8 Most Customizable UI Libraries for Next.js

Next.js, a popular React framework for building performant and SEO-friendly web applications, provides a fantastic foundation for creating engaging user interfaces. However, crafting custom and visually appealing UIs can be time-consuming and require considerable effort. This is where UI libraries come into play. They offer pre-built components, styles, and patterns, streamlining the development process and enabling you to focus on building unique user experiences.

This article delves into eight highly customizable UI libraries that are perfectly suited for Next.js development. We'll explore their features, benefits, and how they can help you build exceptional web applications.

What are UI Libraries?

UI libraries, often referred to as component libraries, are collections of pre-designed and reusable UI components. They provide a set of building blocks for constructing user interfaces. These components can include buttons, inputs, forms, navigation menus, modals, and much more. UI libraries typically offer a consistent design system, ensuring a cohesive look and feel across your application.

UI libraries offer several advantages:

Faster Development: By leveraging pre-built components, you can significantly reduce development time, allowing you to focus on core application logic rather than repetitive UI tasks.
Consistency and Scalability: UI libraries enforce design consistency across your application, ensuring a unified user experience. This is particularly crucial for large-scale projects.
Accessibility: Many UI libraries prioritize accessibility by adhering to WCAG guidelines, making your applications accessible to a wider audience.
Customization and Flexibility: While offering pre-built components, most UI libraries provide extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor their appearance and functionality to your specific requirements.

8 Highly Customizable UI Libraries for Next.js

1. Chakra UI

Chakra UI is a popular, accessible, and customizable UI library for React applications. Its primary focus is on building accessible and well-designed components, and it provides a comprehensive set of pre-built components, themes, and styling utilities.

Key Features:

Component Library: Offers a wide range of pre-built components like buttons, inputs, modals, and more.
Theme System: Allows you to easily customize colors, fonts, and other design aspects.
Style Props: Provides a powerful way to style components directly through props, simplifying CSS management.
Accessibility: Follows WCAG guidelines, ensuring accessibility for all users.

Example:

import { Button, Heading } from '@chakra-ui/react';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<div>
 <heading as="h2" size="lg">
  Welcome to my app!
 </heading>
 <button colorscheme="blue">
  Click me
 </button>
</div>
);
}

2. Material UI

Material UI is a comprehensive UI library based on Google's Material Design principles. It provides a wide range of pre-built components, a rich theme system, and excellent documentation. Material UI is highly suitable for building modern and visually appealing web applications.

Key Features:

Component Library: Offers a vast collection of components adhering to Material Design specifications.
Theme System: Allows for extensive customization of colors, typography, and layout.
Accessibility: Emphasizes accessibility, ensuring compliance with WCAG guidelines.
Extensive Documentation: Provides detailed documentation, examples, and tutorials.

Example:

import { Button, Typography } from '@mui/material';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<div>
 <typography gutterbottom="" variant="h4">
  Hello, Material UI!
 </typography>
 <button color="primary" variant="contained">
  Click me
 </button>
</div>
);
}

3. Headless UI

Headless UI, developed by Tailwind Labs, is a collection of unstyled, accessible UI components that work seamlessly with Tailwind CSS. It provides the structure and logic for common UI elements without any pre-defined styles.

Key Features:

Unstyled Components: Focuses on providing the building blocks without any pre-defined styling.
Tailwind CSS Integration: Integrates seamlessly with Tailwind CSS for effortless styling.
Accessibility: Emphasizes accessibility and provides ARIA attributes for common components.
Lightweight and Performant: Offers a minimal footprint, ensuring fast loading times.

Example:

import { Disclosure } from '@headlessui/react';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<disclosure>
 {({ open }) =&gt; (
        &lt;&gt;
 <disclosure.button classname="bg-blue-500 text-white px-4 py-2 rounded">
  Toggle
 </disclosure.button>
 <disclosure.panel classname="mt-2">
  <p>
   This content is hidden by default.
  </p>
 </disclosure.panel>
 )}
</disclosure>
);
}

4. Radix UI

Radix UI is a powerful and highly customizable set of unstyled, accessible UI primitives. It focuses on providing the underlying structure and logic for UI components, allowing for complete flexibility in styling and implementation.

Key Features:

Unstyled Primitives: Offers a set of unstyled primitives, empowering you to style them as desired.
Accessibility Focus: Emphasizes accessibility by providing ARIA attributes and best practices.
CSS-in-JS Support: Works seamlessly with popular CSS-in-JS libraries like Styled Components and Emotion.
Customization: Provides extensive customization options for tailoring components to your exact requirements.

