Hire a Next.js developer who can actually ship production
Vetting guide for founders and PMs: portfolio signals, App Router interview questions, Core Web Vitals checks, and real rate benchmarks for 2026.
Tag
Performance
Web performance techniques for Next.js and Sanity — Core Web Vitals, LCP, INP, bundle size, and edge caching strategies.
33 posts
5 min read
The Next.js + React stack explained: what each layer does and when it's wrong
A practical guide to the Next React stack — React, Next.js, hosting, CMS, and styling — what each layer does, why this combination won, and when to walk away.
Next.js API routes vs route handlers: when to use each
Pages Router API routes vs App Router route handlers compared — caching, streaming, edge runtime, and a clear migration path with real code examples.
Vercel pricing 2026: what you actually pay for a real Next.js project
Hobby, Pro, and Enterprise Vercel pricing explained with real usage line items, per-seat maths, and a realistic monthly total for a mid-traffic marketing site.
Marketing website performance: what fast pages are actually worth
Marketing website performance affects conversions, ad ROI, and SEO rank. Here's what the numbers mean in business terms and what to demand from any build.
How I build a Next.js blog that stays fast at 100+ posts
Static generation, pagination, image handling, and bundle discipline for a Next.js blog that doesn't slow down as content grows. Practical code included.
How to choose a CMS for SEO: rendering, structured data, and Core Web Vitals
Pick the right SEO CMS by understanding rendering strategy, structured data support, sitemap control, and editorial workflow. A practical guide for 2026.
Hire a web designer: what performance-aware buyers should check first
Thinking about hiring a web designer? This guide covers portfolio signals, performance questions, and the designer vs developer trade-off. Read before you sign.
Tailwind CSS in 2026: what actually changed for teams
Tailwind CSS v4 rewired how teams configure, share, and ship styles. Here's what the CSS-first engine means in practice.
Sanity video hosting in 2026: Mux vs Cloudinary vs Bunny Stream
Comparing Mux, Cloudinary, and Bunny Stream for sanity video hosting — upload workflow, adaptive streaming, pricing, and LCP poster handling.
Sanity image-url hotspot not working: four causes and fixes
Sanity hotspot not applying to your rendered image? Here are the four real causes and exact fixes for each one.
Sanity Embeddings: Semantic Search in a Next.js App Router Site
Step-by-step guide to indexing Sanity content with native Embeddings, running a semantic query, and wiring a debounced search UI in Next.js App Router.
Sanity + Mux Signed HLS Video Playback in Next.js
Step-by-step guide to Sanity Mux video playback in Next.js: signed URLs, hls.js adaptive streaming, poster images, and LCP optimisation.
Tailwind CSS v3 to v4 Migration Guide: Next.js Steps & Gotchas
Tailwind v4 migration in Next.js, step by step: the upgrade codemod, CSS-based @theme config, dropped utilities like bg-opacity-*, PostCSS changes, and production gotchas.
Advanced GROQ Queries: Joins, Coalesce & Array Flattening
Deep dive into advanced GROQ queries in Sanity: inline joins, the coalesce() function, conditional projections, and array flattening with real payload sizes measured.
Next.js Partial Prerendering (PPR) in Production: What Works
An honest look at Next.js partial prerendering PPR in production — what it solves, where it breaks, and which page patterns benefit most.
How I use @next/bundle-analyzer to find and fix Next.js bundle size bloat
A step-by-step walkthrough of Next.js bundle size analysis and reduction: finding large imports, fixing vendor chunks, and trimming icon libraries.
How I configure Sanity image URL auto=format with next/image to serve WebP and AVIF
Using Sanity's auto=format with next/image correctly avoids double-encoding and wasted bytes. Here is the exact setup I use in production.
Next.js Bundle Size: Analyzing and Cutting Chunk Bloat
A practical walkthrough of Next.js bundle size analysis using @next/bundle-analyzer, with before/after numbers from a real project (487 kB to 301 kB).
Mux Video in Next.js + Sanity CMS: Upload & Playback Guide
Step-by-step guide to Mux video hosting in Next.js and Sanity CMS: sanity-plugin-mux-input setup, direct uploads, signed playback URLs, and poster images for fast LCP.
Core Web Vitals Monitoring in Next.js with Vercel Analytics
A practical guide to wiring up Vercel Analytics and @vercel/speed-insights/next for real-user Core Web Vitals monitoring in Next.js, with a workflow for catching regressions fast.
Next.js App Router Tutorial 2026: Pages Router to Production
A practical Next.js App Router tutorial guide for 2026. Covers layouts, route groups, Server Components, data fetching, static export, and the metadata API.
Sanity Studio Bloat: Audit & Prune Unused Document Types
A step-by-step approach to identifying orphaned Sanity schemas, measuring Studio bundle impact, and safely removing dead document types without breaking production.
GROQ Conditional Projections: Cut Query Payload by 60%
A pattern for projecting only the fields your Next.js components actually render, using GROQ's select() and type filters to prune unused blocks from a union array.
Avoiding N+1 Queries: Modeling Sanity References in RSC
A pattern for structuring Sanity references and GROQ projections that eliminates query waterfalls in server components, cutting fetch latency by 200–400 ms.
Sanity Image Placeholders Under 50 kB: Palette, Not Base64 LQIP
Cut LQIP overhead on Sanity + Next.js sites to nearly zero using Sanity's built-in metadata.palette instead of inline Base64 blur data. Exact GROQ and component code.
Multi-Locale Navigation in Sanity Without Bloating Queries
A singleton pattern for i18n navigation that keeps GROQ queries fast, using dynamic field access (field[$param]) instead of string interpolation.
Structuring Sanity Schemas to Avoid Query Waterfalls
Denormalising references and embedding common fields in Sanity schemas cuts server component render time by 40–60%. Here's the pattern I ship.
Next.js TTFB Optimization: Sub-200ms with PPR, Edge & Sanity
Next.js TTFB optimization in practice: Partial Prerendering for the shell, edge runtime for dynamic fragments, and tight GROQ projections — with before/after benchmarks (420ms → 140ms).
Shaving 140 kB Off a Next.js Bundle: Lazy-Load Portable Text
Portable Text blocks can bloat client bundles. Here's how I defer serializers with dynamic imports and RSC boundaries to keep marketing pages under 80 kB — and where lazy-loading trades away SEO visibility.
INP for React Apps: Profiling and Eliminating Long Tasks
INP is responsiveness. Learn how to find long tasks, profile React re-renders, reduce main-thread work, and ship fast interactions consistently.
How to Fix LCP on Image-Heavy Pages (Next.js Patterns That Work)
LCP is usually one big image. Here’s how to identify the true LCP element, reduce TTFB, ship the right image bytes, and consistently hit <2.5s on real devices.
Core Web Vitals in 2026: Thresholds, Ranking Impact & Fixes
Core Web Vitals 2026 explained: LCP, INP, and CLS thresholds, how much they really affect Google rankings, field vs lab data, and the fixes that consistently move each metric.