Frontend Development Patterns

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for modern frontend development using React, Next.js, TypeScript, and related technologies.

Component Architecture

Component Composition Patterns

Container/Presentational Pattern:

// Presentational component (pure, reusable)
interface UserCardProps {
  name: string;
  email: string;
  avatar: string;
  onEdit: () => void;
}

function UserCard({ name, email, avatar, onEdit }: UserCardProps) {
  return (
    <div className="user-card">
      <img src={avatar} alt={name} />
      <h3>{name}</h3>
      <p>{email}</p>
      <button onClick={onEdit}>Edit</button>
    </div>
  );
}

// Container component (handles logic, state, data fetching)
function UserCardContainer({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  const { data: user, isLoading } = useUser(userId);
  const { mutate: updateUser } = useUpdateUser();

  if (isLoading) return <Skeleton />;
  if (!user) return <NotFound />;

  return <UserCard {...user} onEdit={() => updateUser(user.id)} />;
}

Compound Components Pattern:

// Flexible, composable API
<Tabs defaultValue="profile">
  <TabsList>
    <TabsTrigger value="profile">Profile</TabsTrigger>
    <TabsTrigger value="settings">Settings</TabsTrigger>
  </TabsList>
  <TabsContent value="profile">
    <ProfileForm />
  </TabsContent>
  <TabsContent value="settings">
    <SettingsForm />
  </TabsContent>
</Tabs>

Component Organization

components/
├── ui/                    # Primitive components (buttons, inputs)
│   ├── button.tsx
│   ├── input.tsx
│   └── card.tsx
├── forms/                 # Form components
│   ├── login-form.tsx
│   └── register-form.tsx
├── features/              # Feature-specific components
│   ├── user-profile/
│   │   ├── profile-header.tsx
│   │   ├── profile-stats.tsx
│   │   └── index.ts
│   └── dashboard/
│       ├── dashboard-grid.tsx
│       └── dashboard-card.tsx
└── layouts/               # Layout components
    ├── main-layout.tsx
    └── auth-layout.tsx

State Management

Local State (useState)

Use for:

• Component-specific UI state
• Form inputs
• Toggles, modals

function SearchBar() {
  const [query, setQuery] = useState('');
  const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = useState(false);

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        value={query}
        onChange={(e) => setQuery(e.target.value)}
      />
      {isOpen && <SearchResults query={query} />}
    </div>
  );
}

Global State (Zustand)

Use for:

• User authentication state
• Theme preferences
• Shopping cart
• Cross-component shared state

import create from 'zustand';

interface UserStore {
  user: User | null;
  setUser: (user: User) => void;
  logout: () => void;
}

export const useUserStore = create<UserStore>((set) => ({
  user: null,
  setUser: (user) => set({ user }),
  logout: () => set({ user: null }),
}));

// Usage
function Header() {
  const user = useUserStore((state) => state.user);
  const logout = useUserStore((state) => state.logout);

  return <div>{user ? user.name : 'Guest'}</div>;
}

Server State (React Query / TanStack Query)

Use for:

• API data fetching
• Caching API responses
• Optimistic updates
• Background refetching

import { useQuery, useMutation, useQueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query';

// Fetch data
function UserProfile({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  const { data, isLoading, error } = useQuery({
    queryKey: ['user', userId],
    queryFn: () => fetchUser(userId),
    staleTime: 5 * 60 * 1000, // 5 minutes
  });

  if (isLoading) return <Skeleton />;
  if (error) return <Error error={error} />;

  return <div>{data.name}</div>;
}

// Mutations with optimistic updates
function useUpdateUser() {
  const queryClient = useQueryClient();

  return useMutation({
    mutationFn: (user: User) => api.updateUser(user),
    onMutate: async (newUser) => {
      // Cancel outgoing refetches
      await queryClient.cancelQueries({ queryKey: ['user', newUser.id] });

