docs(blog): update for snippets (#6623)

documentation/blog/2023-10-29-react-slick.md → documentation/blog/2025-01-02-react-slick.md

@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@ description: We'll see how to use React Slick in your React projects through a s
 slug: react-slick
 authors: deborah_emeni
 tags: [react]
-image: https://refine.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/blog/2023-10-29-react-slick/social.png
+image: https://refine.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/blog/2023-10-29-react-slick/social-2.png
 hide_table_of_contents: false
 ---
 
+**This article was last updated on January 2, 2025, to address common queries about React Slick and a dedicated section for Common Mistakes When Working with React Slick to improve usability and clarity.**
+
 ## Introduction
 
 Developers need a visually appealing way to display or showcase multiple items, services, features, or products in a single space while maintaining a good user experience. That's where Carousels (interactive, rotating slideshows) come in to enable developers to achieve this by making it easy for their users to navigate through large amounts of information while improving the user experience.
@@ -23,13 +25,8 @@ Steps we'll cover:
 - [Benefits of using React Slick](#benefits-of-using-react-slick)
 - [Demo: Getting Started with React Slick](#demo-getting-started-with-react-slick)
 - [Using React Slick](#using-react-slick)
-  - [Creating our carousel component](#creating-our-carousel-component)
 - [Building a Fashion Carousel with React Slick](#building-a-fashion-carousel-with-react-slick)
-  - [Creating Slides for the Carousel](#creating-slides-for-the-carousel)
-  - [Styling the Fashion Carousel](#styling-the-fashion-carousel)
-  - [Adding Arrow Navigation](#adding-arrow-navigation)
-  - [Adding Thumbnails](#adding-thumbnails)
-  - [Adding Responsiveness](#adding-responsiveness)
+- [Common Mistakes When Using React Slick (and How to Avoid Them)](#common-mistakes-when-using-react-slick-and-how-to-avoid-them)
 
 ## Overview of React Slick
 
@@ -698,6 +695,137 @@ Run your application and see how the carousel shrinks from 2 to 1 when it reache
     <img src="https://refine.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/blog/2023-10-29-react-slick/99-min.gif" alt="react slick" />
 </div>
 
+## Common Mistakes When Using React Slick (and How to Avoid Them)
+
+Over the years, I’ve seen (and made!) plenty of mistakes while working with React Slick. Let me share a few common ones and how to steer clear of them:
+
+### Forgetting the CSS Files
+
+This is a classic! React Slick doesn’t come styled out of the box. If you forget to include the slick.css and slick-theme.css files, your carousel won’t look right—it’ll function, but it’ll be pretty ugly.
+
+What to do:
+Always add these imports in your code after installing slick-carousel:
+
+```tsx
+import "slick-carousel/slick/slick.css";
+import "slick-carousel/slick/slick-theme.css";
+```
+
+### Overloading the Carousel with Too Many Items
+
+Adding tons of slides can make the carousel sluggish, especially on mobile devices. Nobody likes a slow app, right?
+
+What to do:
+Use the lazyLoad option to load only the visible slides:
+
+```tsx
+const settings = {
+  lazyLoad: "ondemand",
+  // other settings
+};
+```
+
+### Misconfiguring Breakpoints
+
+I’ve often seen developers set breakpoints but forget to test them properly. This can result in carousels looking weird on different devices.
+
+What to do:
+Test your responsive settings thoroughly. Here’s an example:
+
+```tsx
+const settings = {
+  responsive: [
+    {
+      breakpoint: 1024,
+      settings: {
+        slidesToShow: 2,
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      breakpoint: 600,
+      settings: {
+        slidesToShow: 1,
+      },
+    },
+  ],
+};
+```
+
+### Ignoring Accessibility
+
+Carousels can be a nightmare for users with disabilities if accessibility isn’t handled well. For instance, navigation arrows might not be keyboard-friendly.
+
+What to do:
+
+- Add aria-labels to navigation elements.
+- Use React Slick’s built-in accessibility prop (it’s enabled by default):
+
+```tsx
+const settings = {
+  accessibility: true,
+  // other settings
+};
+```
+
+By keeping these in mind, you’ll avoid headaches later on!
+
+### Performance Optimization Tips
+
+React Slick is great, but if you’re not careful, it can slow down your app. Here are some easy ways to keep it running smoothly:
+
+#### Use Lazy Loading
+
+Loading all the images at once can slow down the initial page load, especially if you’ve got a lot of slides.
+
+What to do:
+Turn on lazy loading so images load only when they’re needed:
+
+```tsx
+const settings = {
+  lazyLoad: "ondemand",
+  // other settings
+};
+```
+
+#### Optimize Your Images
+
+Large image files can kill performance.
+
+What to do:
+
+- Use optimized images (e.g., compress them with tools like TinyPNG).
+- Use responsive image sizes for different screen widths.
+
+#### Limit Slide Animations
+
+Too many fancy animations can make your carousel feel slow, especially on older devices.
+
+What to do:
+Stick to a simple transition and set a reasonable speed:
+
+```tsx
+const settings = {
+  speed: 500, // milliseconds
+  cssEase: "ease-in-out",
+  // other settings
+};
+```
+
+#### Avoid Re-renders
+
+Re-renders can happen when props or state change unnecessarily.
+
+What to do:
+Use React.memo for your carousel component if the slides don’t change frequently:
+
+```tsx
+import React, { memo } from "react";
+
+const MyCarousel = memo(() => {
+  return <Slider {...settings}>/* slides */</Slider>;
+});
+```
+
 ## Conclusion
 
 You've reached the end of this article, where we covered the following aspects of React Slick: what React Slick is, why developers need it, its core features, React Slick APIs and the benefits of using it. Additionally, we demonstrated two hands-on examples in which we created a carousel component using React Slick. React Slick is a user-friendly library with a wide range of features and advantages you can leverage to create carousels for simple and complex applications.