Can you explain the concept of server-side rendering in backend systems?

Server-side rendering (SSR) is a technique used in backend systems to improve the performance and user experience of web applications. With SSR, the server generates the initial HTML for a web page and sends it to the client’s browser. This allows the user to see the content faster, as the browser doesn’t have to wait for JavaScript to load and execute before rendering.

When a client requests a web page, the server processes the request and dynamically generates the HTML content for that page. This includes fetching data from databases or APIs, applying business logic, and rendering the page using templates or markup languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

By rendering the page on the server and sending the pre-rendered HTML to the client, SSR improves the Time to First Contentful Paint (FCP) and overall perceived performance. It reduces the latency caused by the network round trip and client-side rendering process.

Additionally, SSR plays a crucial role in search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines, like Google, rely on crawling and indexing HTML content. By making the initial HTML available when the page is requested, search engines can easily read and index the content, improving the website’s visibility in search results.

To implement SSR, developers can use frameworks like React and Next.js, which provide built-in server-side rendering capabilities. These frameworks allow developers to define components that can be rendered both on the server and the client, ensuring a consistent user experience.