Example:

import { Disclosure } from '@radix-ui/react-disclosure';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<disclosure>
 {({ open }) =&gt; (
        &lt;&gt;
 <disclosure.trigger classname="bg-blue-500 text-white px-4 py-2 rounded">
  Toggle
 </disclosure.trigger>
 <disclosure.content classname="mt-2">
  <p>
   This content is hidden by default.
  </p>
 </disclosure.content>
 )}
</disclosure>
);
}

5. Shards React

Shards React is a highly customizable and responsive UI toolkit based on Bootstrap 4. It provides a comprehensive collection of components, a robust theme system, and built-in support for responsive design.

Key Features:

Bootstrap 4 Integration: Leverages Bootstrap 4's grid system and utilities for responsive design.
Component Library: Offers a wide range of components, including buttons, cards, navigation, and more.
Theme System: Allows you to customize colors, fonts, and other design aspects.
Responsive Design: Provides built-in support for responsive design across various devices.

Example:

import { Button, Card, CardBody, CardTitle } from 'shards-react';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<card>
 <cardbody>
  <cardtitle>
   Welcome to Shards React!
  </cardtitle>
  <button theme="primary">
   Click me
  </button>
 </cardbody>
</card>
);
}

6. Blueprint UI

Blueprint UI is a React UI library designed for building data-intensive web applications. It offers a clean and modern design system, a wide range of components, and excellent documentation. Blueprint UI is particularly well-suited for applications with complex data visualizations and interactions.

Key Features:

Component Library: Provides a comprehensive set of components, including data tables, charts, and dialogs.
Design System: Offers a clean and consistent design system, ensuring a unified look and feel.
Accessibility: Emphasizes accessibility by adhering to WCAG guidelines.
Documentation: Provides detailed documentation and examples.

Example:

import { Button, ButtonGroup } from '@blueprintjs/core';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<buttongroup>
 <button>
  Save
 </button>
 <button>
  Cancel
 </button>
</buttongroup>
);
}

7. Semantic UI React

Semantic UI React is a React wrapper for Semantic UI, a popular front-end framework that emphasizes semantic HTML and CSS. It provides a wide range of components, a robust theme system, and excellent customization options.

Key Features:

Semantic HTML: Encourages the use of semantic HTML for better accessibility and search engine optimization.
Component Library: Offers a large collection of components, including buttons, forms, grids, and more.
Theme System: Provides a theme system for customizing colors, fonts, and other design aspects.
Extensive Documentation: Offers comprehensive documentation and examples.

Example:

import { Button, Grid, Header } from 'semantic-ui-react';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<grid centered="" columns="{2}">
 <grid.column>
  <header as="h2">
   Welcome to Semantic UI React!
  </header>
  <button primary="">
   Click me
  </button>
 </grid.column>
</grid>
);
}

8. React Bootstrap

React Bootstrap is a React component library built on top of Bootstrap 4. It provides a seamless integration of Bootstrap's grid system, components, and utilities within your React application. It's an excellent choice for quickly building responsive and visually appealing web applications.

Key Features:

Bootstrap Integration: Seamlessly integrates with Bootstrap's grid system, components, and utilities.
Component Library: Offers a comprehensive set of React components, including buttons, forms, navigation, and more.
Responsive Design: Provides built-in support for responsive design across various devices.
Documentation and Community: Benefits from Bootstrap's extensive documentation and a large community.

Example:

import { Button, Card, Container } from 'react-bootstrap';

function MyComponent() {
  return (
<container>
 <card>
  <card.body>
   <card.title>
    Welcome to React Bootstrap!
   </card.title>
   <button variant="primary">
    Click me
   </button>
  </card.body>
 </card>
</container>
);
}

Choosing the Right UI Library for Your Next.js Project

Selecting the right UI library for your Next.js project depends on several factors:

Design Aesthetics: Consider your application's design requirements and choose a library that aligns with your visual preferences. For example, Material UI offers a Material Design aesthetic, while Chakra UI has a more modern and flexible feel.
Customization: Evaluate the level of customization offered by different libraries. Some libraries provide more granular control over styling and functionality, while others offer a more opinionated approach.
Accessibility: Choose a library that prioritizes accessibility by adhering to WCAG guidelines. This ensures your application is usable by individuals with disabilities.
Community and Support: Consider the library's community size and support resources. A larger community provides more active development, updates, and helpful resources.
Integration with Next.js: Ensure the library integrates seamlessly with Next.js, providing smooth setup and compatibility with Next.js features.

Conclusion

UI libraries can significantly enhance your Next.js development experience, providing pre-built components, styles, and patterns that streamline the process of crafting exceptional user interfaces. The eight libraries discussed in this article offer diverse features, design aesthetics, and customization options. By carefully evaluating your project requirements and preferences, you can choose the best UI library to empower your Next.js development journey.

Remember that the choice of UI library is subjective and depends on your specific needs. Experiment with different options, explore their features, and select the one that aligns best with your project's goals and vision.