Serverless/Microservices: You can also choose a serverless web app architecture

by using the cloud storage of one of the cloud services providers for your CPU and
memory needs. Some organizations use microservices, making their web solution
operate on multiple small servers that communicate with each other via Queue or
HTTP. This model also supports the use of multiple languages.
Type of Architecture: Choose between Model View Controller (MVC), Single Page
Application (SPA), or Server-Side Rendering (SSR) for your application.
Single-Page Applications

Single-page applications are becoming increasingly popular as they exhibit fewer

page load interruptions, and are more cost-effective and quick to develop. Such a
web app strictly has a single-page design whose objects are stored in tables linked
with an SQL database. Each user action loads an object on the site dynamically,
without the need for reloading the entire web page. As for the back end, the
requests are performed via AJAX web development techniques or the WebSocket
computer communications protocol.
Progressive Web Apps
These apps also support most modern web browsers and provide enhanced offline
support with better cache management.

Increased smartphone usage has triggered the need for developing progressive web
apps. These applications are designed as regular websites but support seamless
mobile viewability.

In other words, a progressive web app is a website that resembles a mobile app,
available in a browser, not an app store. This app type supports most modern web
browsers and provides solid offline support with better cache management.

Most importantly, progressive web apps can reach a very wide audience (for example,
users in developing countries who do not have smartphones that support the latest
apps).

These apps also support most modern web browsers and provide enhanced offline
support with better cache management.

There are three primary types of web application architecture. Each one of them is
explained as follows:

Single-Page Applications (SPAs) – Instead of loading completely new pages from

the server each time for a user action, single page web applications allows for a
dynamic interaction by means of providing updated content to the current page.
AJAX, a concise form of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is the foundation for
enabling page communications and hence, making SPAs a reality. Because single-page
applications prevent interruptions in user experience, they, in a way, resemble
traditional desktop applications.
SPAs are designed in a way so that they request for most necessary content and
information elements. This leads to the procurement of an intuitive as well as
interactive user experience.
Microservices – These are small and lightweight services that execute a single
functionality. The Microservices Architecture framework has a number of advantages
that allows developers to not only enhance productivity but also speed up the
entire deployment process.
The components making up an application build using the Microservices
Architecture aren’t directly dependent on each other. As such, they don’t
necessitate to be built using the same programming language.
Hence, developers working with the Microservices Architecture are free to pick
up a technology stack of choice. It makes developing the application simpler and
quicker.
Serverless Architectures – In this type of web application architecture, an
application developer consults a third-party cloud infrastructure services provider
for outsourcing server as well as infrastructure management.
The benefit of this approach is that it allows applications to execute the code
logic without bothering with the infrastructure-related tasks.
The Serverless Architecture is best when the development company doesn’t want
to manage or support the servers as well as the hardware they have developed the
web application for.

web application architecture three types of web application

Single page applications (SPA)

It is the era of minimalism, where a single-page web app is more popular. The most
sought after applications include only the required elements of content.

This offers a greater interactive user experience, permitting the Single-page web
app and the user to have a more dynamic interaction.
Microservices

The execution of a single and specific functionality through Microservices

Architecture framework permits developers to rollout applications faster and with
greater efficiency.

As various components are developed in different coding languages, there is greater

flexibility in choosing a technology of choice.
Serverless architectures

This permits applications to execute without a correlation to infrastructure

related tasks, where the developers do not have to manage the backend servers,
working on third party infrastructure.
Web application architecture: components

Web Application Architectures comprises various components that are segregated into
two categories of components – user interface app components and structural
components.

web application architecture components

User interface app components

This is a reference to the web pages that have a role that is related to the
display, settings and configurations.

It is related the interface/experience, rather than the development, and

consequently it deals with display dashboards, configuration settings,
notifications, and logs etc.
Structural components

The structural components of a web application basically refer to the functionality

of the web application with which a user interacts, the control and the database
storage.

In other words, it has got more to do with the structural aspects of the
architecture, as the name suggests. This basically comprises (1) The web browser or
client, (2) The web application server and (3) The database server.

The web browser or client permits the users to interact with the functions of the
web apps and is generally developed using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
 Read More: How AngularJS extends HTML?

The web application server handles the central hub that supports business logic and
multi-layer applications, and is generally developed using Python, PHP, Java, .NET,
Ruby, and Node.js.

