Software Architecture Suggestion: API + Web UI instead of Razor

[DoctorJones]

@Marc.2377

I remember @DoctorJones proposing the same idea! Not sure if here or on Discord.

It was here, and here. I wasn’t really proposing it, just explaining the concept. Although I do think isomorphic rendering is highly desirable, the point is moot if we’re not developing a SPA.

@DoctorJones

@ArtOfCode

A non-trivial number of users have JavaScript disabled (the last statistics I saw were somewhere between 1 in 20 and 1 in 50 users with JS disabled). Serving a site that doesn’t work to these users is terrible UX

This is why isomorphism is a good idea (rendering by using the same code on both the server and client, so it can work in server only mode for search engines and legacy users). If we go with an SPA approach, it’s a good idea to have isomorphic rendering as a top priority.

@DoctorJones

When you use isomorphic rendering, exactly the same code runs on the server, that runs in the browser. Usually you do this to render the first page load on the server, and then the client takes over from there, but for people who don’t have JS, they continue using server renders.

You said the following:

@ArtOfCode

adding a fallback so that the site does work for them means basically writing exactly the same software as we would if it wasn’t an SPA in the first place. One way you lose users, the other way you’re doubling the work you have to do.

By using isomorphic rendering, you’re giving yourself a fallback, without doubling your work, because the same code runs on the server and the client.