What is a web app & what is web app architecture?
A basic definition to explain a web app highlights that it functions just like the way a basic computer application does. And obviously, it runs on the internet.
User experiences matter a lot in the web world. Even if your website is appealing & scalable enough to engage visitors, it can’t match the featured characteristics of robust web apps.
Over the past few years, modern web applications have taken over websites that comprise only static web pages with integrated features. While web apps on the other side have a lot more exceptional to offer in terms of customer experiences, features, navigation, performance, etc.
The power of web apps immensely dominates the functionalities of websites from each perspective of UX, business, & development. A web application wins over the shortcomings of native apps that restrict businesses to engage new customers.
The surging demand for web app development among the top leading firms has gained the huge attention of industry experts.
So, aren’t you curious to know more about web apps & how exactly they work?
If yes, then all you need is to go through this article that highlights how web application architecture works, its core components, models, & types.
Web application architecture: The main story
Modern programmers are driven to go ahead with web app development over traditional ways of building websites. In a world full of web-friendly users, the majority of aspiring businessmen are more than interested to invest in web apps over other digitalized modes of engaging online visitors.
Before we go ahead with the definition of web app architecture, just take a quick read at some noteworthy pointers on web applications:
- Web apps can be accessed directly from a network, they don’t need to be downloaded.
- Multiple users can have access to the existing version of the app.
- Since web apps are cross-device compatible, they’re accessible across varied devices & platforms.
- Users can visit web apps via any browser such as google chrome or Mozilla with no version dependence.
You cannot ignore the significance of web application architecture. Choosing the right platform, component, technology stack, model, & type of web app architecture is a prerequisite to creating an app that can upscale your business growth.
So, what’s on your mind?
You must be dilemmatic about whether to invest in a web app or a website as both of them are crucial to mark your online presence. However, if you’ve decided to develop a web app then getting deep knowledge of web app architecture must be on your checklist.
How does it work?
In this section, we will have a detailed discussion about web app architecture & how it runs.
Let us begin with a basic definition of web app architecture.
The web application architecture reads the interaction b/w apps, databases, & their middleware systems across the web platforms. It’s responsible for the smooth performance of multiple applications simultaneously.
A simple example of visiting a webpage will help you understand how web app architecture works.
Once a user clicks on the browsing button after typing a URL in the address bar of a web browser, it sends browsing requests to the server for the designated web address. In response, the server sends files to the browser that further shares those files to launch the request web page.
There are two types of sub-programs or you can say codes associated with any web application that runs at the same time, here are they:
- Client-side code: It exists within the browser & meant to respond to all sorts of user inputs.
- Server-side code: It responds to the HTTP requests & is there on the server.
If you’re a team of programmers dedicated to your web development project then they will decide what the code in the server will do for the code in the browser.
A code that can respond to HTTP requests can also run on a server. In this sense, the server-side code is meant to come up with a requested page & store diverse data relating to user profiles & user input. It remains unseen by the end-users.
The web app architecture further combines CSS, HTML, & JavaScript languages to code client-side servers. Unlike the server-side code, users can view & make changes to the client-side code which is parsed by the web browser. It responds to user inputs as well.
The client-side code only interacts through HTTP requests as it is incapable of reading files on the server directly.
Important web app architecture components to note down
Now you’ve got a brief understanding of web apps & their architecture. So, it will be a sensible approach to get familiar with the most-known web application components.
If we say web application components then we will cover the following pointers:
- UI/UX web app components: All kinds of activity logs, notifications, dashboards, statistics, settings, etc. are found there. They’ve no role in how web application architecture works but yes, they’re a big part of the interface layout plan of a web app’s UI/UX design which acts as an aqueduct b/w designers & users.
- Structural components: Both the client-side & server-side are the two major parts of structural components.
- Client component: As mentioned earlier, client component is coded in CSS, HTML, & JS programming language. They don’t need device modifications or any operating system to function as they already exist within the web browser. Moreover, the client component showcases the functionality of a web app that interacts with end users.
- Server component: These components are usually powered by multiple programming languages & frameworks such as .Net, PHP, Python, Java, & Ruby on Rails. The server components are made up of two parts i.e app logic and database.
App logic is the main center of control while the database is a data storage space of the web application architecture
Key models of Web application components
Here are three models of web application components:
1. One web server & one database
Such a model of web app components is based on a single server & a single database. It’s not very reliable for those having a vase user base. A web app based on this model will eventually fail to render the results once its server goes down.
In general, such models are not relevant for real web applications. One web server & one database web app component is only perfect for test projects or learning the base knowledge of web app development.
2. Multiple web servers & one database
This web app component model upbrings an idea that goes around the fact that data is no more stored in the web server.
Multiple web servers & one database model are also termed stateless architecture. It takes at least 2 web servers to implement this web app, component model. And the reason is to terminate server failures as the second server will automatically take charge in case the first one goes down.
In this scenario, this model is much more reliable than the one described in the single server, single database model.
3. Multiple web servers & multiple databases
This is one of the most powerful component models for web application architecture. There is not even a pinpoint chance of server failures with web servers as well as databases.
Two options are there for this model, one for storing similar data in the databases & second for uploading it evenly across them.
Web app architecture: Conclusive statements
As we progress to embrace more digital innovations, the internet world is all set to integrate next-gen technologies & frameworks in the area of web app development.
As far as web app architecture is concerned, it continues to evolve with the introduction of more advanced variants of the web such as web 2.0 & web 3.0, and their differences. The security, scalability, & performance of a web app matters more than anything else and this is where a web app architecture plays its part. And that’s why, opting for the right model, type, & component of web application architecture is the first step.
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FAQs
1. What are the factors for preferring web app architecture?
The built-in features & support for dependency injection are major factors behind the preferred choice of web app architecture. ASP.NET Core is the first option to structure the architecture of non-trivial monolithic applications.
2. What types of web app architecture are popular?
The most common types of web app architecture are – Single-page web apps, multi-page web apps, and microservices architecture.
