating, and deleting) in the form of collections and objects.

Each data type in WordPress is represented by an endpoint or URL specific to that type. For instance, the base route for posts is “/wp/v2/posts,” while the base route for themes is “/wp/v2/themes.” When creating a WordPress theme with React or a similar JavaScript framework, these endpoints can be utilized within the code to manipulate data in the database.

The data itself travels between the back-end and front-end as JSON objects. JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is a convenient document format that contains JavaScript objects with key-value pairs. Values can be represented as other JavaScript objects or arrays of objects. 

Think of it like a TV remote control. Pressing the power button sends a signal to turn on the TV, and you start receiving information. In this analogy, the endpoint acts as the button, and the corresponding JSON object serves as the signal.

You may not be aware of how this signal is processed inside the TV. All you care about is the information. The remote control acts as the interface, allowing you to interact with the TV by pressing different buttons.

When you have a WordPress theme powered by React, the REST API serves as the interface through which you connect to the database and perform data operations. Two things to note:

• The REST API enforces the same security restrictions, regardless of whether you build a WordPress theme with React.js or use the traditional PHP approach.
• Using the WordPress REST API is not mandatory.

The REST API ensures clear separation of the front-end and back-end. You can have separate teams — a WordPress development team and React JS development team — working from different locations, running their respective portions of the site from different servers.

Additional benefits include:

• Developing a React app as a WordPress theme results in a Single Page Application (SPA) with a unique design and excellent user experience.
• A WordPress React.js theme offers high interactivity, performance, and the ability to integrate animations. While other frameworks also support animations, React.js simplifies the process.
• A React-based WordPress theme can store data on the client side, improving speed.
• A WordPress theme built with React can function even without an Internet connection, thanks to Service Workers.

These compelling arguments should convince you to leverage the REST API in your current or future projects. But why choose to build a WordPress theme with React when there are other available technologies? Here’s the answer.

React WordPress Theme Development: Key Benefits 

Effortless and Rapid Development 

The speed and ease of WordPress Theme Development with React have won over developers. If you examine the JSX syntax, it resembles JavaScript code infused with HTML. Additionally, React treats everything as a component, encompassing logic, structure, and visual presentation in one place.

Although this may challenge the separation of concerns principle, developers quickly adapt and appreciate its convenience. React’s simplicity makes it easy for anyone familiar with JavaScript and HTML to grasp the basics. While mastering advanced techniques might take some time, the use of simple syntax and familiar technologies accelerates React WordPress theme development, resulting in reduced costs.

Reusable Components 

The ability to reuse components across multiple projects expedites React WordPress Theme Development. Similar to Lego building blocks, developers can effortlessly integrate one component into another site. While certain features may require more effort to port smoothly, simple components can be seamlessly transferred without fear of breaking other elements.

Efficient UI Redrawing

React.js introduces the virtual DOM concept, saving time and resources. Manipulating the real DOM can be resource-intensive. Consider a scenario where you have six checkboxes and select one. With Vanilla JavaScript or other frameworks, the entire checkbox group reloads to reflect the changes in the DOM.

However, with React, only the selected checkbox is redrawn. React provides an identical virtual DOM object for every real DOM object, solely for comparison purposes. When a checkbox is selected, React redraws the entire virtual DOM, which is lightning-fast as it has no physical presence.

Subsequently, React compares the new virtual DOM with the previous version and redraws only the selected checkbox in the physical DOM, ignoring other page elements. This results in blazing-fast themes.

These remarkable features of React.js persuade more site owners to choose React themes for their WordPress projects. 

However, like any technology, React has a few minor drawbacks. Let’s consider some negative aspects of React WordPress Theme Development.

Some Minor Downsides of React for WordPress Theme Development

React.js Is Continuously Evolving

React.js is a relatively new tool, released in 2013, and continues to evolve. While it is fast and efficient, issues and bugs are not uncommon. Nevertheless, with each new version, React matures and becomes more robust. The vast React development community ensures developers can easily find solutions to their problems.

