Creating Reusable Components in React.js: Best Practices

2 min readJun 5, 2023

React’s true power lies in its component-based architecture, enabling you to create complex UIs from small, reusable pieces. In this post, we will discuss best practices for creating reusable components in React.js.

Statelessness

A reusable component should be stateless, meaning it should not contain its own state. It should only use props to render data.

function Button({ label, onClick }) {
  return <button onClick={onClick}>{label}</button>;
}

Prop Types

Using prop-types, you can document the intended types of properties passed to components. This will help others understand how to use your component and help prevent bugs or design issues in the future.

import PropTypes from 'prop-types';

function Button({ label, onClick }) {
  // ...
}

Button.propTypes = {
  label: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
  onClick: PropTypes.func,
};

Controlled Components

Instead of managing its own state, a reusable component should use the data passed via props and inform the parent component of any changes through callback functions.

function Input({ value, onChange }) {
  return <input type="text" value={value} onChange={onChange} />;
}

Default Props

Providing default props for your components can make them easier to use. It ensures they have a meaningful initial state.

Button.defaultProps = {
  label: 'Click Me',
  onClick: () => {},
};

Styles

To ensure that the styles of a reusable component do not clash with the styles of the application, it’s recommended to use CSS-in-JS libraries like Styled Components or Emotion.

import styled from 'styled-components';

const ButtonStyled = styled.button`
  /* your styles here */
`;

function Button({ label, onClick }) {
  return <ButtonStyled onClick={onClick}>{label}</ButtonStyled>;
}

Conclusion

Reusable components are the building blocks of any React.js application. Creating well-designed, reusable components can greatly increase the maintainability and reusability of your code, and significantly reduce the complexity of your applications.

In the next post, we’ll delve into managing application state with Redux in a React application. Until then, happy coding!