Next Js Markdown for JAMstack Blogging Made Easy

Next Js Markdown is a powerful tool for creating static blogs with ease. It allows you to write content in Markdown format and convert it into HTML, making it perfect for JAMstack blogging.

With Next Js Markdown, you can create a blog in minutes, thanks to its simplicity and flexibility. It supports multiple frontmatter syntax, including YAML and JSON.

This means you can easily customize your blog's metadata, such as title, description, and author, without needing to write complex code.

Curious to learn more? Check out: Next Js Blog Template

MDX is a format that allows you to embed JSX in Markdown, making it possible to create interactive and dynamic content with both the standardized formatting of Markdown and the extensibility of React.

Next.js helps by collecting Markdown files and transforming them into HTML, which is what the web can understand.

To display Markdown content on a webpage, you need a parser to create HTML, and Next.js makes this process easier with its support for MDX.

Setting up Next.js with Markdown is a breeze, and you can start by installing the Markdoc package using the following command: cd npm install @markdoc/next.js @markdoc/markdoc.

To get started, you'll need to update your next.config.js file, which will allow you to use Markdown with Next.js.

You'll also need to add the paths to your template files in your tailwind.config.js file, and don't forget to add the Tailwind typography plugin.

Here are the packages you'll need to install to use MDX with Next.js:

To install these packages, simply run the following command:

To build an MDX blog with Next.js, you need to install some essential libraries, including path, fs, and gray-matter, which help you work with file system directories and extract front matter from Markdown files.

These libraries are crucial for reading directories and files, as you'll be creating files that contain Markdown content. Next-mdx-remote is also required for rendering MDX content, which parses the content to generate it as a React component.

To install these packages, run the command:

To create an ArticleLayout, you'll need to create a new file called ArticleLayout.jsx in the ./layouts directory. This component will accept the markdoc prop, which allows you to access the title and description of the article.

Here's an example of how you can create the ArticleLayout:

With the ArticleLayout created, you can add it to your application by passing the title, description, and markdown content as props. The markdown content will be rendered as a React component using next-mdx-remote.

Next.js Markdown allows you to write and design your content with ease, thanks to its support for Markdown syntax.

You can create beautiful and readable content using Markdown's simple syntax, which is easy to learn and use.

With Next.js Markdown, you can write your content in Markdown format and then convert it to HTML for rendering in your application.

This makes it easy to create and manage content, and reduces the need for manual HTML coding.

Creating Article Layouts involves creating a new file called ArticleLayout.jsx, where you can use the markdoc prop to get the title and description by destructuring. This prop is then passed to the Next.js component to add the title and description to the page meta.

To display the data within the page, you add it to the .article-header element. This element is where the title and description are actually displayed.

The actual markdown content is displayed by passing children to the article-content.prose element. This is where the markdown content is rendered.

Creating these components is an essential step in setting up dynamic layouts in Next.js. By doing so, you can control how your pages are displayed and what content is shown.

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The Markdoc syntax is built on Markdown with a few additions or extensions, including nodes, tags, functions, and annotations.

Markdoc's syntax is quite flexible, allowing you to add custom functionality to your writing.

You can learn all about Markdoc's syntax by checking out their documentation.

To add an image to your article, you'll need to use a specific syntax in your layout file, like in the ./layouts/ArticleLayout.jsx example.

This syntax is straightforward and easy to use, making it a great choice for writers and designers alike.

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Automatically adding links to headings can make your content more user-friendly.

To achieve this, you'll need to use the rehype-slug and rehype-autolink-headings libraries.

These libraries automatically add ids to each heading based on the text.

For example, if you have a heading that says "String length in markdown", it will be converted to a linkable id like "string-length-in-markdown".

This makes it possible for users to link to a specific section of the page.

By using these libraries, you can enhance the user experience and make your content more accessible.

Markdoc extends Markdown with a custom syntax for tags and annotations, providing a way to tailor content to individual users and introduce interactive elements.

Markdoc features several core concepts, including nodes, tags, and annotations. Nodes are the elements that Markdoc inherits from Markdown, while tags are the main syntactic extension that Markdoc adds on top of Markdown.

Tags are enclosed with {% and %} and include the tag name, attributes, and content. Annotations can be added to nodes to customize how they are rendered.

Here are the core concepts of Markdoc:

Markdoc's custom syntax allows us to tailor content to individual users and introduce interactive elements. We can create custom tags and attributes to make our content more dynamic.

Markdoc's core concepts include nodes, tags, and annotations. Tags are the main syntactic extension that Markdoc adds on top of Markdown.

We can create custom tags by defining a new file in the ./markdoc/tags directory. For example, we can create a custom infobox tag by defining a new file, ./markdoc/tags/infobox.markdoc.js.

Here's a summary of the attributes that our custom infobox tag accepts:

With our custom infobox tag defined, we can add it to our Markdoc document. For example, we can add the following code to our ./pages/articles/getting-started.md file:

{% infobox type="info" title="Getting Started" %}

This is a custom infobox with a title and type attribute.