Workarounds Might Be Necessary When Integrating the WordPress REST API with React

Implementing the WordPress REST API with React may require additional workarounds to achieve optimum performance. Merely connecting React.js to WordPress through REST API doesn’t guarantee blazing-fast performance, especially for complex user interfaces. To create a truly fast WordPress theme with React, developers may need to go the extra mile by creating an indexer or implementing other workarounds to optimize the React-WordPress combination.

Conclusion 

To sum up, React.js brings a plethora of benefits to WordPress theme development, making it a compelling choice for developers and site owners alike. It offers an amalgamation of speed, efficiency, and a simplified development process, with features like the JSX syntax, component reusability, and the virtual DOM playing a significant role.

Despite a few minor drawbacks and the need for occasional workarounds, the strengths of React.js significantly outweigh the challenges. So, whether you’re embarking on a new project or seeking to optimize an existing one, consider leveraging the power of React.js in tandem with WordPress’s REST API to maximize your site’s potential.

However, keep in mind that to truly reap the benefits of a WordPress theme built with React, professional expertise is of the essence. The nuanced interplay between React.js and WordPress’s REST API calls for a developer with a firm grasp on both technologies for optimal results. 

Find out why use a WordPress development company for the best outcome.  

React WordPress Theme Development FAQs

Is React compatible with WordPress for theme development?

Yes, React can be used for WordPress theme development since the introduction of the REST API functionality. With the decoupled back-end and front-end, developers can leverage various technologies, including React.js, to build custom WordPress themes.

What are the advantages of using React for WordPress themes?

• React has a simple syntax that is easy to grasp for front-end developers.
• React components can be easily reused across different applications, making theme development faster.
• React utilizes the virtual DOM concept, resulting in faster UI rendering by redrawing only the changed elements.

Can React be used to create custom WordPress themes?

Absolutely! Creating a React.js WordPress theme from scratch gives you complete control over every aspect of your site, allowing you to tailor it to your specific business needs.

Do React WordPress themes work well on mobile devices?

Yes, React is a versatile solution that ensures seamless rendering on any device, including mobiles.

How SEO-friendly is React?

While there have been challenges with search engine optimization for React apps due to JavaScript dependency, there are solutions available. Isomorphic React apps can render on both the client and server sides, improving SEO by providing immediate content visibility while JavaScript loads in the background. Frameworks like Next.js and Gatsby simplify the development process and enhance app loading speed, addressing SEO-related issues.

Why is creating React components so fast?

Modern CSS frameworks like Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS, Material Design, Semantic UI, and Foundation help accelerate UI creation. These frameworks often come with their own pre-built React components, eliminating the need to build components from scratch. This speeds up development time and facilitates easier scalability.

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In a rapidly growing digital landscape, the importance of building high-performing and feature-rich mobile applications cannot be overstated. With an estimated 16.8 billion mobile device users worldwide in 2023 (source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/245501/multiple-mobile-device-ownership-worldwide/), businesses need to adapt to cater to this vast market.

Historically, there has been a fierce battle for dominance among various mobile operating systems (MOS). While some MOS like Symbian have faded into obscurity, only Android and iOS have emerged as the victors.

Android, backed by Google, powers a staggering 70.8% of mobile devices globally. Its open-source nature and zero-cost appeal to hardware vendors like Samsung, making it a popular choice.

On the other hand, iOS is limited exclusively to Apple products. It holds a smaller market share of 28.4%  (source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272698/global-market-share-held-by-mobile-operating-systems-since-2009/),  but remains a prominent player in the industry.

Due to the duopoly of Android and iOS, businesses face the challenge of catering to both platforms, which often means duplicating development efforts and costs.

On the other hand, finding out which platform is more popular among the target audience is a daunting task, and ignoring any segment of the market can result in lost revenue. However, a solution has emerged: the platform-agnostic approach.

