Understanding the Fundamentals of Web App Architecture

Companies around the world are looking at active user engagement through highly functional web apps to gain more clients. To know how web apps provide such an amazing user experience, you have to look at their architecture and workflow.

When a user wants to view a particular page, then a series of steps happen in the web apps background that includes an interaction between the user interface, browser middleware system, database, and server.

Whenever a user enters an URL address in the browser, then the browser will quickly find all the Internet-facing elements and request the page of the URL. The server then sends the requested files to the browser and the browser displays the page on the screen.

Various units in the web application architecture

The web application architecture components can be divided into two types.

1. UI/UX components

As the name suggests, the elements in this category directly relate to the user experience. In this category, we include activity logs, dashboards, settings, etc. These are essentially the interface layout plan of a web app.

2. Structural elements

The structural elements of a web application are further subdivided into client and server elements.

• Client component: This element is created in CSS, HTML, or JS. It is that part of the web application with which the user interacts. This component exists within the web browser of the user and you do not need any operating system or device-related adjustment for it.
• Server component: It is developed by using one or multiple programming languages or frameworks. It has two distinct parts; logic and database. The logic part shows the center of the app and the database stores all the persistent data.

Different models of web application components

The model of web application components directly depends on the number of servers as well as the database used for developing the web application.

It can be any one of the following three types.

1. One Web server, one database

As the name of this model suggests, it uses one web server and one database for a web application. This is the least reliable model amongst the three mentioned here and it is used to test projects and understand the functioning of a web application.

2. Multiple Web servers, one database

This is also known as a stateless architecture, wherein the web server does not store any data. When the user enters any data into the webserver, the data is written in a database that functions outside the server.

The use of two servers ensures that there is a minimum chance of failure because if one server is compromised, the other will take over. While this model is more reliable than the single web server model, if the database that runs on a separate machine crashes, then the web app will also crash.

3. Multiple Web servers, multiple databases

Amongst the three, this is the most efficient and secure web application component, model. In this model, you can either store the same data in all the databases or you can distribute the data amongst all the databases employed.

Different types of web application architecture

The web application architecture will depend on how the application business logic between the client and server-side is established.

Mostly, there are three types of web application architecture.

1. Single-page applications

In this architecture when an action is initiated, then instead of loading a new page, the application allows for dynamic interaction and offers updated content for that page, which is requested by the user.

2. Micro-services

As the name suggests these are small and lightweight services that allow the developer to improve productivity and accelerate the deployment process. The micro-services architecture is independent of each other because they are not built with the same programming language. This allows the developer to pick and choose any technology they find a fit for their requirement.

3. Serverless architecture

In this model, the server and infrastructure management is outsourced to a third-party cloud infrastructure service provider. This allows the web application to execute its code logic without co-relating to the infrastructure-related tasks.

Various types of web applications have been introduced into the market based on the units, models, and architecture that we have mentioned above. This includes a single page, multi-page, progressive, animated, etc.

The working of a web application architecture

In a web application, you will find two programs, the server, and the client sites are running concurrently.

The code that is embedded in the browser responds to the input provided by the user.

And the code that is in the server responds to the HTTP requests. It is up to the web developer to decide what the server code will do concerning the code in the browser.

The server-side code is mainly used for creating pages, storing different types of data and user inputs.

The web browser, on the other hand, analyzes the client-side code. Unlike the server-side code, the client-side code can be seen and edited by the user. Furthermore, the client-side code can interact only through HTTP requests and is not able to read the files directly from the server. To create server-side code, developers mainly use Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and other programming languages. On the other hand, for client-side code CSS, HTML, and JavaScript is used.

Conclusion

The web application architecture has evolved considerably. If you are planning to create the right architecture of your web app, then you must look at its stability, level of security, and responsiveness.

Therefore, look at all the available options and select a web app architecture that offers you the optimum solution and is ideal for your requirements.