The database server offers business logic and relevant information/data that is
stored and managed by the web application server. It stores, retrieves and provides
the information.
Web server architecture

By all definitions this refers to the ideal layout of a web server, which will
facilitate the design, development and deployment of the web server.

angular virtual scroll drag drop main

The role is to accede to the requests of clients, including browsers and mobile
apps via secure protocols. The requests could pertain to page resources or could
also be related to a REST API.

Web servers are intrinsic to the working of web apps, mandating the need for
increased emphasis on web server architecture, including the server’s physical
capacity – storage, memory, computing power, and performance, apart from the app
tiers.

This could be anywhere – either inside the server, across the network or the
operating systems. The different types of web server architecture include:
Java web application architecture

By virtue of being a versatile programming language, this is popular in the

enterprise development environment.

The requirements of a solution determine the extent/the complex nature of web

application architectures – for instance, the solutions could be either simple or
multi-tiered applications.

Regardless of the complexity or the nature of the application, Java Web Application
Architecture is the preferred platform for developers to build solutions and
deliver as per expectations.

One of the distinct advantages of this architecture is the ability to combine and
rely on the Java native tools, and frameworks for creating applications straddling
the entire spectrum – from simple to the most complex of applications.
Cloud based web application architecture

The migration to the cloud is more of an imperative than a choice, primarily as a

result of the benefits across all parameters.

Consequently, cloud based web application architecture have been developed, this
has resulted in the creation of a corollary – the decoupling of data. In other
words, cloud based apps function and store information on local servers and the
cloud.
Node.js web application architecture

At the core of Node.js web application architecture, lies the pattern of model-
view; for instance, the model-view-controller, the model-view-view model and the
model-view-presenter.
Node.js permits the creation of patterns for the purpose of identifying code
elements, and also to configure the elements, apart from routing.

This relies on an entity-relationship which helps to ensure that the application

runs seamlessly, through data systematization, breaking logic into modules,
processing valuable insights from logs and dividing the code.

Read More: Create a chat app server using Node.js and Socket.io?

Another important advantage is the fact that Node.js web application architecture
helps build scalable web apps.
.NET web application architecture

This handles requirements including cross-platform support, Docker containers,

microservices, and side-by-side versioning.

The highlight of this framework is ability to store data without the need for
applying database code.

Known as Data Access Layer, it helps improve functionality and development, as the
architecture relies on ASP.NET Core and .NET Core for optimization.
PHP web application architecture

By virtue of being the least complex and highly functional development languages,
PHP is one of the most popular among the community.

The architecture permits robust security, swift development, a dedicated framework,

simple maintenance, and extended support from a community of developers.
AngularJS web application architecture

This architecture works in dual mode for HTML and TypeScript as a platform and also
as a framework.

The use of NgModules for building offers manifold benefits through Angular
development, including user experience with lazy loading, apart from reducing the
code size.

Types of Web Applications Architecture

In simple terms, a web application architecture or a type of web application is a

pattern of interaction between various web application components that we discussed
above. The “type” of web application architecture is directly proportional to how
the application logic is distributed among the client and server sides.
Three primary types of a website application architecture are:

Serverless Architecture — A serverless architecture is a simple way to build and

run applications and services without having to manage infrastructure. The
application you deploy runs on servers, but all the server management is done by a
third-party service provider like AWS. You don’t need to provision, scale, and
maintain servers in5 order to run your applications, databases, and storage
systems.

Single-Page Applications — A single-page application or SPA is a type of web

application architecture that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the
current page rather than loading entire new pages from a server. In this way, one
can avoid interruption of the user experience between successive pages which makes
the application behave more like a desktop application.
All the vital code of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS is retrieved with a single page
load, or the appropriate resources are dynamically loaded and added to the page as
necessary.
Microservices — They can be called small and lightweight services which are
responsible for executing a single functionality. The Microservices Architecture
framework allows the developers working with it to not only enhance productivity
but also speed up the entire deployment process.