      // Snapshot previous value
      const previous = queryClient.getQueryData(['user', newUser.id]);

      // Optimistically update
      queryClient.setQueryData(['user', newUser.id], newUser);

      return { previous };
    },
    onError: (err, newUser, context) => {
      // Rollback on error
      queryClient.setQueryData(['user', newUser.id], context?.previous);
    },
    onSettled: (newUser) => {
      // Refetch after mutation
      queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: ['user', newUser.id] });
    },
  });
}

Performance Optimization

1. Memoization

useMemo (expensive calculations):

function ProductList({ products }: { products: Product[] }) {
  const sortedProducts = useMemo(
    () => products.sort((a, b) => b.price - a.price),
    [products]
  );

  return <div>{sortedProducts.map(...)}</div>;
}

useCallback (prevent re-renders):

function Parent() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  // ✅ Memoized - Child won't re-render unless count changes
  const handleClick = useCallback(() => {
    setCount(c => c + 1);
  }, []);

  return <Child onClick={handleClick} />;
}

const Child = memo(function Child({ onClick }: { onClick: () => void }) {
  console.log('Child rendered');
  return <button onClick={onClick}>Click</button>;
});

React.memo (prevent component re-renders):

const ExpensiveComponent = memo(function ExpensiveComponent({ data }) {
  // Only re-renders if data changes
  return <div>{/* expensive rendering */}</div>;
});

2. Code Splitting

Route-based splitting (Next.js automatic):

// app/dashboard/page.tsx - automatically code split
export default function DashboardPage() {
  return <Dashboard />;
}

Component-level splitting:

import dynamic from 'next/dynamic';

const HeavyChart = dynamic(() => import('@/components/heavy-chart'), {
  loading: () => <Skeleton />,
  ssr: false, // Don't render on server
});

function Analytics() {
  return <HeavyChart data={chartData} />;
}

3. Image Optimization

import Image from 'next/image';

// ✅ Optimized - Next.js Image component
<Image
  src="/hero.jpg"
  alt="Hero image"
  width={800}
  height={600}
  priority // Load immediately for LCP
  placeholder="blur"
  blurDataURL="data:image/..."
/>

// ❌ Not optimized
<img src="/hero.jpg" alt="Hero" />

4. Lazy Loading

import { lazy, Suspense } from 'react';

const Comments = lazy(() => import('./comments'));

function Post() {
  return (
    <div>
      <PostContent />
      <Suspense fallback={<CommentsSkeleton />}>
        <Comments postId={postId} />
      </Suspense>
    </div>
  );
}

5. Virtual Scrolling

import { useVirtualizer } from '@tanstack/react-virtual';

function VirtualList({ items }: { items: Item[] }) {
  const parentRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);

  const virtualizer = useVirtualizer({
    count: items.length,
    getScrollElement: () => parentRef.current,
    estimateSize: () => 50,
  });

  return (
    <div ref={parentRef} style={{ height: '400px', overflow: 'auto' }}>
      <div style={{ height: `${virtualizer.getTotalSize()}px` }}>
        {virtualizer.getVirtualItems().map((virtualRow) => (
          <div
            key={virtualRow.index}
            style={{
              position: 'absolute',
              top: 0,
              left: 0,
              width: '100%',
              height: `${virtualRow.size}px`,
              transform: `translateY(${virtualRow.start}px)`,
            }}
          >
            {items[virtualRow.index].name}
          </div>
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

Accessibility (a11y)

Semantic HTML

// ✅ Semantic
<nav>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="/home">Home</a></li>
    <li><a href="/about">About</a></li>
  </ul>
</nav>

// ❌ Non-semantic
<div>
  <div>
    <div onClick={goHome}>Home</div>
    <div onClick={goAbout}>About</div>
  </div>
</div>

ARIA Attributes

<button
  aria-label="Close dialog"
  aria-expanded={isOpen}
  aria-controls="dialog-content"
  onClick={toggle}
>
  <X aria-hidden="true" />
</button>

