What is React Render HTML? A Beginner’s Guide with Examples

React is a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces, and one of its core features is the ability to render HTML dynamically. In this blog post, we’ll explore how React renders HTML, the role of JSX, and provide practical examples to help you understand the process.

Table of Contents

How Does React Render HTML?

React uses a virtual DOM (Document Object Model) to efficiently update and render HTML elements. Instead of directly manipulating the browser’s DOM, React creates a lightweight copy (virtual DOM) and only updates the real DOM when necessary. This improves performance and provides a smoother user experience.

Key Concepts:

JSX (JavaScript XML) – A syntax extension that allows you to write HTML-like code in JavaScript.
Components – Reusable UI elements that return JSX.
ReactDOM.render() – The method that renders React elements into the DOM.

Example: Rendering HTML in React

Let’s look at a simple example where we render a heading and a paragraph using React.

Step 1: Set Up a React App

First, create a React app using Create React App (if you haven’t already):

npx create-react-app react-html-demo
cd react-html-demo
npm start

npx create-react-app react-html-demo
cd react-html-demo
npm start

Step 2: Render Basic HTML

Open src/App.js and replace the code with:

import React from 'react';

function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello, React!</h1>
      <p>This is a paragraph rendered by React.</p>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

import React from 'react';

function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello, React!</h1>
      <p>This is a paragraph rendered by React.</p>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

Step 3: How React Renders the HTML

The App component returns JSX, which looks like HTML but is actually JavaScript.
React converts this JSX into React.createElement() calls.
Finally, ReactDOM.render() injects the rendered HTML into the DOM (in public/index.html).

Step 4: Dynamic HTML Rendering

You can also render dynamic content using JavaScript expressions inside {}:

function App() {
  const name = "John Doe";
  const age = 25;

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello, {name}!</h1>
      <p>You are {age} years old.</p>
    </div>
  );
}

function App() {
  const name = "John Doe";
  const age = 25;

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello, {name}!</h1>
      <p>You are {age} years old.</p>
    </div>
  );
}

This will render:

import { StrictMode } from 'react'
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client'
import './index.css'
import App from './App.jsx'

createRoot(document.getElementById('root')).render(
  <StrictMode>
    <App />
  </StrictMode>,
)

import { StrictMode } from 'react'
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client'
import './index.css'
import App from './App.jsx'

createRoot(document.getElementById('root')).render(
  <StrictMode>
    <App />
  </StrictMode>,
)

Why Use React to Render HTML?

Component-Based Structure – Reuse UI elements efficiently.
Virtual DOM – Faster updates compared to direct DOM manipulation.
Dynamic Content – Easily inject variables and logic into HTML.
SEO-Friendly – React can render on the server (Next.js) for better SEO.

Conclusion

React simplifies HTML rendering by using JSX and a virtual DOM, making it easier to build dynamic and high-performance web applications. Whether you’re displaying static content or dynamically updating data, React provides a clean and efficient way to manage UI rendering.

Try experimenting with different JSX structures and dynamic data to see how React efficiently updates the DOM!

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