Single-page application vs. multiple-page application
The world is booming like never before. Cost-effective, user-friendly smarts phone and use of internet getting increases dramatically which leads demand of new applications to it’s peak. So, when use terminology applications two types of them are come up in our mind either it is Single page application or Multi page application. In this article we are going to find what differences are between them, which one is best to choose and many more.
Table of contents:
Single-page Application.
Multi-page Application.
SPA’s or MPA’s? So what’s the verdict?
Single-Page Application
A Single-page Applications are the applications that works within the browser and doesn’t need to reload page during its use. This application interacts user dynamically rewriting the current web page with new data from the web server , instead of the default method of the browser loading entire new pages.
One of the best advantages of SPA’s is the user experience (UX), where the user enjoys a natural environment of the app without having to wait for the page reloads and other things. You remain on the same page, which is powered by JavaScript programming language.
Think of the apps you use daily: Facebook, Google Maps, Gmail, Twitter, Google Drive, or even GitHub. All these are examples of a SPA.
SINGLE PAGE APPLICATION ADVANTAGES:
The main advantage of single-page applications is its speed. Most resources SPA needs (HTML + CSS + Scripts) are loaded at the launch of the app and don’t need to be reloaded during the usage. The only thing that changes is the data that is transmitted to and from the server. As a result, the application is very responsive to the user’s queries and doesn’t have to wait for client-server communication all the time.
This decreases the server-client traffic and makes the app feel “snappier”.
So as long as you don’t use horribly outdated hardware, SPAs are much faster and responsive than traditional web applications.
Moreover, single page applications are significantly easier to port from web to mobile. You can generally use the same back-end code both for the web and iOS/Android versions of your app, which is quite rare with the traditional approach.
And finally, compared to MPAs, single-page UI is much closer to that of native apps. This means you won’t have to change much design wise when adapting your SPA to mobile.
SINGLE PAGE APPLICATION DISADVANTAGES:
If we talk about SEO For a long time, Google and other search engines had troubles with indexing SPAs. Their bots were good at crawling static HTML pages but were ill-equipped to render the dynamic content. And without the ability to execute JavaScript, all they saw in an SPA was an empty HTML container. As a result, single-page applications rarely made it to the top of the search results.
Another SEO issue comes from the fact that SPAs have a limited semantic kernel when compared to the traditional applications. This originates from the fact that it’s simply impossible to stuff as many keywords into a single page website.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) makes SPAs a bit more vulnerable to hacker attacks. XSS allows trespassers to insert malicious client-side scripts into otherwise trusted applications
SPAs launch slower than the traditional applications. This happens due to client-side rendering. Before your browser can render the page, it has to load bulky JS frameworks. This could take a while, especially for the large application.
So, these are the some drawback related to Single-page Applications. Now move further to explore about Multi-page Application.
Multi-page Application.
A multiple page application is considered a more classical approach to app development. The multi-page design pattern requires a page reload every time the content changes. It’s a preferred option for large companies that have extensive product portfolios, for example, e-commerce businesses.
MULTI PAGE APPLICATION ADVANTAGES:
MPA’s enables better website positioning as each page can be optimized for a different keyword. Also, meta tags can be included on every page — this positively impacts Google rankings.
MPA’s enable better information architecture. You can create as many pages as required, and you can include as much information on a page as you need without any limits. Navigation is clear, so the user can easily find their way around the website which positively impacts their experience.
This probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but the larger the website the more effort it takes to secure it — think multi-page applications. If you go for an MPA, then you’ll have to secure every webpage.
MULTI PAGE APPLICATION DISADVANTAGES:
Multi-page applications need to load the same page again each time the user request is made. Every page, including not only its contents but also the visual elements and layout consistent at all pages, are reloaded every time. Consequently, this process eats up plenty of time.
In most cases, MPAs require back-end development from scratch. The front-end needs to be developed, too. With multiple pages and a complex structure, the development process may get complicated and time-consuming.
SPA’s or MPA’s? So what’s the verdict?
As our single-page application vs. multi-page application discussion suggests, one cannot resort to any rigid guideline on how to choose between SPA’s and MPA’s. Both of them have their strong and weak points. Hence, if one has a company or business with a complex organization or a broad product range, then an MPA’s would be a good option. If your volume of information is comparatively small and an offer can be packaged into one page, the SPA’s would be a fine option. But in this case, you should focus on SEO to ensure your website is visible to a broader audience.
Hope you find this article helpful.