<div
  id="dialog-content"
  role="dialog"
  aria-modal="true"
  aria-labelledby="dialog-title"
>
  <h2 id="dialog-title">Dialog Title</h2>
  {content}
</div>

Keyboard Navigation

function Dropdown() {
  const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = useState(false);
  const [focusedIndex, setFocusedIndex] = useState(0);

  const handleKeyDown = (e: KeyboardEvent) => {
    switch (e.key) {
      case 'ArrowDown':
        e.preventDefault();
        setFocusedIndex((i) => Math.min(i + 1, items.length - 1));
        break;
      case 'ArrowUp':
        e.preventDefault();
        setFocusedIndex((i) => Math.max(i - 1, 0));
        break;
      case 'Enter':
        selectItem(items[focusedIndex]);
        break;
      case 'Escape':
        setIsOpen(false);
        break;
    }
  };

  return (
    <div onKeyDown={handleKeyDown} role="combobox">
      {/* dropdown content */}
    </div>
  );
}

Focus Management

import { useRef, useEffect } from 'react';

function Modal({ isOpen, onClose }: ModalProps) {
  const closeButtonRef = useRef<HTMLButtonElement>(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (isOpen) {
      // Focus close button when modal opens
      closeButtonRef.current?.focus();

      // Trap focus within modal
      const handleTab = (e: KeyboardEvent) => {
        // Implement focus trap logic
      };

      document.addEventListener('keydown', handleTab);
      return () => document.removeEventListener('keydown', handleTab);
    }
  }, [isOpen]);

  if (!isOpen) return null;

  return (
    <div role="dialog" aria-modal="true">
      <button ref={closeButtonRef} onClick={onClose}>
        Close
      </button>
      {content}
    </div>
  );
}

Form Patterns

Controlled Forms with Validation

import { useForm } from 'react-hook-form';
import { zodResolver } from '@hookform/resolvers/zod';
import * as z from 'zod';

const schema = z.object({
  email: z.string().email('Invalid email address'),
  password: z.string().min(8, 'Password must be at least 8 characters'),
  age: z.number().min(18, 'Must be 18 or older'),
});

type FormData = z.infer<typeof schema>;

function RegistrationForm() {
  const { register, handleSubmit, formState: { errors, isSubmitting } } = useForm<FormData>({
    resolver: zodResolver(schema),
  });

  const onSubmit = async (data: FormData) => {
    await api.register(data);
  };

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <div>
        <input {...register('email')} type="email" />
        {errors.email && <span>{errors.email.message}</span>}
      </div>

      <div>
        <input {...register('password')} type="password" />
        {errors.password && <span>{errors.password.message}</span>}
      </div>

      <button type="submit" disabled={isSubmitting}>
        {isSubmitting ? 'Submitting...' : 'Submit'}
      </button>
    </form>
  );
}

Form State Management

// Optimistic updates
const { mutate } = useMutation({
  mutationFn: updateUser,
  onMutate: async (newData) => {
    // Cancel outgoing queries
    await queryClient.cancelQueries({ queryKey: ['user', userId] });

    // Snapshot previous
    const previous = queryClient.getQueryData(['user', userId]);

    // Optimistically update UI
    queryClient.setQueryData(['user', userId], newData);

    return { previous };
  },
  onError: (err, newData, context) => {
    // Rollback on error
    queryClient.setQueryData(['user', userId], context?.previous);
    toast.error('Update failed');
  },
  onSuccess: () => {
    toast.success('Updated successfully');
  },
});

