Advantages of decoupled frontend technologies

Compared to the older frontend frameworks Web Forms and MVC, ASP.NET Core and Next.js provide superior performance, cross-platform capabilities, and headless CMS mode, among other advantages.
Мodernizing your frontend is crucial for future-proofing your Sitefinity projects.

ASP.NET Core is an emerging, robust, and feature-rich framework that provides features to develop super-fast APIs for web apps.

It is an open-source, cross-platform framework, developed both by Microsoft and its community. It is a complete reform of ASP.NET that combines MVC structure and Web API into a single framework.

Some of the major advantages include:

• Cross-platform app development on Windows, MacOS, and Linux
• High performance and optimized memory usage
• Modern tooling to streamline development
  
• Faster request handling and development cycle
• New WYSIWYG form and page builder
• Support for various architectural patterns (MVC, Razor Pages, Blazor)

For more information, see ASP.NET Core pages and templates and ASP.NET Core widgets.

Next.js is an open-source web development framework based on React. It provides server-side rendering and enhanced search engine optimization (SEO), built-in routing, which addresses some common issues in React development. The integration with Sitefinity CMS provides additional benefits:

• Ready-to-use widgets
• Widget and page-level personalization
• Smooth integration with KendoReact
• Static site generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR) for faster page loads

For more information, see Next.js pages and templates and Next.js renderer widgets.

Adopting or transitioning to a decoupled frontend technology like ASP.NET Core or Next.js offers significant benefits:

• Performance: ASP.NET Core is designed for speed and efficiency, with features like faster request handling and optimized memory usage. Next.js enables static site generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR) for faster page loads.
• Security: Built-in support for the latest security standards.
• Scalability & flexibility: A decoupled frontend and multi-tiered architecture allows for independent scaling and adaptability.
  For more information, see Three-tier architecture.
• Developer productivity: ASP.NET Core and Next.js provide enhanced tooling, reusable components, and CLI-based scaffolding to streamline development. Developers also benefit from faster development cycles - with Hot Reload in ASP.NET Core and Fast Refresh in Next.js, code changes appear instantly upon save.
• Talent acquisition: Widely adopted frameworks enable easier acquisition and retention of development talent. Additionally, operating in headless mode enables fast developer onboarding, requiring little to no specialized knowledge of Sitefinity platform.
• SEO: Server-side rendering improves search engine rankings while preserving content quality. Unlike traditional client-side rendering, modern frontend technologies help achieve optimal performance without compromising search visibility.
• Future-proofing your technology stack: Transitioning to modern technologies reduces technical debt and simplifies the adoption of future innovations without requiring significant rework.
• Content management efficiency: New WYSIWYG form and page builders provide an intuitive, easy-to-use experience that accelerates onboarding. Enhanced templates and reusable page segments maintain the consistency across pages and layouts.