5 React libraries and toolchain
This chapter covers
- React Routing and mega-frameworks
- Styling, rendering strategies, and data access
- i18n, l10n, and white labeling
- Testing, building, security, and accessibility
Jane demonstrated a solid grasp of React fundamentals—component-based architecture, JSX, the Virtual DOM, state management, and Error Boundaries—through multiple coding challenges. However, when confronted with questions about real-world application architecture, she realized an important truth: mastering React alone is not enough.
Modern React development depends on a broader ecosystem of tools, libraries, and best practices that extend React’s core capabilities. While React provides the foundation for building user interfaces, it leaves critical concerns—such as routing, testing, state management, performance monitoring, and build tooling—to the surrounding ecosystem.
In this chapter, we explore the essential libraries and development tools that enable teams to build scalable, production-ready React applications.
5.1 React routing and mega-frameworks
Routing is a cornerstone of modern React applications. It enables seamless navigation between views and supports advanced rendering strategies like client-side rendering (CSR), server-side rendering (SSR), and static site generation (SSG). These concepts are crucial for delivering fast, dynamic, and SEO-friendly user experiences—especially in large-scale applications where performance and scalability are non-negotiable.