Join the AI Workshop and learn to build real-world apps with AI. A hands-on, practical program to level up your skills.
Note: This unit covers the Pages Router, the original Next.js routing pattern. For the newer App Router with React Server Components, see the Next.js App Router unit.
Next.js is a powerful React framework that enables server-side rendering, static site generation, and provides many other features for building production-ready applications.
Created by Vercel (formerly Zeit), Next.js has become one of the most popular ways to build React applications because it solves common problems like:
- Server-Side Rendering (SSR) - Better SEO and faster initial page loads
- Static Site Generation (SSG) - Pre-render pages at build time
- File-based Routing - No need to configure routes manually
- API Routes - Build your backend API alongside your frontend
- Built-in CSS Support - CSS Modules, Sass, and CSS-in-JS
- Zero Configuration - Sensible defaults that just work
The Pages Router uses the pages/ directory where each file becomes a route:
pages/index.js→/pages/about.js→/aboutpages/blog/[slug].js→/blog/:slug
In this unit, you’ll learn how to build complete web applications with Next.js using the Pages Router pattern.