71–80 of 105 posts
This seems to be aimed at Single Page Websites and not Applications. The aim isn't to "mimic the browser using Javascript" but to create an immersive application that feels like you're no longer in a browser at all.
One you cherry pick SPA attempts, like with Twitter. This is an example of a company trying to refactor for SPA, not doing SPA from the beginning.
Libraries that help with SPA are maturing. It's easy to implement routing with backbone for example. You just have to be a good developer and actually learn.
The part that really matters is being a solid dev. Not if you choose SPA or not.
One of my favorite SPAs is Trello. It demonstrates a great use case for a single-page app, a highly-interactive interface based around a single view. I realize that the "single page" in SPA refers to loading a single HTML page, but I've generally felt like SPAs work best when they're based around a primary view. Once you start building a SPA that emulates a multi-page website, you're suddenly jumping through hoops th…
Is it an application?
Does it revolve around a single view that is not just a header toolbar?
Ok. You are now cleared for any other questions to evaluate SPAs. If the answer to either of those questions is no, just don't use a single page site.
As for answering the question of how much of a primary view makes the SPA worth it. If data needs to be retained within the view while making requests, then yes. Examples - spotify, most multi column apps, ERPs etc.
This seems to be aimed at Single Page Websites and not Applications. The aim isn't to "mimic the browser using Javascript" but to create an immersive application that feels like you're no longer in a browser at all.
At which point, the question becomes, "why is this a website?" if you're building an application, usually languages like C#, Objective-C, etc offer far more powerful tools for making an application.
I completely disagree with the assessment of this article. I've been building and managing the build of simple to enterprise web applications since the web was born. I'm familiar with the entire spectrum of development platforms from old CGI/Perl, ASP, JSP, Cold Fusion, ASP.NET, MVC-platforms (pick one), and now SPA's using front-end platforms like AngularJS and ReactJS. The amount of time saved in developing service…
It's not about where you execute your UI code, It's about how you structure your application.
I've seen plenty more of SPA's become an unmaintainable spaghetti nightmare and also seen many non-SPA's work splendidly.
This reads like a very good list of things to implement in your SPA. Having said that, you should also be supporting simply rendering the pages on the first request, and progressively enhance it, rather than a blank thing that then goes and fetches all the JS and render itself. The HTML/CSS should arrive and render as soon as possible. His reference to twitter's 2012 writeup is good. Having said that, take a look at…
Link doesn't work for me on iOS. I just get a blank page?
As with everything, if you're going to do SPA, you should do it well. So far, one of the best SPA website I've seen is https://gocardless.com (disclaimer: I work there). Once loaded it's probably one of the fastest website I've browsed, and it doesn't have any of the drawbacks you mentioned: navigating to a new page is quick: ✓ navigating back is quick: ✓ remembering scroll position: ✓ cancelling navigation: ✗ but we…
The dashboard looks like a much better example of an SPA.
I must say i'm constantly surprised by the negativity towards changes in technology by the technology oriented crowd. More specifically, the pure negativity. So many (here included) constantly shout negativity towards these technology concepts (SPA, in this case), and thankfully also citing what they're negative specifically about. What i'm surprised to see though, is that so few focus on improving the tech concept (…
Again, in my experience, SPAs break the web 99% of the time. The times that they don't (e.g. Gmail), I still don't see what an SPA brings to the table that a simple MPA didn't. Yeah Gmail is nice, but it's no where near as good as a decent desktop or mobile mail app. And its miles away from a good, well structured MPA. SPAs just seem to sit in this no-mans land for me, and I'm not sure that more technology is the answer.
It's like Flash. When Flash came out I used to be a Flash developer for a while. But I had an epiphany as to why Flash development was so hard. It was the entire concept of the timeline, something that is at the core of Flash. A timeline is a sequence of keyed steps over time. The problem with this is that it make interactivity next to impossible; you were constantly fighting against the core purpose of Flash (play items in sequence over time). How do you handle users interrupting this sequence with their constant demands for interactivity? The answer was to throw the entire timeline concept out the window and generate all objects, items and stuff using code. That way you could handle arbritary interactions from the user. Well, I'm sure you can imagine how ridiculous that got over time. Frameworks and libraries and hacks and workarounds and generally just a big fat mess because Flash devs were constantly trying use Flash for something it was never designed to do in the first place.
For me, personally, SPAs and the related technology bear some of the similar hallmarks. Some developers want to use Web Browsers to write the equivalent of desktop apps. But browsers and the web in particular do not have the same interaction patterns as desktop apps (or mobile). But that is absolutely fine! The web is something else, it is its own thing.
But thats just me. By all means go for it! You are right that progress in technology is a good thing. I'm just wary of misdirected technological gains, like smart-jars, digital credit cards and smart smoke alarms that require internet connections.
To sum up; I wouldn't say it's negativity, it's more that some people are just not convinced by the concept at its core.
As with everything, if you're going to do SPA, you should do it well. So far, one of the best SPA website I've seen is https://gocardless.com (disclaimer: I work there). Once loaded it's probably one of the fastest website I've browsed, and it doesn't have any of the drawbacks you mentioned: navigating to a new page is quick: ✓ navigating back is quick: ✓ remembering scroll position: ✓ cancelling navigation: ✗ but we…
> customers in the UK and the Eurozone
This seems to be aimed at Single Page Websites and not Applications. The aim isn't to "mimic the browser using Javascript" but to create an immersive application that feels like you're no longer in a browser at all.
That seems like a very odd goal.