The best of both worlds: SSR with isomorphic JavaScript

Server-side rendering (SSR) is a method where web applications are rendered on the server, providing fully rendered HTML to the browser, a practice that was common before the rise of JavaScript-heavy, client-side applications. As JavaScript became the dominant language for web development, single-page applications (SPAs) emerged, relying on client-side rendering to create dynamic and interactive web experiences without full page refreshes. This approach, while offering a snappy user experience, poses challenges such as search engine optimization (SEO) issues and initial load performance delays. A hybrid approach combines the best of both worlds by using SSR for the initial load, followed by client-side JavaScript interactions, offering SEO benefits and a dynamic user experience. This tutorial demonstrates building and deploying a server-rendered React application on AWS using services like Lambda, S3, and CloudFront, emphasizing both the advantages and the complexity of managing such architecture. It highlights frameworks like Next.js that simplify SSR and discusses potential enhancements like AWS Lambda's Provisioned Concurrency to improve performance.