Traditional and SPA behaviors supported

Traditional web applications have involved little client-side behavior, but instead
have relied on the
server for all navigation, queries, and updates the app might need to make. Each
new operation made
by the user would be translated into a new web request, with the result being a
full page reload in the
end user’s browser. Classic Model-View-Controller (MVC) frameworks typically follow
this approach,
with each new request corresponding to a different controller action, which in turn
would work with a
model and return a view. Some individual operations on a given page might be
enhanced with AJAX
(Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) functionality, but the overall architecture of
the app used many
different MVC views and URL endpoints. In addition, ASP.NET Core MVC also supports
Razor Pages, a
simpler way to organize MVC-style pages.
Single Page Applications (SPAs), by contrast, involve very few dynamically
generated server-side page
loads (if any). Many SPAs are initialized within a static HTML file that loads the
necessary JavaScript
libraries to start and run the app. These apps make heavy usage of web APIs for
their data needs and
can provide much richer user experiences.
Many web applications involve a combination of traditional web application behavior
(typically for
content) and SPAs (for interactivity). ASP.NET Core supports both MVC (Views or
Page based) and web
APIs in the same application, using the same set of tools and underlying framework
libraries.
There are two general approaches to building web applications today: traditional
web applications
that perform most of the application logic on the server, and single-page
applications (SPAs) that
perform most of the user interface logic in a web browser, communicating with the
web server
primarily using web APIs. A hybrid approach is also possible, the simplest being
host one or more rich
SPA-like subapplications within a larger traditional web application.
Use traditional web applications when:
• Your application’s client-side requirements are simple or even read-only.
• Your application needs to function in browsers without JavaScript support.
• Your team is unfamiliar with JavaScript or TypeScript development techniques.
Use a SPA when:
• Your application must expose a rich user interface with many features.
• Your team is familiar with JavaScript, TypeScript, or Blazor WebAssembly
development.
• Your application must already expose an API for other (internal or public)
clients.
Additionally, SPA frameworks require greater architectural and security expertise.
They experience
greater churn due to frequent updates and new frameworks than traditional web
applications.
Configuring automated build and deployment processes and utilizing deployment
options like
containers may be more difficult with SPA applications than traditional web apps.
Improvements in user experience made possible by the SPA approach must be weighed
against these
considerations.
When to choose traditional web apps
The following section is a more detailed explanation of the previously stated
reasons for picking
traditional web applications.
Your application has simple, possibly read-only, client-side requirements
Many web applications are primarily consumed in a read-only fashion by the vast
majority of their
users. Read-only (or read-mostly) applications tend to be much simpler than those
applications that
maintain and manipulate a great deal of state. For example, a search engine might
consist of a single
entry point with a textbox and a second page for displaying search results.
Anonymous users can
easily make requests, and there is little need for client-side logic. Likewise, a
blog or content
management system’s public-facing application usually consists mainly of content
with little clientside behavior. Such applications are easily built as traditional
server-based web applications, which
perform logic on the web server and render HTML to be displayed in the browser. The
fact that each
unique page of the site has its own URL that can be bookmarked and indexed by
search engines (by
default, without having to add this functionality as a separate feature of the
application) is also a clear
benefit in such scenarios.
Your application needs to function in browsers without JavaScript support
Web applications that need to function in browsers with limited or no JavaScript
support should be
written using traditional web app workflows (or at least be able to fall back to
such behavior). SPAs
require client-side JavaScript in order to function; if it’s not available, SPAs
are not a good choice.
Your team is unfamiliar with JavaScript or TypeScript development techniques
If your team is unfamiliar with JavaScript or TypeScript, but is familiar with
server-side web application
development, then they will probably be able to deliver a traditional web app more
quickly than a
SPA. Unless learning to program SPAs is a goal, or the user experience afforded by
a SPA is required,
traditional web apps are a more productive choice for teams who are already
familiar with building
them.
When to choose SPAs
The following section is a more detailed explanation of when to choose a Single
Page Applications
style of development for your web app.
Your application must expose a rich user interface with many features
SPAs can support rich client-side functionality that doesn’t require reloading the
page as users take
actions or navigate between areas of the app. SPAs can load more quickly, fetching
data in the
background, and individual user actions are more responsive since full page reloads
are rare. SPAs can
support incremental updates, saving partially completed forms or documents without
the user having
to click a button to submit a form. SPAs can support rich client-side behaviors,
such as drag-and-drop,
much more readily than traditional applications. SPAs can be designed to run in a
disconnected mode,
making updates to a client-side model that are eventually synchronized back to the
server once a
connection is re-established. Choose a SPA-style application if your app’s
requirements include rich
functionality that goes beyond what typical HTML forms offer.
Frequently, SPAs need to implement features that are built into traditional web
apps, such as
displaying a meaningful URL in the address bar reflecting the current operation
(and allowing users to
bookmark or deep link to this URL to return to it). SPAs also should allow users to
use the browser’s
back and forward buttons with results that won’t surprise them.
Your team is familiar with JavaScript and/or TypeScript development
Writing SPAs requires familiarity with JavaScript and/or TypeScript and client-side
programming
techniques and libraries. Your team should be competent in writing modern
JavaScript using a SPA
framework like Angular.