React + Next.js Frameworks
Fast front ends your team can keep running
Some websites outgrow what a traditional theme can do. They need a member portal, a search tool, content shared across several channels, or performance targets a page builder can’t reach. COLAB builds those front ends in React, most often with the Next.js framework, and connects them to the content management system your editors already know.
Our JavaScript experience
8+
years building reactive applications
30+
JavaScript applications and headless sites launched
5+
frameworks in production: React, Next.js, Gatsby, Vue.js, Nuxt.js
Why React?
React is the JavaScript library behind a large share of modern web interfaces, maintained by Meta and an open-source community.
Frameworks built on React, led by Next.js, add what a production website needs: routing, server rendering, image handling, and caching. Stripe, Nike, Spotify, NerdWallet, and Netflix Jobs all run React with Next.js in production (see the Next.js showcase).
Componentized
React breaks an interface into reusable components. A rate table, a provider search, or an event card is built and tested once, then used wherever it is needed, which keeps the design consistent as the site grows.
Fast by Default
With Next.js, React pages can be generated ahead of time, rendered on the server, or a mix of both page by page. Visitors receive finished HTML instead of waiting for JavaScript to assemble the page.
Keeps Pace
React and its frameworks release on a regular cadence with large communities behind them. Documentation, third-party libraries, and developers who know the stack are easy to find, which lowers the risk of building on it.
When a React front end makes sense.
A React front end adds a second application to maintain, so we recommend it when the benefits outweigh that cost. For many marketing sites, WordPress or Drupal on its own is better value. If you are having a conversation with us and that’s the case, we will tell you.
When it does.
[1]
UI is the experience. The site includes application features such as logged-in portals, calculators, search tools, or dashboards.
[2]
Content is multichannel. Content needs to reach more than one channel (a website, an app, kiosks) from a single source.
[3]
Performance is essential. Performance targets are strict and the current theme can’t meet them.
[4]
In-house team prefers it. Your internal developers already work in React and want the website in the same stack.
[5]
High security is needed. Security requirements favor keeping the CMS admin off the public domain.
When it doesn’t.
[1]
Content marketing is the strategy. A content-driven marketing site with a small team and no application features.
[2]
Storytelling with visual page building. Editors rely on building page layouts visually inside the CMS.
[3]
Project under hard constraints. The budget or timeline doesn’t allow for maintaining two applications after launch.
How a headless build fits together.
Most of our React work is headless: the CMS manages content, and a separate front end presents it. Three layers make up the system.
1. Content Backend
Editors work in a CMS such as WordPress, Drupal, or Pantheon Content Publisher. Content reaches the front end through REST or GraphQL APIs.
2. React Front End
A React application, usually built on Next.js, requests that content, renders pages, and handles routing, forms, search, and anything interactive. This is the layer visitors see.
3. Hosting and Delivery
The front end deploys to a platform such as Spacefast, Pantheon, Netlify, or Vercel, with a preview build for each change and caching at the edge.
React development capabilities
Our React development services follow the same standards as our CMS work: documented code, a predictable deployment process, and a codebase the next developer can pick up without a guided tour.
Next.js Development Services
Next.js is our lead framework for React, and most of our React builds run on it. We build with the App Router, TypeScript, and React Server Components, choosing static generation, server rendering, or incremental regeneration page by page based on how often content changes.
Component Libraries and Design Systems
Designs from Figma become a documented React component library, and new pages are assembled from tested parts. A component catalog such as Storybook lets designers and developers review each piece outside the live site.
Headless CMS Implementation
We connect React front ends to WordPress through the REST API or GraphQL (WPGraphQL), to Drupal through JSON:API, and to Contentful via REST API. Editorial preview is part of the build, and editors can check a page before it goes live.
Framework Fluency: Nuxt, Gatsby, and Vue.js
Not every project starts on Next.js. Our team has built and supported Nuxt and Vue.js applications, including interactive applications for North Carolina Education Lottery and the centennial site for Luck Companies. That range matters when we inherit an existing JavaScript site or plan a move between frameworks.
API Integrations
React front ends often sit between several systems. We connect them to CRMs, member and core systems, payment gateways, search services, and HubSpot forms, with server-side handling for any credential that should stay out of the browser.
Hosting and Deployment
As a Spacefast and Pantheon partner, we deploy React and Next.js front ends on Pantheon next to the WordPress and Drupal backends many of our clients already host there. We also work with Spacefast, Netlify and Vercel, with Git-based deployments and a preview build for every pull request.
Consulting, Audits, and Upgrades
We review existing React codebases for performance, accessibility, security, and maintainability, then plan the work that follows. That might be a Next.js Pages Router to App Router migration, a major version upgrade, or a plan to bring an agency-built site in house.
Performance, Accessibility, and Search in React Builds
A React front end can be fast, accessible, and easy to index, or none of the three. The difference comes from a handful of decisions made early in the project.
Core Web Vitals
We set performance budgets at kickoff, keep client-side JavaScript to the components that need it, and track Largest Contentful Paint and Interaction to Next Paint against field data after launch.
Accessibility
Client-side page changes can leave screen reader users behind. We manage focus and announce route changes, and test components against WCAG 2.2 AA before they reach a page.
Search and AI Answer Engines
Server-rendered HTML gives search crawlers and AI answer engines complete pages to read. Metadata, structured data, and sitemaps are generated from CMS content, and editors manage them in one place.
Security
Keeping the CMS off the public domain reduces what an attacker can reach. API keys stay on the server, and dependencies are monitored and patched as part of support.
React Development FAQ
React is a library for building interface components. Next.js is a framework built on React that adds routing, server rendering, data fetching, and build tooling. Most production websites built with React today use a framework like Next.js rather than assembling those pieces by hand.
Yes. Next.js is the framework we use for most React projects. We take on new Next.js builds connected to WordPress, Drupal, or Pantheon Content Publisher, audits and upgrades of existing Next.js sites, and support after launch. Hosting can sit on Spacefast, Pantheon, Netlify, or Vercel, depending on where the rest of your platform lives.
Yes and that is the most common setup. Editors keep working in the CMS they know, and the React front end pulls content through the CMS API. Your content, users, and editorial workflow stay where they are.
Yes. Preview is part of the build. Editors open a draft from the CMS and see it rendered by the React front end before it is published. We test preview with your editorial team before launch.
It is more to maintain. A headless site has two applications, the CMS and the front end, and each needs updates and monitoring. We plan for that from the start, document both, and size a support retainer to match. If that overhead isn’t justified, we will recommend a traditional WordPress or Drupal build instead.
Cost depends mostly on the number of templates and components, the CMS integration, and any application features such as portals or search. A headless build usually costs more than a traditional theme of the same scope because it includes the API layer and a second deployment pipeline.
Yes. We start with a codebase audit covering dependencies, framework versions, hosting, performance, and accessibility. That gives you a written list of what is solid, what is at risk, and what to fix first, before any commitment to further work.