By utilizing key web technologies and frameworks, businesses can develop applications that interact with device hardware across both Android and iOS. This approach streamlines development, reduces costs, and allows one team of developers to handle both platforms.

The benefits of this approach include easy implementation of changes, as modifications in one file reflect in both MOSs. Additionally, developers work with a consistent tech stack, primarily JavaScript, ensuring efficiency and ease of development.

One of the leading frameworks that embrace the cross-platform approach is React Native (RN). Let’s explore why it is highly valuable for businesses.

The Primary Benefits of React Native

• React Native offers rapid development speed, allowing developers to deliver apps up to three times faster compared to traditional methods. By utilizing JSX syntax and React.js, developers can seamlessly embed HTML elements into JavaScript code, simplifying and expediting the development process.
• React.js treats everything as components, facilitating reusability and modular development.  Each component in a React application is a self-contained piece of code responsible for rendering a part of the user interface. These components can be thought of as building blocks, each serving a specific function and working together to create the overall application.
  
  React’s component-based approach also simplifies the debugging process. Since each component is isolated, any issues can be traced back to its specific part, making it easier to identify, isolate, and fix problems. This contributes to an overall increase in application stability and quality.
• The hot reloading feature in React Native eliminates the need for repeated recompilation. It works by injecting updated source code files into the running JavaScript virtual machine. This process happens as soon as the developers save any modifications made in the source code.

The advantage of hot reloading is that it allows developers to observe the effect of changes in real-time, without losing the current state of the app. For instance, if developers are tweaking the UI design on a specific screen, they can immediately see the impact of their edits without having to navigate back to that screen following a full app reload.

The component-centric nature of React is one of its most defining and advantageous features, promoting clean, maintainable, and reusable code. Each component in a React application is a self-contained piece of code responsible for rendering a part of the user interface. These components can be thought of as building blocks, each serving a specific function and working together to create the overall application.

React components are further subdivided into two categories: functional (or stateless) components and class (or stateful) components. Functional components, as the name suggests, are simple JavaScript functions without their own state. They are typically used for simple rendering tasks. On the other hand, class components are more feature-rich, offering lifecycle methods and state management.

This component structure facilitates the reuse of code, reducing the time and effort required for development. Developers can create a component once and utilize it across multiple parts of the application or even different applications, ensuring consistency and speeding up the development process.

React’s component-based approach also simplifies the debugging process. Since each component is isolated, any issues can be traced back to its specific part, making it easier to identify, isolate, and fix problems. This contributes to an overall increase in application stability and quality.

Understanding the power of components in React is key to leveraging the full potential of this library, making the development process faster, more efficient, and ultimately leading to the creation of robust, high-quality applications.

Other Advantages 

An Abundance of RN Developers

JavaScript remains the most popular programming language, with around 65.82% of professional programmers using it according to the Developer Survey Results 2023  (source: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/#most-popular-technologies-misc-tech-prof).

React and React Native are also highly favored technologies. React ranks first among web frameworks, while React Native holds a share of  9.14% among other frameworks, libraries, and tools.

RN development continues to grow, providing a wide range of skilled developers to choose from who can meet your quality vs cost requirements.

Cost-effective Apps With Near-Native Performance

Building React Native apps is more cost-effective. React Native developers create JavaScript components that function as iOS and Android widgets, eliminating the need for a WebView. This allows RN apps to closely resemble their conventional counterparts.

Additionally, RN utilizes native code blocks (like Kotlin) for CPU-intensive operations, enabling native performance.

RN empowers professionals to leverage the capabilities of smartphones and tablets to build interactive programs, including visually appealing games.

Furthermore, RN apps are fully responsive by default, ensuring consistent user experiences across different screen resolutions.

RN apps are also lightweight, resulting in faster performance – a crucial aspect for business apps.

