Improvement: Explore Preact for Improved UI Performance

[lovestaco]

Currently, the site uses React, but the UI is mostly built with basic components.

Potential Improvements:

Switching to Preact could reduce bundle size significantly (≈10× smaller than React).

Smaller bundle size should lead to faster UI load times.

Could work well since the site primarily uses basic components.

Request:

Evaluate the impact of switching to Preact.

Report measurable improvements in bundle size and UI load speed after migration.

[modugulasaimeghana]

i would like to work on this,can you assign it for me

[MuchiraIrungu]

Hey @lovestaco Is this taken ??

[lovestaco]

Hey @MuchiraIrungu
Not yet taken

[MuchiraIrungu]

Hey @lovestaco 👋,

I hope you’re doing well!

I’ve been researching more about React and Preact, and I’ve noticed that using them together can sometimes cause issues — particularly “Invalid Hook Call” errors and other compatibility problems.

Could you please advise whether it’s worth trying to integrate Preact in this setup (and risk affecting some parts of the code), or if it’s better to leave it as is?

From what I’ve learned, Astro already optimizes React components automatically — providing partial hydration, island architecture, and great performance — even without adding Preact manually.

Thanks a lot for your time and guidance!

[lovestaco]

Hey @MuchiraIrungu
All good this side, hope you're doing well!

I see, astro looks like they support preact by support.
https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/integrations-guide/preact/

I guess we can try using preact,
47 files are using preact

Exclude rules: .json, .txt, .svg, .html, .md, /t/, .mjs, .cjs, .js, .astro

@shrsv what do you think?

[lovestaco]

Hey @MuchiraIrungu, we can go ahead and try with preact.

Let me know if you face any issue, will pitch in.

[MuchiraIrungu]

Hello @lovestaco 👋,

Yeah, the issue is that it seems I either need to remove React completely, or add Preact and then find a way for both to coexist without conflicts.
I’ll give Preact a try and see if I can get it to work smoothly alongside React. I’ll share some feedback and updates soon once I’ve tested it out.

[lovestaco]

Hey @MuchiraIrungu
We can get rid of react completely, no benefit in keeping both ig.

Sure

[MuchiraIrungu]

Okay ,, Let me work on removing and checking for any react dependenciesGot it! I’ll start cleaning up the React dependencies and check for any components that still reference React. I’ll update once I confirm everything’s working fine with Preact only