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New quality in the development and design of the Web applications.
What are the Pros and Cons, if any?
In this fast-paced digital lifestyle, we must admit that many have a limited amount of attention. Most of us prefer to search or browse through web pages on our phones or electronic devices that are easy and more user-friendly- it’s a mobile-first world for some time now. No one has the patience of clicking and tapping through multiple web pages on any website or application. Hello and welcome to the world of Single Page Applications.
Single Page Applications are simply defined as web applications that can be accessed via web browsers in a continuous scroll, aka single page. It’s quite similar to real websites online. Single Page Application is abbreviated as SPA. SPA’s are very common applications and are found everywhere and many businesses have adopted a SPA approach. The most common SPA’s that we know are Gmail, Trello, Facebook, and Twitter. SPA’s have advantages and disadvantages. Let us dive more into its details, framework, why they can be beneficial or otherwise and how they impact the new order of design and development.
Why is a Single Page Application needed for your business?
SPA is known for its fast performance and providing a seamless user experience. The UX (User Experience) is more responsive and easier to enable via offline working. Whether you are developing a new business or building a personal website for your brand you would require a multi-function platform with a rich user interface, a good API for mobile or web application development and minimum utilization for SEO optimization. In this case, it would be a great idea for you to consider single page application. It also aims in attracting traffic that is very specific about content from search engines and links. The person visiting your website can directly access the specific content they have requested, thereby saving their time and money.
SPA also provides the development of different front ends like an API, a desktop client, a VR client and a mobile client for a cheaper rate for all types of customers.
Which designing frameworks to consider for SPA’s?
With the availability of many designing frameworks out there in the market, it can often be confusing as to which one would be the best right fit for the SPA. So before going into the framework I have listed out two designing frameworks which are very popular.
- Angular JS
Angular JS is well known for being used for designing a SPA. Angular is an open-source, front-end, JavaScript-based framework. It’s an MVC-based framework. It was created to help companies like Microsoft, Paypal and Google. The biggest advantage of using Angular JS is that it can directly transfer all the contents from a server to the web browser all at once. It has a faster loading speed when it comes to displaying pages. Its new feature called the to-way binding data helps in writing new codes. Automatic integration of data between the new model and viewing of components occurs.
- React JS
React JS is similar to the framework of a library that helps in creating User Interface (UI) applications. This JavaScript framework grew quickly after its release in 2013. It is more flexible than Angular JS. When a high-performing enterprise application is required, it is one of the most popular frameworks. React is primarily utilized in the MVC architecture for the ‘View’ component, which allows the user interface to be updated without having to go back to the server for a new view. Because of its component-based architecture, React JS is very straightforward to maintain.
- Vue JS
Vue JS was introduced by a former employee of Google. In 2013. It was made to provide a speedy Javascript framework to a Single Page Application. It can be easily converted from a library to a framework with many features. It has become quite popular for the last few years.
Pros of Single Page Applications
For many, a SPA could be the right choice for their businesses as it provides a user-friendly and seamless customer experience. To understand it better, here are four pros to look into:
- Storage of Caches
SPA’s can cache any type of data very quickly and efficiently. Only one request is sent to the server via SPA and it stores all the important data that can be used. The data is functional and can be used even when not connected to the internet. Any user with limited data connectivity can have their local data synchronized along with the server whenever the connection is allowed.
- Easy Debugging
Debugging is the process of removing any errors and problems that exist in hardware or software applications. For example, by using the Google Chrome browser, one can simply debug a single-page application very easily, i.e., detect errors and fix them. The Chrome browser debugging extensions are called Angular Batarang and React. One can also use a console to investigate any network applications, website elements, and data associated with it.
- Lightning Speed Apps - Usage of Less Bandwidth
The data consumption is low, which means users will have a better experience of its performance and quicker responsiveness than otherwise with the traditional approaches. Moreover, a SPA reduces data consumption and costs much less on the data spend “wallet”.
- Flawless User Experience
SPA’s provide a flawless experience to a user which is similar to a mobile application or a desktop. One does not have to wait for a new page to load because there’s no change in the page except its content. The customer experience enhancement and decision making is fastened and with a predictive rise in conversion.
- Prioritize Quality Over Quantity
The SPA’s primarily focus on bringing our quality rather than quantity because of it’s the framework. The developers can concentrate on a single, high-quality page now that the burden of page-by-page design and optimization has been lifted with the help of SPA. The fewer pages you must navigate through, the better the overall user experience.
Cons of Single Page Applications
If you are someone who is into SEO, you should know by now that SPA doesn’t provide an option for any visibility or ranking of your web page. It is quite difficult for a user to achieve it, as most SPA’s that use JavaScript (and the numbers there are quite high) instead of the normal HTML links. Let us understand some of these factors in detail:
- SEO Optimization Difficulties
It is very difficult to rank a page using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) due to the characteristics of SPA. Optimizing a SPA is very hard and quite time-consuming. The SPA uses AJAX to gets the content of their pages loaded. In simple terms, the data cannot be shared or updated without refreshing the page. A better way is to have a meter snippet of Omniscopy to help you optimize the journey even if SEO optimization isn’t possible.
- Problems with security
SPA’s are more susceptible to cross-site scripting attacks (i.e. XSS). By using XSS, a susceptible website is manipulated which releases malicious JavaScript back to its users. The client-side scripts can be inserted into web apps by hackers. This also causes the data to become more compromised and the vital information can easily be exposed. The SPA’s are more vulnerable due to a lack of access control at the operational level.
- Loading time issues
Loading a page in SPA takes a long time. It is incompatible with low-power devices. Many users have poor app experiences if they have a low-power device. As it is impossible to load the pages.
- JavaScript dependency on the client to run the show (app).
All users using SPA must have JavaScript installed on their web browser to have full access to it. A SPA does not work if the JavaScript is disabled.
- Your browser’s history is not saved
A user visiting your website for the first time will click on the back button to return to the previous application. But they will not be able to do so instead, they will be redirected to the previous page of it. To sort out this issue, an HTML5 History API has been created to support the framework of the SPA. This can help the designer in gaining access to the browser’s history via the JavaScript framework.
Single-page applications are very important in today’s world. They provide users numerous benefits as we have seen. Many apps are switching over to this web application for easier access. The value of SPA includes many plus points, including linear format, responsiveness, mobility, adaptability, ease of development and so on. How the SPA is used depends from user to user.