What truly sets RN apart from a business perspective, though, is its affordability compared to traditional approaches in app development.

Final Words 

In conclusion, React Native has emerged as a powerful tool in the world of mobile application development, successfully harmonizing the demands of Android and iOS. By utilizing a single codebase approach, RN not only simplifies the development process but also significantly reduces costs. 

The combination of JavaScript and native coding allows RN applications to deliver near-native performance, ensuring a smooth user experience across different devices. 

With its rapid development speed, scalability, large developer community, and cost-effectiveness, React Native is indeed a beneficial solution for businesses aiming to thrive in the vast mobile application market.

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Typical developer tasks consist of writing React-components. These components are then used to build the pages of the site.

React frameworks are data-driven programming, so it is important to know the type of data that comes into the components. Since JavaScript doesn’t allow data types to be described explicitly, React developers typically use TypeScript in their projects.

React is only responsible for displaying the interface. Therefore, there is a whole ecosystem of tools around it that solve the rest of the frontend development tasks:

State management – libraries for dealing with global application data that doesn’t relate to a specific component, but is needed in many parts of the site. Popular state management tools include Redux and Mobx.

Routing. SPA implies a transition between pages of the site without additional requests to the server. Therefore, the task of routing, matching pages to certain URLs, are also engaged in frontenders. There are a number of popular libraries for such tasks, in particular, React Router.

Server rendering. One of the problems with SPA is that many search engines expect HTML, not JavaScript. Therefore, it is important to give searchers a ready-made HTML markup, rather than an empty HTML file on which JavaScript “draws” the interface. The Next.js framework was designed to generate it from components.

Creating UI elements. Typical UI elements are not usually written from scratch – for them they use ready-made UI libraries: MUI, Ant Design and many others.

Styling. For styling, React often uses the CSS-in-JS approach rather than the usual CSS. It allows you to describe styles directly in JavaScript. One of the most popular implementations of the CSS-in-JS approach is the styled-components library.

This is not a complete list of tasks and tools with which the React-developer works in everyday life.

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Websites based on pure JavaScript have long been a rarity: usually libraries and frameworks are used for development. One of the most popular libraries is React. In this article, we will get acquainted with its basic principles and ideas. We are going to tell you what React is, what its advantages are in comparison with other tools and how to work with React-components.

Why do we need React frameworks and libraries?

Modern websites are different from the ones we used to use: they are more dynamic. You can use them to buy products, communicate with friends, or write comments.

The structure of websites has also changed. Originally, they were a collection of separate HTML pages. Now they are a single HTML-document, the appearance of which changes dynamically via JavaScript.

This approach is called SPA – single-page application, or single-page application. SPA makes sites full-fledged applications that do not reload between page transitions. To make the transition, you need to completely redraw the content of the document using JavaScript and received data.

Although the requirements for interactivity of sites have increased, the tools to create it have not changed much. The DOM is still imperative, out-of-the-box, and looks something like this:

<h1>Hello, World!!! My name is <b class="js-name"></b>.</h1>
function setName(name) { 
     const nameWrapper = document.querySelector(".js-name");
     if (nameWrapper) { nameWrapper.textContent = name; 
     } 
} 
setName("Mark");

This code might seem good if you want to add a username to the welcome bar or create a slider.

What is React?

React is a declarative JavaScript library for creating user interfaces. It allows you to assemble a complex UI from small isolated pieces of code called “components”.

React provides two syntaxes for creating components: class-based and functional. The class syntax is rarely used because the class syntax is often superfluous for describing components. Therefore, in this article we’ll look at functional components.

A functional component in React is a JavaScript function that inputs an object with data to render a component – called props – and outputs a description of the interface to be rendered.

An example of a React user greeting might look like this:

import React from "react";

function HelloWorld (props) {

return (<h1>Hello, World!!! My name is <b>{props.name}</b></h1>);

}

export default HelloWorld;

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