Error Handling

Error Boundaries

import { Component, ReactNode } from 'react';

interface Props {
  children: ReactNode;
  fallback?: ReactNode;
}

interface State {
  hasError: boolean;
  error?: Error;
}

class ErrorBoundary extends Component<Props, State> {
  constructor(props: Props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = { hasError: false };
  }

  static getDerivedStateFromError(error: Error): State {
    return { hasError: true, error };
  }

  componentDidCatch(error: Error, errorInfo: any) {
    console.error('Error boundary caught:', error, errorInfo);
    // Log to error tracking service
    logErrorToService(error, errorInfo);
  }

  render() {
    if (this.state.hasError) {
      return this.props.fallback || (
        <div>
          <h2>Something went wrong</h2>
          <button onClick={() => this.setState({ hasError: false })}>
            Try again
          </button>
        </div>
      );
    }

    return this.props.children;
  }
}

// Usage
<ErrorBoundary fallback={<ErrorFallback />}>
  <App />
</ErrorBoundary>

Async Error Handling

function DataComponent() {
  const { data, error, isError, isLoading } = useQuery({
    queryKey: ['data'],
    queryFn: fetchData,
    retry: 3,
    retryDelay: (attemptIndex) => Math.min(1000 * 2 ** attemptIndex, 30000),
  });

  if (isLoading) return <Skeleton />;
  if (isError) return <ErrorDisplay error={error} />;

  return <DisplayData data={data} />;
}

Responsive Design

Mobile-First Approach

// Tailwind CSS (mobile-first)
<div className="
  w-full              /* Full width on mobile */
  md:w-1/2           /* Half width on tablets */
  lg:w-1/3           /* Third width on desktop */
  p-4                /* Padding 16px */
  md:p-6             /* Padding 24px on tablets+ */
">
  Content
</div>

Responsive Hooks

import { useMediaQuery } from '@/hooks/use-media-query';

function ResponsiveLayout() {
  const isMobile = useMediaQuery('(max-width: 768px)');
  const isTablet = useMediaQuery('(min-width: 769px) and (max-width: 1024px)');
  const isDesktop = useMediaQuery('(min-width: 1025px)');

  if (isMobile) return <MobileLayout />;
  if (isTablet) return <TabletLayout />;
  return <DesktopLayout />;
}

Data Fetching Strategies

Server Components (Next.js 14+)

// app/users/page.tsx - Server Component
async function UsersPage() {
  // Fetched on server
  const users = await db.user.findMany();

  return <UserList users={users} />;
}

Client Components with React Query

'use client';

function UserList() {
  const { data: users, isLoading } = useQuery({
    queryKey: ['users'],
    queryFn: fetchUsers,
  });

  if (isLoading) return <UsersLoading />;

  return <div>{users.map(user => <UserCard key={user.id} {...user} />)}</div>;
}

Parallel Data Fetching

function Dashboard() {
  const { data: user } = useQuery({ queryKey: ['user'], queryFn: fetchUser });
  const { data: stats } = useQuery({ queryKey: ['stats'], queryFn: fetchStats });
  const { data: posts } = useQuery({ queryKey: ['posts'], queryFn: fetchPosts });

  // All three queries run in parallel
  return <div>...</div>;
}

Dependent Queries

function UserPosts({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  const { data: user } = useQuery({
    queryKey: ['user', userId],
    queryFn: () => fetchUser(userId),
  });

  const { data: posts } = useQuery({
    queryKey: ['posts', user?.id],
    queryFn: () => fetchUserPosts(user!.id),
    enabled: !!user, // Only fetch after user is loaded
  });

  return <div>...</div>;
}

TypeScript Patterns

Prop Types

// Basic props
interface ButtonProps {
  children: ReactNode;
  onClick: () => void;
  variant?: 'primary' | 'secondary';
  disabled?: boolean;
}

// Props with generic
interface ListProps<T> {
  items: T[];
  renderItem: (item: T) => ReactNode;
  keyExtractor: (item: T) => string;
}

// Props extending HTML attributes
interface InputProps extends React.InputHTMLAttributes<HTMLInputElement> {
  label: string;
  error?: string;
}

Type-Safe API Responses

// API response types
interface ApiResponse<T> {
  data: T;
  error?: never;
}

interface ApiError {
  data?: never;
  error: {
    code: string;
    message: string;
  };
}

type ApiResult<T> = ApiResponse<T> | ApiError;

