SPA: Advantages Over MPA

Single-Page Applications (SPAs) are Web apps that heap an individual HTML page and progressively redesign that page as the user communicates with the app. It is also known as Single page application. Microsoft’s MSDN informed us that SPAs use AJAX and HTML5 to create fluid and responsive web apps, without constant page reloads.

On traditional websites, when visitors click on the links, these links generally lead to a new URL and load an entirely new page. In SPAs, the whole page doesn’t reload; instead, certain content is changed, loaded, and swapped out within the same page.

Microsoft’s MSDN informed us that in an SPA, after the first page loads, all interaction with the server happens through AJAX calls. These AJAX calls revert data – not markup – usually in JSON format. The app utilizes the JSON data to modify the page actively, without reloading the page. Applications are more fluid and responsive, without the jolting effect of reloading and re-rendering the page. Sending the app data as JSON creates separation between the presentation (HTML markup) and application logic (AJAX requests plus JSON responses). This division makes it simpler to design and develop each layer. In a well-architected SPA, you can change the HTML markup without touching the code that executes the application logic. In an immaculate SPA, every UI interaction occurs on the client side, through JavaScript and CSS. After the initial page loads, the server acts solely as a service layer. The client simply needs to recognize what sort of HTTP requests they have to send. It doesn’t care how the server executes things on the back end.

One of the best examples is Facebook : It is almost a SPA – most interactions don’t require loading a new webpage. One example where it still happens is clicking on “Photos” section in the left side menu. It does send your browser to a new URL. I believe facebook engineers are managed in the direction of excluding these counter-examples and delivering real SPA experience. Let’s have a look at the below example.

In above image, the page you can see is mainly the profile page of FB. Just note down the URL. On clicking any of the particular photos, the below image will appear.

In above image, we can see that URL is changed but page remains same which is actually a true example of SPA.

Most of the JavaScript frameworks work on MVC design paradigm and enforce structure to ensure more scalable, reusable, maintainable JavaScript code. It is, however, not necessary that all frameworks ride on MVC pattern, there are many variations to it and one has a choice to go with MV*, MVVM, MVP as it is best suited to the project needs. JavaScript frameworks are mushrooming everywhere nowadays.

There are a lot of open source JavaScript frameworks that help with building SPAs, such as:

• Angular.js
• React.js
• Ember.js
• Aurelia.js
• Vue.js
• Cycle.js
• Backbone.js

SPA Pros :

• SPA is practically similar to client-server technology, where HTML page is static & all dynamic changes happen in the browser. In prior PHP, JSP, ASP, HTML was combined with server-side logic and it was created on the server. The server needs to process more load.
• With SPA we don’t need to use additional queries to the server to download pages.
• SPA separates UI and data, SPA communicates with the server only with JSON REST API (Send/Receive JSON using AJAX), this likewise permits both parts to be autonomously developed and tested.
• You can simply fake JSON data interaction to test SPA, and you can likewise effortlessly fake JSON requests to the server to compose unit tests.
• SPA is rapid, as most resources HTML + CSS + Scripts are only stacked once, throughout the lifespan of the application, just data is transmitted back and forth. (Decreasing bandwidth usage is also a plus).
• SPA can use caching and local storage completely.
• It is simple to scale, and it is simple to cache resources.
• SPA works and seems more like an application than a web page.
• Back button issue, for the most part, all correspondence is performed using AJAX promises, back page failure is not an issue. In HTTP Post operation, failure on the server side would mostly expect to redo entire data entry. You would loose back button and unplanned route on different pages would result in redo the data entry. These issues can be resolved very well.
• SPAs are simple to debug with Chrome, as you can screen network operations, examine page elements and data associated with it.
• It’s simpler to make a mobile app because the developer can reprocess the same backend code for web application and native mobile application.

SPA Cons :

• It is very complex and not a simple task to make SEO optimization of a Single-Page Application. Its content is stacked by AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) – a method of transferring data and modifying in the application without refreshing the page.
• Massive client frameworks which are required to be stacked to the client
• It requires JavaScript to be modern and enabled. If any user disables JavaScript in his or her browser, it won’t be conceivable to present application and its activities in a correct way.
• SPA is less secure. Due to Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), it allows attackers to insert client-side scripts into web application by different users.
• UI code is not compiled, so it’s difficult to debug and it’s presented to potential noxious user
• SEO (search engine optimization) indications; since your pages are inherent in the browser, the search engine crawler will see an alternate version of the page than that of your users.

Advantages of a Single-Page Over Multi-Page Design :

Interpreted Mobile Development: You can reuse the same backend for web application and native mobile application.

Easy Navigation Path: There is no real way to get lost on a single page website since there is no other approach to get info like scrolling down the page.

Limited Amount of Bandwidth: Multi-page website takes a longer time to load. It still influences user experience. Single-page website needs limited amount of bandwidth than multi-page.

Enhanced Mobile-Friendliness: Single-page websites are much less demanding to transform into rapid loading responsive websites since it simply requires less time. No complicated navigation or extra bells and whistles make this task an easy thing. It takes a lot of efforts to build a mobile version of a multi-page website. Of course, responsive websites are not restricted in a number of pages.

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