Social Networking Platform using Next.js

The Social Networking Platform built with NextJS is a web application that provides users the functionality to add a post, like a post, and be able to comment on it. The power of NextJS, a popular React framework for building server-side rendered (SSR) and statically generated web applications, this platform offers a seamless user experience with fast loading times and smooth navigation.

Output Preview: Let us have a look at how the final output will look like

Prerequisites:

Approach to Create Social Networking Platform with NextJS:

• Home Page: Displays recent posts fetched from the backend API.
• Post Interaction: Users can like posts and add comments.
• Create Post: Users can create new posts with a title, content, and optional image upload.
• Backend API: Provides endpoints for fetching recent posts, creating posts, liking posts, and adding comments. Uses MongoDB as the database.

Steps to Create the NextJS App:

Step 1: Set up a NextJS project using the following command.

npx create-next-app next-mern-project
cd next-mern-project

Step 2: Install required dependencies.

npm install axios mongoose 

Project Structure:

The updated dependencies in package.json file will look like:

 "dependencies": {
    "axios": "^1.6.8",
    "mongodb": "^6.5.0",
    "mongoose": "^8.2.2",
    "multer": "^1.4.5-lts.1",
    "next": "14.1.3",
    "next-connect": "^1.0.0",
    "react": "^18",
    "react-dom": "^18",
    "uuid": "^9.0.1"
  }

Step 3: Creating a required files.

• Create components folder with Post.js
• Inside api create file posts.js
• inside pages create file _app.js,index.js and create.js
• create globals.css inside style folder

Example: Below is an example of creating a Social Networking Platform with NextJS.

CSS

/* globals.css */

.home {
    max-width: 800px;
    margin: 0 auto;
}

.post {
    border: 1px solid #ddd;
    padding: 15px;
    margin-bottom: 20px;
}

.post h3 {
    color: #333;
}

.post p {
    color: #555;
}

/* App.css */

.create-post {
    max-width: 600px;
    margin: 20px auto;
    padding: 20px;
    border: 1px solid #ddd;
    background-color: #fff;
    box-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

.create-post h2 {
    color: #333;
}

.create-post input,
.create-post textarea {
    width: 100%;
    margin: 10px 0;
    padding: 10px;
}

.create-post button {
    background-color: #4caf50;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 10px 15px;
    border: none;
    cursor: pointer;
}

.comment-input {
    margin-top: 10px;
    padding: 8px;
    width: 70%;
}

.comment-button {
    background-color: #4caf50;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 8px 16px;
    border: none;
    cursor: pointer;
}

.post img,
.post video {
    max-width: 100%;
    height: auto;
    margin-top: 10px;
}

.post button {
    background-color: #4caf50;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 8px 16px;
    border: none;
    cursor: pointer;
    margin-right: 10px;
}

.post ul {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
}

.post li {
    margin-bottom: 5px;
}

.comment-input {
    margin-top: 10px;
    padding: 8px;
    width: 70%;
}

.comment-button {
    background-color: #4caf50;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 8px 16px;
    border: none;
    cursor: pointer;
}


/* App.css */

.app {
    max-width: 800px;
    margin: 0 auto;
}

nav {
    background-color: #333;
    padding: 10px;
}

nav ul {
    list-style: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

nav li {
    display: inline-block;
    margin-right: 20px;
}

nav a {
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #fff;
    font-weight: bold;
    font-size: 16px;
}

nav a:hover {
    color: #4caf50;
}

.create-post,
.home {
    border: 1px solid #ddd;
    padding: 20px;
    margin-bottom: 20px;
    background-color: #fff;
    box-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

.home h2,
.create-post h2 {
    color: #333;
}

.home .post,
.create-post {
    margin-bottom: 30px;
}

.home .post button,
.create-post button {
    background-color: #4caf50;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 10px 15px;
    border: none;
    cursor: pointer;
}

.home .post button:hover,
.create-post button:hover {
    background-color: #45a049;
}

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Start your application using the following command.

npm run dev

Output:

Database records: