Understanding Types of Web Applications Architecture and Components

Talking in terms of computing, a web applications architecture or web components can be termed as a client-server computer program where the client, including the user interface and client-side logic, runs in a web browser. Some of the most common types of web applications are webmail, online retail sales, online banking, and online auctions among many others.

One cannot clearly differentiate between a dynamic web page of any kind and a “web application”. Those websites which are referred to as “web applications” are the ones that have similar functionality to a desktop software application, or to a mobile app.

With HTML5, came the explicit language support which makes applications that are loaded as web pages, but can also store data locally and still keep on functioning while offline.

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 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 in 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.

Web Application Components

Any web application, big or small, contains these major components:

View Layer:- When you consider an MVC application, the View layer component gives an interface to the application. Regardless if it is for users with a browser or for another application using Web services. View layer is the bridge for getting the data in and out of the application.

It does not have business logic, like calculating interest for a banking application or storing items in a shopping cart for an online catalog. It also does not contain any code for existing data or retrieving data from a data source. Business logic is managed by the Model layer. The view layer is more focused on the interface.

Business Layer:- It is also known as Business Logic or Domain Logic or Application Layer. The function of the business layer is to accept user requests from the browser, process them, and determine the routes through which the data will be accessed. The workflows by which the data and requests travel through the back end lay encoded in a business layer.

Data Access Layer:- This layer is built to keep the code you use to pull data from your data store like database, flat files, or web services separate from business logic and presentation code. So even if you have to change data stores, you don’t end up rewriting the whole thing.

There are many ORM frameworks that are blending the DAL with other layers which makes development easy during web application development services.

Error handling, security, logging:- When you build a web application, people generally tend to focus on the end-goal, building, and testing only for situations when things go right. Alas! things rarely go right all the time in the real world.

This is where error handling is a vital part of any application’s user experience. And, if it is done well, it can leave your users feeling informed and properly considered.

Categories of Web Application

Static Web Application

In case you opt for a static web app, you should be aware that such type of web application displays a small amount of content and is non-flexible. These applications are developed in CSS and HTML. It may include animated objects like videos, GIFs, banners, etc. You can develop it with the help of Ajax and jQuery. Here content modification is not very convenient. To accomplish the task, developers have to firstly download the HTML code, change it and then upload it to the server. Such modifications can be done by the developer or the developer company who is in-charge of the app designing and development.

Dynamic Web Application

When we talk about dynamic web applications, they are much more complex technically. For loading the data, databases are used. And every time user accesses the content, it is updated. They usually consist of the administration of CMS panels, the administrators control everything from here.

Portal Web App

In portal web apps, we understand it to be a kind of application whose many sections or categories are accessed through a home page. These apps can consist of things like:

• Search engines
• Forums
• Chats
• Areas that are accessed through registration
• Emails.

eCommerce Apps

When the web application is an online store, its development is similar to that of an e-commerce or m-commerce site. Such kind of app development is a little complicated as it also includes electronic modes of payment like credit cards, net banking, PayPal, etc. Here the developer needs to develop an administrator panel. This panel is used for products’ listing, managing the inventory, updating or deleting them and much more.

Content Management System

Content management system (CMS) is very useful when ti comes to regular updating of content for the purpose of web application development. A CMS can be used by the administrator for modifications and updates. Such systems are usually user-friendly and intuitive.

Conclusion

Along with technology, the architecture of web applications is also evolving and growing day-by-day. The overall effectiveness, responsiveness, and agility of a web application is defined by the type of model one chooses. It is highly recommended that you take the time to consider all your business requirements before initiating the development process.

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Albert Smith

Albert Smith, Marketing Manager at Hidden Brains, drives brand growth with innovative strategies in web, mobile app, and software development.