How to Build a Routing Layer in React and Why You Need It

In a single-page React application, routing is crucial for navigating between different pages without reloading the entire page, achieved through third-party libraries like react-router-dom. A routing layer centralizes routing logic into a few files, enhancing maintainability and performance by enabling lazy loading of components, a technique known as code-splitting, which improves app efficiency. This centralized approach simplifies the process of updating routes, as changes only need to be made in one place rather than throughout the codebase. Implementing a routing layer involves defining path constants and mapping them to page components, which is demonstrated through React Router DOM's createBrowserRouter and lazy loading with React's <Suspense> component. As applications grow, the routing layer's architecture can be scaled by logically organizing paths and mappings into subfolders, making it a sustainable solution for large projects.