🐶
Next.js

Next.js Link with Material UI: A Complete Guide

By Filip on 10/05/2024

Learn how to seamlessly integrate the Material UI Link component with the Next.JS Link component for enhanced styling and routing in your React applications.

Next.js Link with Material UI: A Complete Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction

Integrating Material-UI's Link component with Next.js for navigation and styling involves a few simple steps. First, import the necessary components from both libraries: NextLink from next/link and MuiLink from @mui/material/Link. Next, create a custom Link component that combines the functionality of both. This component should use React.forwardRef to handle refs, passHref from NextLink to pass the href attribute, and spread the remaining props to the MuiLink component. This approach allows you to use the custom Link component like a regular anchor tag while benefiting from Next.js's routing and Material-UI's styling options.

Step-by-Step Guide

To use Material-UI's Link component with Next.js's Link component for seamless navigation and styling, follow these steps:

  1. Import Necessary Components:
import NextLink from 'next/link';
import MuiLink from '@mui/material/Link';
  1. Create a Custom Link Component:
const LinkBehavior = React.forwardRef((props, ref) => {
  return <MuiLink underline="none" ref={ref} {...props} />;
});

const CustomLink = React.forwardRef((props, ref) => {
  const { href, ...other } = props;
  return (
    <NextLink href={href} passHref>
      <LinkBehavior ref={ref} {...other} />
    </NextLink>
  );
});

Explanation:

  • LinkBehavior: This component extends the Material-UI Link (MuiLink) to remove the default underline and pass any additional props.
  • CustomLink: This component combines Next.js's Link (NextLink) with the customized Material-UI Link (LinkBehavior).
    • It uses React.forwardRef to correctly pass refs to the underlying components.
    • The passHref prop on NextLink ensures the href is passed to the inner LinkBehavior component.
    • It spreads the remaining props (...other) to the LinkBehavior component.
  1. Use the Custom Link Component:
import CustomLink from './CustomLink'; // Assuming the component is in a file named CustomLink.js

function MyComponent() {
  return (
    <nav>
      <CustomLink href="/">Home</CustomLink>
      <CustomLink href="/about">About</CustomLink>
    </nav>
  );
}

Explanation:

  • Import the CustomLink component.
  • Use it like a regular anchor tag (<a>) to create links.

Benefits of this Approach:

  • Seamless Integration: Combines the client-side routing of Next.js with the styling capabilities of Material-UI's Link component.
  • Improved SEO: The passHref prop ensures search engines can crawl the links correctly.
  • Flexibility: You can easily customize the appearance of the links using Material-UI's styling options.

This approach provides a clean and efficient way to use Material-UI links within your Next.js application, ensuring both functionality and aesthetics are maintained.

Code Example

This code defines a custom link component for a Next.js application that uses Material-UI for styling. The CustomLink component combines NextLink for routing and MuiLink for styling, removing the default underline and allowing for reuse throughout the application. The HomePage component demonstrates how to use the CustomLink component for navigation.

// components/CustomLink.js
import React from 'react';
import NextLink from 'next/link';
import MuiLink from '@mui/material/Link';

const LinkBehavior = React.forwardRef((props, ref) => {
  return <MuiLink underline="none" ref={ref} {...props} />;
});

const CustomLink = React.forwardRef((props, ref) => {
  const { href, ...other } = props;
  return (
    <NextLink href={href} passHref>
      <LinkBehavior ref={ref} {...other} />
    </NextLink>
  );
});

export default CustomLink;

// pages/index.js
import React from 'react';
import CustomLink from '../components/CustomLink'; // Adjust path if needed

function HomePage() {
  return (
    <nav>
      <CustomLink href="/">Home</CustomLink>
      <CustomLink href="/about">About</CustomLink>
    </nav>
  );
}

export default HomePage;

Explanation:

  1. components/CustomLink.js:

    • This file defines the reusable CustomLink component.
    • It imports NextLink for Next.js routing and MuiLink for Material-UI styling.
    • LinkBehavior removes the default underline from MuiLink.
    • CustomLink combines NextLink and LinkBehavior, passing the href and other props correctly.

