I wrote a blog post the other day about how Next.js Middleware can be useful for working around some... Tagged with react, nextjs, javascript, webdev.

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Next.js' App Router has two major problems that make it difficult to adopt. The Pages Router was simpler and had file-based routing. The App Router introduced new features but also increased complexity. It's challenging to avoid complexity as frameworks grow. Just because something is recommended, doesn't mean it's right for you.

It’s not just you, Next.js is getting harder to use

When a framework doesn’t do what you think it will do

It’s very hard to build a one-size-fits-all product

Is this inevitable for frameworks as they grow?

Just because something is recommended, doesn’t mean it’s right for you

Goal of any framework is not to make things simple. For making things simple you can use just React.
Next.js has a goal to become the full-stack framework. App directory is one step closer to that goal.

If the author had their way:
<ul>
<li>Pages router by default</li>
<li>Opt-in to advanced features</li>
<li>Simplified config options</li>
<li>Better documentation to reflect the above</li>
<li>Recommendations based on project type</li>
</ul>
I’m not mad at that. And I bet you could make a custom installation scirpt that handles that.

I think it has over complicated some things that react are slowly fixing on their own and will probably make to take some step back with nextjs. Is kinda of sad that things that could’ve done really easy and fast in the past with next are now jut not compatible at all. Im starting to like more the perspective of having a backend that serves react other than handling with nextjs… something like htmx or qwik

From my perspective - Next.js is going towards a framework that can be used for huge websites/apps rather than small apps.
On next 12 - I would not even think to use plain react/astro to build simple one-page site. My default choice was to use Next.js.
Right now? I wouldn’t even consider next.js for those smaller websites, as amount of work you need to put to make it work is not proportional to advantages that you get above Astro for example.
It just comes down to:
Use the right tools for certain job
Next has exceptional features that helps scale it large, but definitely this comes with complexity that is above average for small websites

Great time to explore alternatives. Remix or tanstack router if you really want to stick with react, otherwise you can always check out Solid or Qwik or something. The compiler in 19 might make react less of a pain but i am loving Qwik personally. Resumability baby!