Web Application: Single-Page vs Multi-Page (SPA or MPA Comparison)

Posted by xperge

2018 is about to end & at this point of time, we only have two principal ways of building any website. Single-Page Application (SPAs) or the Multi-Page Application (MPA) are the two most commonly used ways of website building. MPAs are considered great, but SPAs are counted more modern, as it is the latest approach people have taking into use. Well, deciding whether to use the SPAs or MPAs can be a daunting task – which is why it is essential to bear in mind the end business goal & how they’ll be enhanced with either of the development approaches!

Now, let’s take a look at the pros & cons of both – MPAs & the SPAs.

SINGLE-PAGE APPLICATIONs aka SPAs

The most popular & excellent examples of SPAs which we use every day are Facebook & Trello. A single-page application is the one which works in the browser only, without requiring any page to reload & killing time at all. In the SPAs the page doesn’t require any page reloads since all of the content is downloaded automatically.

With the symphonic usage of both AJAX & HTML5, SPAs helps people build very responsive apps. When it comes to handling the heavy lifting people use JavaScript frameworks such as Vue, Ember, Angular & React on the client side of any Single-Page App.

Advantages Of SPAs

Now let’s dig a bit deeper & discuss some of the advantaged of SPAs.

Responsive & Fast

Since SPAs doesn’t update the entire page but only the content which needs to be updates – the swiftness of the page gets improved significantly. In most of the instances, resources such as the HTML or CSS are loaded only once throughout the life-span of the application & it is only the data which is moved back & forth.

Caching Capabilities

Another beneficial attribute of any SPA is it can cache any local data much more effectively & efficiently than any other sort of application. With only one request made to the servers, it stores all the data which it receives. Later on, the data can be used for the offline works as well.

Linear User Experience.

The user experience which the SPAs provide the user is very linear. The web apps contain a very clear beginning, middle & end as well. The experience of the user is with the application is very interactive because of all the uses of parallax scrolling + the amazing transitions & effect available there!

MULTI-PAGE APPLICATIONs aka MPAs

The most popular examples of the MPAs used by people on regular basis are Amazon & eBay. In simplistic words, it can be described as an online store’s website which consists of a number of pages along with a various assortment of static information such as images & text & various links to other websites as well. The MPAs work in native ways & are extremely large usually. Generally, the multi-page apps are many levels deep simple because of the amount of information & data it contains along with tons of links & intricated UIs.

Mainly, the MPAs are built using technologies such as the HTML & CSS. At times, to developers also use JavaScript & jQuery just to fasten up the speed & reduce the load.

Advantages Of MPAs

Some of the basic advantages of the MPs are:

SEO

Because the architecture is so native for the search engine crawlers on the MPAs, SEO is so much better & efficient on it. MPA apps provide much tighter control over the SEO, thanks to multiple pages & the static content. In fact, the developers can add meta tags on every page which makes thing even more effective.

Unlimited Scalability

With MPAs you can scale your website as much as you want as it allows you to create new content & place it on new pages, easily. The multi-pages app allows you to include as much information as possible regarding the products or services as required, that too with no limitation of pages!

Single-Page vs Multi-Page (SPA or MPA)?

Well, each architecture is constructed up of its own pros & cons. They both are well suited for a particular type of project, made for specific business goals. You just have to circumscribe the goals & demands of your business & decide between SPA and MPA to come up with a most viable solution!