// Usage
async function fetchUser(id: string): Promise<ApiResult<User>> {
  const response = await fetch(`/api/users/${id}`);
  return response.json();
}

Testing Patterns

Component Testing

import { render, screen, fireEvent } from '@testing-library/react';
import { LoginForm } from './login-form';

test('submits form with email and password', async () => {
  const onSubmit = jest.fn();

  render(<LoginForm onSubmit={onSubmit} />);

  fireEvent.change(screen.getByLabelText('Email'), {
    target: { value: 'test@example.com' },
  });

  fireEvent.change(screen.getByLabelText('Password'), {
    target: { value: 'password123' },
  });

  fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Login' }));

  await waitFor(() => {
    expect(onSubmit).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
      email: 'test@example.com',
      password: 'password123',
    });
  });
});

Mock API Calls

import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from '@tanstack/react-query';
import { rest } from 'msw';
import { setupServer } from 'msw/node';

const server = setupServer(
  rest.get('/api/users/:id', (req, res, ctx) => {
    return res(ctx.json({
      id: req.params.id,
      name: 'Test User',
      email: 'test@example.com',
    }));
  })
);

beforeAll(() => server.listen());
afterEach(() => server.resetHandlers());
afterAll(() => server.close());

test('displays user data', async () => {
  const queryClient = new QueryClient();

  render(
    <QueryClientProvider client={queryClient}>
      <UserProfile userId="123" />
    </QueryClientProvider>
  );

  expect(await screen.findByText('Test User')).toBeInTheDocument();
});

Build Optimization

Bundle Analysis

# Next.js bundle analyzer
npm install @next/bundle-analyzer

# next.config.js
const withBundleAnalyzer = require('@next/bundle-analyzer')({
  enabled: process.env.ANALYZE === 'true',
});

module.exports = withBundleAnalyzer({
  // config
});

# Run analysis
ANALYZE=true npm run build

Tree Shaking

// ✅ Named imports (tree-shakeable)
import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button';

// ❌ Namespace import (includes everything)
import * as UI from '@/components/ui';

Dynamic Imports

// Import only when needed
async function handleExport() {
  const { exportToPDF } = await import('@/lib/pdf-export');
  await exportToPDF(data);
}

Common Frontend Mistakes to Avoid

1. Prop drilling: Use Context or state management library instead
2. Unnecessary re-renders: Use memo, useMemo, useCallback appropriately
3. Missing loading states: Always show loading indicators
4. No error boundaries: Catch errors before they break the app
5. Inline functions in JSX: Causes re-renders, use useCallback
6. Large bundle sizes: Code split and lazy load
7. Missing alt text: All images need descriptive alt text
8. Inaccessible forms: Use proper labels and ARIA
9. Console.log in production: Remove or use proper logging
10. Mixing server and client code: Know Next.js boundaries

Performance Metrics (Core Web Vitals)

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

Target: < 2.5 seconds

Optimize:

• Preload critical images
• Use Next.js Image component
• Minimize render-blocking resources
• Use CDN for assets

FID (First Input Delay)

Target: < 100 milliseconds

Optimize:

• Minimize JavaScript execution
• Code split large bundles
• Use web workers for heavy computation
• Defer non-critical JavaScript

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

Target: < 0.1

Optimize:

• Set explicit width/height on images
• Reserve space for ads/embeds
• Avoid inserting content above existing content
• Use CSS transforms instead of layout properties

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Building React or Next.js components
• Implementing frontend features
• Optimizing frontend performance
• Debugging rendering issues
• Setting up state management
• Implementing forms
• Ensuring accessibility
• Working with responsive design
• Fetching and caching data
• Testing frontend code

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Remember: Modern frontend development is about creating fast, accessible, and delightful user experiences. Follow these patterns to build UIs that users love.