SvelteKit is a powerful framework for building high-performance web
applications using Svelte. In this blog post, we'll take a look at the basics
of SvelteKit and how to get started building your first app. We will be
creating a simple "Hello World" application, that will give you a taste of how
SvelteKit works and how easy it is to get started.
First, let's talk about Svelte. Svelte is a framework for building user
interface components, like a navigation bar, comment section, or contact form.
It uses a component-based approach, where you can write reusable components
that can be used across your entire app. The Svelte compiler then converts
these components into JavaScript that can be run to render the HTML for the
page and to CSS that styles the page. One of the key benefits of Svelte is
that it eliminates the need for a virtual DOM, which can make your apps faster
and more performant.
SvelteKit builds on top of Svelte by providing basic functionality like a
router and server-side rendering. This allows you to create a fully-featured
web app with all the modern best practices, such as build optimizations,
offline support, and preloading pages. SvelteKit also includes a powerful
development experience by leveraging Vite with a Svelte plugin to do Hot
Module Replacement (HMR). This allows you to see changes to your code in the
browser instantly, which can help speed up your development process.
Getting started with SvelteKit is easy. The first thing you'll need to do is
install the SvelteKit CLI by running the following command:
npm install -g @sveltekit/cli
Once the CLI is installed, you can create a new SvelteKit project by running
the following command:
npx create-svelte-app my-app
This will scaffold a new project in the
"my-app" directory and ask you if
you'd like to set up some basic tooling such as TypeScript. Once the project
is created, you can navigate to the project directory and run the following
commands to start the development server: cd my-app
npm install
npm run dev
The development server will start on localhost:5173, and you'll be able to see
your app in the browser.
The project structure of a SvelteKit app is straightforward and easy to
understand. The main directory is called
src, which contains all the code for
your app. Inside the src directory, you'll find the following subdirectories:
lib: contains your library code (utilities and components), which can be
imported via the
$lib alias, or packaged up for distribution using
svelte-package
server: contains your server-only library code. It can be imported by using
the
$lib/server alias. SvelteKit will prevent you from importing these in
client code.
params: contains any param matchers your app needs
routes: contains the routes of your application. You can also colocate other
files that are specific to a route in this directory.
app.html: the HTML template for your app.
error.html: the HTML template for error pages.
hooks.js: a file that exports server hooks.
The
static directory contains any static assets that you want to include in
your app, such as images, fonts, and scripts. The tests directory contains any
tests that you want to run against your app.
Now let's create a simple
"Hello World" app. First, we'll create
a new route for our app. In the src/routes directory, create a new file called
hello.svelte. This file will contain the Svelte component for our "Hello
World" page. <script>
export let name;
</script>
<h1>Hello {name}!</h1>
This component takes in a prop called name and renders a simple
"Hello
{name}!" message.
Next, we'll create a new file in the
src/routes directory called index.js.
This file will be used to handle the default route for our app.import Hello from './hello.svelte';
export function render({ params, context }) {
return {
component: Hello,
props: { name: 'World' }
};
}
This file exports a render function, which takes in an object with params and
context properties. This function returns an object with a component property,
which is the Svelte component that should be rendered, and a props property,
which is an object with the props that should be passed to the component. In
this case, we're passing in a prop called name with a value of "World".
Now, when you run the development server and navigate to the root of your app,
you will see a "Hello World!" message.
In conclusion, SvelteKit is a powerful framework that makes it easy to build
fast and performant web applications using Svelte. With its easy-to-use
routing and server-side rendering capabilities, you can easily create a
full-featured web app with all the modern best practices. With the simple
example above, you should be able to get started creating your own SvelteKit
app and start experimenting with the different features it offers. As you
continue building your app, you can also take advantage of the many plugins
and libraries available in the SvelteKit ecosystem to add additional
functionality to your app. With SvelteKit's powerful development experience,
building web apps with Svelte has never been easier.
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