How a Single Page Application Can Help Boost Your Business?

Single Page Applications- a Popular Choice of Gmail, Facebook and Other Biggies

Single Page Application (SPA) in simple terms is a web app where a single HTML page is loaded in the browser. As a user interacts with the page its content update dynamically. This is possible due to the JavaScript’s ability to change the DOM elements on the existing page itself. 

Thus, the need to load the entire new HTML page from the server every time a user interacts with the website is eliminated. This can significantly improve the speed and hence the overall user experience.

This is the reason why big giants like Facebook, Gmail, Google Maps, Netflix, Paypal, Pinterest, and others are using Single Page Apps to give fast and engaging experiences to their users. 

Let us take a look at how Single Page Apps are helping some of these big names deliver a user-friendly web experience

• Facebook- Facebook has built its newsfeed feature using the Single Page Application framework. This enables its users to continue scrolling through the feed and watch videos etc on it, without leaving the feed page.
• Gmail- This popular email service developed by Google uses a Single Page Application web design framework. As a user checks his/her inbox messages, the browser remains on the same webpage. This adds to the user’s convenience to navigate through Gmail.
• Netflix- This popular online movies and tv shows streaming platform, uses React framework to build its Single Page Application. This helps Netflix users to continue streaming their favorite movies and shows with the least time lag. 

What are Benefits of Using Single Page Applications?

If you are also planning to develop a website with a feature-rich user interface, Single Page Apps can best suit your business needs. Besides this, there are many other value propositions that online businesses can expect by integrating the Single Page App approach in designing their web experiences.

1. Enhanced Responsiveness

This is the one aspect of a website design which can make or break a business idea, especially for the newer ones. Since the Single Page Apps update only a part of the content on the web page, the server payload remains lighter. This considerably improves the loading time and hence make user interactions seamless.

2. Enhanced User Experience

Single Page Applications support increased user interaction with multiple components of the web page like menu selections, etc. This is because SPAs eliminate the need to constantly reload a web page. This results in a more user-friendly native-like browser experience.

3. Enriched Features

Single Page Applications make it easier to develop a feature-rich web app. For instance, with SPAs, you can easily build a content editing web application with real-time analysis. Whereas, the same app developed via traditional methods will undergo a complete page reload for content analysis.

4. Simpler and Easier Navigation

Transition of Single Page Apps to mobile applications can be easily carried out by reusing the same backend code. Also, there are several development frameworks like Sencha Touch, jQuery, which help in resolving difficulties in the transition to a mobile app like adjusting UI layout to that of a mobile screen.

5. Higher Readability and Visibility

With Single Page Apps you can be sure of visually appealing website design. This can act as a significant factor in attracting user’s interest to your website, greater traffic and thus result in higher conversions for your business.

6. Cache and Offline Support

Single Page Applications as a web development framework helps your webpage remain functional even without internet connectivity. SPAs use cache effectively as it stores all the local data it receives when it sends a single request to the server. It then uses this data to work offline. At times of poor connectivity, this local data is synced with the server if the connection allows.

7. Linear UX

Single Page Apps gives its users a simple linear user experience with a clear beginning, middle and end layer. Users do not have to go on clicking the links. Instead, they can make use of parallax scrolling and transitions present in a   Single Page Application and thus enjoy a complete customer journey.

This feature of Single Page Applications makes it the best option for those users who are used to scrolling through mobile applications.

8. Simple and Streamlined Development

Development process for a Single Page Application is simple and streamlined as the need to write codes to render pages on a server is eliminated. This means that the development of Single Page Application can be kick-started with the development of a file even without using the server.

9. Easy Debugging

As Single Page Apps are developed using frameworks like React and Angular, these can be easily debugged using popular browsers like Chrome or Firefox. In addition, one can investigate web page elements, monitor network operation and keep a check on associated data on the page.

Besides this list of almost endless positives, Single Page Applications also have some downsides. However, there is not much to worry about as there is a growing community of experienced developers who are finding a way out to turn these negatives into an opportunity. 

Some of the Negative Aspects of Single Page Applications are as follows:

1. SEO Optimization

Search engines like Google rank websites based on the number of pages it has. As Single Page Applications just load a single web page at a time, a website developed using the SPA framework may suffer from lower rankings.

2. Excessive Use of Browser Resources

In a Single Page App, browser resources are used extensively. This is because in SPAs most of the tasks are done by the browser. Thus to create SPAs users require the latest browser with support for new features.

Despite the above shortcomings, Single Page Applications prove to be the best option in building dynamic websites with small data volume. With SPAs, you can do any task which a traditional multi-page application can perform but the same is not the case with multi-page applications. 

Also, future mobile application development may involve using Single Page Applications to enhance the user experience. It can prove to be an excellent framework to build platforms where SEO optimization is not a priority. Examples of such platforms include SaaS platforms, social networking platforms, and other closed community group platforms.

Wrapping Up

The use of Single Page Applications among big businesses has seen a greater momentum. With SPAs, businesses can create web experiences that can give native app-like user experience on a mobile web browser. By using SPAs, businesses can eliminate the need of developing a native or hybrid mobile app separately.

If you are also thinking to build a website for your start-up with the end goal of getting maximum visibility and user engagement, Single Page Apps can serve as a good alternative.