Tips for react useLayoutEffect Hook for Smooth Transitions

The react useLayoutEffect hook is a powerful tool for synchronizing a component’s layout and visual updates with the browser’s paint cycle, allowing for smooth and efficient visual updates in your React applications. In this blog post, we’ll explore the basics of the useLayoutEffect hook, as well as some expert tips and best practices for using it in your code.

First, let’s define when and how to use the useLayoutEffect hook. The useLayoutEffect hook should be used when you need to update the layout or visual aspects of a component immediately after a render. This is in contrast to the useEffect hook, which can be used for updates that don’t need to be synchronized with the browser’s paint cycle.

Here’s an example of how to use the useLayoutEffect hook to change the background color of a div element after a button click:

import { useState, useLayoutEffect } from 'react';

function Example() {
  const [color, setColor] = useState('white');

  useLayoutEffect(() => {
    document.getElementById('myDiv').style.backgroundColor = color;
  }, [color]);

  return (
    <>
      <div id="myDiv">This div's background color will change</div>
      <button onClick={() => setColor('blue')}>Change color</button>
    </>
  );
}

In the above example of react useLayoutEffect, when the button is clicked, the state variable color is updated to ‘blue’ and the useLayoutEffect hook is triggered, which updates the background color of the div element immediately.

Another tip for using the useLayoutEffect hook is to be mindful of the dependencies array, which should only include variables that are used inside the callback function. If you include unnecessary variables, it can lead to unnecessary re-renders and decrease performance.