React Font Awesome is a must-know for any front-end developer proficient in React. This package equips you with scalable vector icons that can be customized – size, color, drop shadow, etc. with the power of CSS. All these stunning icons are included in a fantastically easy-to-use React component for your app.
Contents
The Problem at Hand
Often, integrating icon libraries into React applications can lead to performance issues and complex configurations due to the inclusion of all icons, regardless of use. This is where React Font Awesome shines. It allows us to import only the icons required in our project, making our application performant.
Solution with React Font Awesome
Firstly, install Font Awesome and the necessary packages into your React Project using the following command:
npm i --save @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core npm i --save @fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons npm i --save @fortawesome/react-fontawesome
Now you are ready to use the icons with these lines of code:
import { FontAwesomeIcon } from '@fortawesome/react-fontawesome'
import { faCoffee } from '@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons'
const element = <FontAwesomeIcon icon={faCoffee} />
The code imports the FontAwesomeIcon component and the coffee icon and uses them in a React component.
Step-by-Step Explanation
Let’s analyze how this works. The first line imports the FontAwesomeIcon component from the react-fontawesome library. The “FontAwesomeIcon” is just a component that Font Awesome provides for use within your React components. The next line imports a single icon (
- faCoffee
) from the free-solid-svg-icons package. Finally, you use the imported icons as a prop to the FontAwesomeIcon component.
More About the FontAwesome Libraries
The package @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core is the core of Font Awesome. It contains the styles and SVG framework functions and should be included once per project.
The @fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons package contains all those free solid icons that you would typically use in your site/app. Other libraries like regular and brands are also available.
The @fortawesome/react-fontawesome package is a component library to bring FontAwesome into React seamlessly.
React Font Awesome has proved to be a reliable solution for implementing icons within a React application while keeping the application efficient and straightforward.