{% endinfobox %}

By creating custom tags and attributes, we can make our content more engaging and interactive.

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Variables and Partials allow us to customize Markdoc documents at runtime. Variables are accessed using the $ symbol.

We can pass variables in a few ways. For example, we can use the variables field on the $/$$Config/$ object, or access the frontmatter of a Markdoc page via the $markdoc variable in the document.

The title of a page can be displayed like this: {% $markdoc.frontmatter.title %}. This allows us to easily customize the title of each page.

Variables can also be passed manually from within our Node or Tag transform functions. This gives us even more flexibility when working with variables.

Markdoc uses partials to reuse content across documents. A separate Markdoc file stores the content, and it's referenced from within the partial tag.

To create a partial, we can create a new file in the ./markdoc/partials/ directory. For example, we can create a file called BikePromo.md.

Partials automatically load from the /markdoc/partials/ directory. We can then add a partial to our document like this: It will load and render the variables and contents of markdoc/partials/bike-promo.md.

Here are some ways to pass variables:

You can add images from your /public directory to your article using markdown syntax. This is as simple as adding the image path to your markdown file, like in the example of adding an image to ./pages/articles/getting-started.md.

We can simply use the markdown syntax to add any image that is in our /public directory to our article. For example, if we add the following to ./pages/articles/getting-started.md, we should see that the image shows up in the rendered page.

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Next.js Markdown is a powerful tool for building fast and scalable websites. It allows you to render Markdown files on the server-side, making it a great choice for static site generators.

With Next.js Markdown, you can use the `markdown` function to convert Markdown text into HTML. This function is available in the `useNextApi` hook, which enables server-side rendering of Markdown files.

One of the key benefits of Next.js Markdown is its ability to handle large Markdown files efficiently. This is thanks to the `useNextApi` hook, which allows you to render Markdown files in parallel, improving performance.

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Next.js Markdown also supports custom Markdown renderers, which can be used to extend its functionality. These renderers can be used to add custom syntax highlighting or other features to your Markdown files.

By using the `markdown` function, you can easily convert Markdown text into HTML, making it a great choice for building fast and scalable websites.

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To create a blog, we need to start by defining the structure of our content. This is where ArticleLayouts come in - we create a new file called ArticleLayout.jsx, where we define the layout of our blog posts. With markdoc as a prop, we can access the title and description of our blog post.

To add the title and description to our page meta, we use the Next.js component. We also need to display the data within the page, which we do by adding it to the .article-header element.

We can then display the actual markdown content by passing children to the article-content.prose element. This is where the magic happens, and our blog post comes to life.

Curious to learn more? Check out: Nextjs Blogs

The JAMstack is a game-changer for building modern websites, and it's revolutionized the way many sites are created.

JAMstack sites are fast and performant due to their static nature.

Static site generators can generate static content that's served over the internet, making websites load quickly.

JavaScript is used for functionality, and APIs are used to provide data, which can be called at build time during the static generation.

APIs can also be used to provide content, or you can use template files like Markdown to create content or even pages for your site.

Using static site generators, you can create content or pages for your site, making it easier to manage and update your website.

By leveraging the JAMstack, you can build a website that's fast, efficient, and easy to maintain, which is perfect for a blog.

A different take: Next Js Pages

To create a blog, you need to start by setting up the basic layout of your pages. This is done by creating a new file called ArticleLayout.jsx in the layouts directory.

The ArticleLayout.jsx file is where you'll define the structure of your pages, including the title, description, and content areas. You can use markdoc as a prop to get the title and description, and then add them to the page meta using the Next.js component.

To display the data within the page, you'll add it to the .article-header element. This is where the title and description will be displayed.

You'll also need to add the actual markdown content to the page. To do this, you'll pass children to the article-content.prose element. This will display the markdown content in a readable format.

The JAMstack is a great way to build a blog, as it allows for fast and performant static sites. By using tools like static site generators, you can generate static content that's served over the internet.

APIs can be used to provide content for your site, which can be called at build time during the static generation. You can also use template files like Markdown to create content or even pages for your site.

By using a combination of these tools and techniques, you can create a blog that's both fast and easy to maintain.

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Custom components can be created to enhance the functionality of your blog.

You can create custom tags using Markdoc, which is a syntax extension of Markdown. Each tag is enclosed with {% and %}, and includes the tag name, attributes, and the content body.

To create a custom tag, you'll need to create a new file, such as ./components/Infobox.jsx, which will render the component. You can dynamically include the type value in the element class to define styles for the .info-box element.

Custom markdown components can also be created to provide more functionality to your blog. You can create a folder, such as ~/components/markdown, which will include all your custom markdown components.

Inside this folder, you can create individual files for each component, such as headings.tsx and code.tsx. These files can export the components, which can then be imported and used in your blog.

For example, you can create a generic component that can map to each heading, using the level attribute passed as a prop. You can also create a component that renders a code editor for code blocks in your markdown files.

The markdown components can be imported and directly consumed by ReactMarkdown, making it easy to render your markdown files in ReactJS. Each code block in each markdown file can be injected into a code editor so that it can be interactive.

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