  2. pages/index.js (or any page where you want to use the link):

    • Import the CustomLink component.
    • Use it like a regular <a> tag, providing the href attribute for navigation.

Key Points:

  • Separation of Concerns: The custom link logic is encapsulated in a separate component, making your code cleaner and more maintainable.
  • Reusability: You can use CustomLink throughout your Next.js application for consistent styling and behavior.
  • SEO-Friendly: The passHref prop ensures that search engines can properly crawl your links.

Now, when you click on the "Home" or "About" links, Next.js will handle the routing while maintaining the Material-UI link styling.

Additional Notes

  • Material-UI v5+: This approach is particularly important for Material-UI v5 and above, as the library no longer directly renders an <a> tag for its Link component.
  • Styling: You can apply Material-UI styling to the CustomLink component using the sx prop or by creating custom themes. This allows for consistent styling across your application.
  • Accessibility: Ensure your links have sufficient color contrast and consider adding ARIA attributes for screen reader users.
  • Alternative Approaches: While this method is recommended, you can also explore using libraries like next-transpile-modules to directly use Material-UI's Link component with Next.js. However, this might have implications for bundle size and performance.
  • Context: This approach is most beneficial when you want to leverage Material-UI's styling and component API for your links while maintaining the performance and SEO benefits of Next.js routing.
  • Testing: Don't forget to write unit tests for your CustomLink component to ensure it behaves as expected. You can use libraries like @testing-library/react for testing React components.
  • Further Customization: You can further customize the LinkBehavior component to modify other default styles of the Material-UI Link component, such as the hover effect or active state.
  • Component Library: Consider creating a dedicated component library within your Next.js project to house reusable components like CustomLink. This promotes code organization and maintainability.

Summary

This guide provides a step-by-step approach to seamlessly integrate Material-UI's styling with Next.js's routing functionality for links in your application.

Step Description Code Snippet
1. Import Components Import NextLink from Next.js and MuiLink from Material-UI. import NextLink from 'next/link';
import MuiLink from '@mui/material/Link';
2. Create Custom Link Component Define two components:
- LinkBehavior: Extends MuiLink to remove default underline and pass props.
- CustomLink: Combines NextLink and LinkBehavior for routing and styling.		 javascript<br>const LinkBehavior = React.forwardRef((props, ref) => {<br> return <MuiLink underline="none" ref={ref} {...props} />; <br>});<br><br>const CustomLink = React.forwardRef((props, ref) => {<br> const { href, ...other } = props;<br> return (<br> <NextLink href={href} passHref><br> <LinkBehavior ref={ref} {...other} /><br> </NextLink><br> );<br>});<br>
3. Use Custom Link Import and use CustomLink like a regular anchor tag for navigation. javascript<br>import CustomLink from './CustomLink';<br><br>function MyComponent() {<br> return (<br> <nav><br> <CustomLink href="/">Home</CustomLink><br> <CustomLink href="/about">About</CustomLink><br> </nav><br> );<br>} <br>

Benefits:

  • Seamless Integration: Combines Next.js routing with Material-UI styling.
  • Improved SEO: passHref ensures proper link crawling by search engines.
  • Flexibility: Customize link appearance using Material-UI styling options.

This approach ensures both functionality and aesthetics are maintained when using Material-UI links within your Next.js application.

Conclusion

By combining the strengths of Next.js and Material-UI, developers can create applications that are both visually appealing and highly functional. This approach ensures that links not only look good but also contribute to a seamless user experience and improved SEO performance. By following the steps outlined in this article, developers can easily integrate Material-UI's Link component with Next.js, resulting in a robust and maintainable solution for navigation within their applications.

References

Were You Able to Follow the Instructions?

😍Love it!
😊Yes
😐Meh-gical
😞No
🤮Clickbait

Related posts

React Uncontrolled Inputs: How to Change Values

Learn how to effectively manage and update uncontrolled input values in your React applications to optimize user interactions and data handling.

Dynamic Key Names in React setState()

Learn how to effectively update dynamic keys in your React component's state using setState() and ensure efficient UI rendering.

React Radio Buttons Tutorial: Easy Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to easily implement and manage radio buttons in your ReactJS applications for seamless user input and form handling.