Recap: Next.js Conf 2021

After the success of last year's Next.js Conf, the conference's first edition, expectations were relatively high. The conference is not only about speakers sharing interesting talks about Next.js, but it also features Vercel's team members sharing announcements related to the platform.

The Keynote

The event started with a talk given by Guillermo Rauch, Vercel's CEO. During the keynote, he talked about the presence of Next.js and Frontend development before the announcement of Next.js 12.

The new version of the framework brings several new features and improvements:

• New Rust compiler offers 3x faster Fast Refresh (next dev) and 5x faster build times (next build).
• Built-in support for ES Modules and experimental support for URL Imports.
• Included Middleware as useful for authentication, A/B testing, feature flags, and more.
• Support for React 18 and React Server Components.

Besides the changes in Next.js, Vercel as a company presented new products:

• Next.js Live: Experiment with real-time collaboration for your team. Code, chat, draw and edit directly from your browser.
• Vercel Checks: Extend the workflow of your application with end-to-end reliability checks, built-in Web Vitals performance checks, and open API for integrations.
• Edge Functions: Move server-side logic to Vercel's Edge Network, deployed globally with zero cold starts.

After the keynote, different team members from Vercel went deeper into the details of the new features and products. You can watch all the talks here.

The Talks

This year we had a great day, as with last year's Next.js Conf. Three different stages were full of speakers telling different stories and experiences. From a live coding session to create a GraphQL API, to using a headless browser to monitor the deployment of our applications. From creating a full-stack application with Next.js and AWS to image optimization.

Let's mention some of them.

How Next.js Scales to Millions of Pages with ISR

Arisa, our Developer Relations Engineer, had a talk with Telmo from Education First. They talked about managing translations for 52 languages, how that affects the build time for their projects, and how it becomes a critical issue in the content delivery pipeline. After the insights that Telmo shared about Education First, Arisa talked about Incremental Static Regeneration and presented a demo to understand the concept in a better way.

Getting Started with Next.js

After the Keynote, Vercel's Developer Advocate Delba de Oliveira gave an excellent introduction to React and, after that, extended it to Next.js. With clear concepts and examples, the talk is recommended for people taking the first steps into Next.js.

Defining the Web3 Stack

Nader Dabit presented, probably, one of the most original presentations. In a conference full of talks about Frontend development, he introduced many tools and technologies related to the new trending topic: Web3. He explained the difference between Web2 and Web3 and gave an overview of this new way of creating apps.

Protecting Your Apps in Next.js

James Quick, Developer Media Manager at Auth0, talks about authentication and authorization in our Next.js applications. These included cookies, sessions, JSON Web Tokens, and other things that we should consider in protecting our web applications.

Conclusion

Frontend development continues evolving, and Next.js Conf 2021 was another proof of that. With great announcements and improvements coming with Next.js 12, and various other interesting talks, we were able to see that there is always a way to improve our existing web projects or start new ones in a more effortless and better way.