Rendering is vital to the operation of your website as it allows Google to fetch your web pages, decode the code and understand its content and structure.

The rendering process then converts this code into a web page that users can interact with.

Every web page should be designed with the end person in mind, so choosing the most effective way of rendering is essential when creating your website.

Each rendering technique has advantages and disadvantages, so we’ll cover server-side rendering (SSR) in the first of our JavaScript series.

Read on to learn what is server-side, how the server-side process works, and its pros and cons.

What is server-side rendering (SSR)?

With server-side rendering, the content of your website is rendered on the web server and not in the browser. This server creates an HTML file with user-specific data and sends it to the user’s computer.

The browser then interprets the content and displays the page, giving the user a fully rendered HTML page without having to wait for JavaScript or CSS files to load.

Many think that this method is cheap for SEO compared to client-side rendering, but first let’s see how SSR works.

The server-side rendering process

As we have already discussed, server-side rendering allows website content to appear quickly because there is no application code to download and run.

But how is your HTML rendered in response to navigation on the server?

• The user opens their browser and requests that the web page be opened.
• The server creates rendered content in a viewable HTML file and sends it to the user. The CSS is also displayed in the browser, but the page is not yet interactive.
• Meanwhile, the browser downloads the page’s JavaScript, which is available on the server.
• The user can now interact with the website and the different elements.
• The browser implements the JavaScript (Document Object Model or DOM is fully rendered).
• The page is now fully loaded and ready to respond to user journey interactions.

Many popular JavaScript frameworks, including Angular and React, use server-side rendering.

Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter also use rendered content before sending it to the user.

But what are the unique pros and cons of using SSR? Here are the pros and cons:

The benefits of server-side rendering

Faster loading time

SSR only updates the parts of the HTML that need updating, so it generates faster page transitions between pages and much faster First Contentful Paint (FCP).

Even users with slow internet connections or outdated devices can interact with your web pages immediately.

Remember, the less time a user has to look at a loading screen, the better for your SEO.

Easy to index

Indexing SSR sites is much easier for search engines than client-rendered sites. The content is rendered before the page loads, so you don’t have to run JavaScript to read and index it.

Ideal for static websites

SSR is great for static web pages because it’s faster to pre-render a static (or immutable) page on the server before sending it to the client.

More accurate user metrics

SSR enables you to maintain a healthy, optimized website by collecting metrics quickly and accurately.

Unlike client-side rendering, SSR informs the server when your user moves from one page to another.

Evaluating how they navigate your site and interact with your content helps you continuously improve the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).

Excellent social media optimization

SSR also optimizes your pages for social media.

This means you get a nice preview with page title, description and image when you share your website content on social media.

The disadvantages of server-side rendering

Higher server load for larger applications

The server bears the full load of requests for users and bots.

Rendering larger, more complex applications on the server side can increase load time as it is a single bottleneck.

increase in spending

SSR can become complex and expensive when it’s difficult to maintain and debug, and more prone to errors.

You have to use your own company’s server to install an SSR application, which means higher operational costs.

compatibility issues

SSR may be incompatible with some third-party libraries and tools, including JavaScript code.

Slow inactivity when rendering pages

Even though the user can view the page immediately, they must wait for the JavaScript download to finish before they can interact with it.

Inefficient caching

Efficient caching is important for data retrieval performance, but SSR means that each page’s HTML code is different.

This is harder to intercept on a Content Delivery Network (CDN), so users loading a page that hasn’t been cached on the CDN will experience increased page load time.

Server-side rendering frameworks

The delivery of rendered content to the browser is crucial for frontends of SSR applications to load quickly.

Many of the frameworks we’ve highlighted support running the same application in Node.js, rendering it to static HTML, and finally hydrating it on the client.

Some of the most popular frameworks to support SSR for web development are:

• Angular universal – Used to render an angular application on the server side.
• Ember.js – a JavaScript framework focused on scalable single-page applications.
• Gatsby.js – a React-based framework ideal for building static websites.
• Next.js – an open-source JavaScript framework built on top of React.
• React – an open source JavaScript framework and library for creating reusable UI components.
• Vue.js – a JavaScript framework that developers implement primarily to create interactive user interfaces.

Is server-side rendering better?

SSR is effective to boost your SEO performance as it indexes your pages before they are loaded in the browser.

It benefits the organization building the web application by tracking engagement metrics to drive continuous improvement for the end customer.

Ultimately, when choosing your web framework and architecture, and the type of features you need, you must decide how it compares to client-side rendering or dynamic rendering.

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