What is SPA?
Single Page Application, what exactly is it?
What is a Single Page Application?
As the name suggests, a single page application is a single-page website format, whereby most of the information that features on the site will stay exactly the same throughout the viewer’s journey.
The goal of this is to create a more streamlined user experience that will call large databases of information without reloading the entire framework of the site. This is why many of our Publishers who run sites for a utility purpose opt for an SPA implementation!
How does SPA actually work?
In other default formats – for example, Publisher Collective – you may notice that when you navigate around our site, each page you visit will require an entirely new page load, the URLs change, and in some cases, new layouts and more will appear.
With an SPA, this page refresh doesn’t occur. Instead, all essential script/code is retrieved by the browser in a single load, or the resources are dynamically loaded to the page in response to the user’s actions, making for a speedier user experience.
On top of this, SPAs require less development time than other formats and are an excellent solution for a multi-page site that wants a consistent look and feel.
As well as major companies like Meta and Google using SPA solutions across their product suites, many of the Publishers right here at Publisher Collective use SPA frameworks like React, Node.js, or AngularJS to effectively run their websites day-to-day.
Why do publishers use SPAs?
In a nutshell, SPA sites can create a more seamless and more efficient experience for the user, and have the site feel more like a desktop app. Not only is this experience smoother, but it also allows for faster browsing times, as SPAs have the ability to render content server-side, thereby helping to improve loading speeds.
However, some things to bear in mind about SPA solutions is that database-heavy websites tend to do more poorly in terms of SEO, due to the lack of search queries and editorial content available on the site itself. If you’re thinking about building an SPA, it’s good to remember to balance out your database information with strong editorial features.
Get in touch with our team today to find out more about SPAs or how we can help you optimise yours for SEO or Core Web Vitals.