July 2016 Summaries

Angular Controllers can become heavy with logic and complicated to test due to direct dependency injection, whereas React solves this issue using Components that are aware of props and states. React is declarative, making it easier for developers to focus on UI components rather than learning complex syntax. The transition from Angular to React has helped Brian Douglas become a better JavaScript developer, as the majority of UI manipulation happens in JavaScript. In React, Props and State can be thought of as attributes that the component is aware of, with Props being immutable and State being mutable. Lifecycle methods are also available to track and manipulate state during specific points in the component's life cycle. The syntax in React is straightforward, without many shortcuts or hidden syntax, making it a great choice for developers looking for a more declarative approach to UI development.

We recently converted our on-site application from Angular to React, a decision driven by its popularity and benefits in development time and design collaborations. To ensure a smooth transition, we waited until ready, started new with a brand new repo and codebase, invested in learning the library and ecosystem, and prioritized bug fixes over feature upgrades. This approach allowed us to iterate on the UI while staying open for business and enabled us to take advantage of changes and features that improved our application without sending bugs to production. The transition was largely unnoticed by our users, a desirable outcome, and we're excited to announce new features and improvements in the coming weeks.

At Netlify, they use React in production and are familiar with its deployment challenges, which have been exacerbated by a lack of opinionated tooling for React projects. However, Facebook's recent announcement of an opinionated boilerplate for getting React projects started is a positive development, allowing developers to quickly set up and deploy their apps with Netlify. With the new setup, users can get a React project running in under 30 seconds, and deploy it with just a few commands or one click using the netlify CLI. The process involves installing or creating a new project, choosing options for continuous deployment, and setting up redirect and rewrite rules to support routing.

Deploy Previews has been introduced by Netlify, allowing developers to collaborate on website deployments more easily. This feature enables teams to see how changes will look in production without having to deploy them to their existing site. Deploy Previews work by deploying every pull request from a developer's Git repository to a unique URL, which is different from the main site's URL. The preview remains up-to-date as new changes are committed to the same branch, and Netlify's CDN invalidates the cache automatically. This feature is available for all pricing plans, including free sites, and can be integrated with other notifications like Slack's incoming webhooks. Netlify has already seen improvements in their internal development and release processes using this feature, and they hope it will benefit developers as well.

You can get notifications in Slack every time you deploy a site on Netlify, including information about the deployed site, production URL, build log, and when the message was sent. There are three types of messages you can receive for deployed sites: before building, after deployment is complete, and if something goes wrong during deployment. Additionally, form submission notifications are available if you use Netlify forms, with each field separated in the message to ensure clarity. Configuring Slack notifications on Netlify is straightforward, and can be enabled through the documentation.

We are excited to announce that GitLab can now be used to authenticate and deploy repositories in Netlify. This integration was requested by many users due to the growing popularity of GitLab, allowing developers to choose between GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab when creating new sites in Netlify. With this update, we aim to make it easier for developers to deploy their sites and collaborate with their teams, as part of our ongoing efforts to improve Netlify's features and functionality.