SPA - what use is the /about, /contact /products etc extention

[osgood_]

I'm trying to get my head around what use is it to show the page you are currently on in the browsers url address bar in the case of a single page application SPA

Example:

/about

/contact

/products

Is it purely for aesthetic reasons or does is actually serve a purpose? Who even looks at the address in the url bar when browsing a website?

Any views?

[Brad Lawryk]

Personally I use it for linking directly to sub pages. If it didn't have  those in the URL,  you would not be able to link to specific subpages on Social Media or wherever.

[osgood_]

I'm not following that can you elaborate a bit? How does an address in the browsers address bar have any relationship to sub-pages or social media?

[Brad Lawryk]

If you wanted to link to the /contact page how would you do that without that in the URL?

[osgood_]

Ok......... I see what you mean 'FROM' an external source. Right, good point. Never really thought about that as I've never really linked from an external source, not sure if any of my clients have, possibly, I leave that up to them. Ok I will think on that one.

[osgood_]

Mind would it really matter as they would get taken to the SPA anyway where they could find the link to the 'contact' page quite easily, so its not a deal breaker, right??

[Brad Lawryk · Accepted solution]

I wouldn't say it is a "deal Breaker'. But if you have a large ecommerce site with hundreds of products and you want to promote a single product, it is much easier to link directly to the product. One a small five page site itt may not be a big deal as it os just one more click for the user. But take something as basic as a blog. You help out on the forums here and perhaps you have written a good blog post on the subject. Would be so much easier to link directly to it than have the user try to find it.

[osgood_]

Well I probably would not consider using an SPA for a large ecommerce site, more the smal set-up you mention although I agree it much cleaner to go direct to the page itself. I'm going to have to think about this, maybe write a bit of javascript and put some redirects in the htaccess file.

[Jon Fritz]

It's also a nice way to clean up the URL for bookmarking and any kind of tracking reports they may be using.

It's a whole lot simpler and meaningful to find /contact in a list of pages than it is /?123459772&=123.php

[Brad Lawryk]

Exactly, on top of that it is more search engine friendly to have your sub pages indexed.

[osgood_]

Ok, well I've just deployed a local test using Vue.js router, which works internally, so I'll see what happens when I post a test live site. Currently I'm not sure if the router finds the correct page coming from an external link or not, we'll see. This is a simple 5 page hotel website where I was just going write the SPA in vanilla js but the routing may prove problematical so I will probably use vue.js, maybe.

[Nancy OShea]

This is less about aesthetics and more about usability and quick web access.

On a 1 page website, "you are here" indicators are helpful particularly if there is a lot of content on that page.  GetBootstrap documentation is a good example of this.  The right sidebar is a scrollspy with links to various IDs on the same page  -- #quick-start, #css, #js, #starter-template, etc...  Highlighting links gives users a clear indication of where they are in relation to other content on the same page.   The URLs are specific for bookmarking and sending direct links to social media.   Meanwhile, the top navigation bar shows where users are in relation to other pages in the website -- docs/4.3/ 

https://getbootstrap.com/docs/4.3/getting-started/introduction/#quick-start

[osgood_]

url addresses I dont think I've ever given them the time of day as long as they get me to where I need to go, which I think is the most important aspect and I will have to take that into account if Im doing this correctly. I could get away with it as its just a website of a few pages but if I can get the user directly to the correct page then that's what should happen, so that is the route I'm ideally going to take.......or god forbid I could make my life simple and just use single pages, nah that is far too easy.

[osgood_]

Looks like my last post disappeared. I've just tested vue.js router which does the job as expected internally but the external links don't work, so I guess I'm going to have to set the incoming links up to go to where they should go. Vanilla js was my prefered choice which would have been simple without the added complexity of taking external links into consideration but that may be a bit more complex now than I want to get into, considering this is a website of only a few pages. Half of it works, I guess that is a start.

[osgood_]

Yahhh! Vue router is working, including external/incoming links. I must revist the vanilla js angle when I have less time and see if I can get that functioning as it should, without jumping through too many hoops!

Thanks everyone for your input, completely obliterated the possiblity anyone would be linking to their website from my mind, which is quite stupid, because my clients probably do that all the time. Fortuneately all their websites are not SPAs BUT now I wont overlook that aspect again if I build anymore SPA solutions.

[osgood_]

Even better, I've ditched the vue.js router approach and now have a vanilla javascript SPA workflow deployed. Pointless to introduce a framework library for just one aspect.

If I could mark an answer as correct it would be Brads - he banged me around the head and made me think outside the box in terms of the external links, which I wasn't doing!

Unfortunately can't supply a correct post number as the forum hasn't got around to assigning post numbers yet, which would be helpful to identify posts. At times in the new forum one has no idea who is talking to who and who is replying to who, hope it improves soon.

[BenPleysier]

Can I make your life a touch harder? Have a look at https://itnext.io/dockerizing-modern-web-apps-cd9667eebf44

[osgood_]

Well who'd a thought you might bring that up 🙂

I explored Docker a year or so back as Php Storm, an editor which sometimes I use, has a similar reasonably automated way of getting a Docker environment up and running to that of Wappler, who I can see have just included it in their app yesterday.

I just really asked myself do I need any more complexities introduced into my stable workflow, which seemed to be having the unwanted effect of slowing production down on account I always seemed to be spending vast amounts of time keeping up with new workflows, than actually producing any work! Certainly I'd be earning about 10p per hour if I was to include all the unpaid for hours of experimentation/observing I was putting in.

The answer I eventually arrived at was no, not really as I don't think Docker is going to be of any benefit to my kind of production. I can see it might be beneficial if you're in a team environment where different developers are using different versions of php/mysql/node, whatever they are using and in the case of some Wappler users who might have difficulty in deploying a package such as MAMP, WAMP etc to get a server up and running.

As an independent developer, who at my age is unlikey to ever be offered a full-time position within the industy again, let alone want one, I feel the time spent continuously revising and testing is seriously sending me backwards rather than positively forwards. To that end I'm trying to isolate myself from this continuous non-sensical approach, which many small-websites developers seems to be treading the path towards by engaging in over-engineering and over-complicating the simplest of procedures. Its not really the path I desire to tread.

Since a few months back I've made a concerted effort to lessen any dependency on 'controversial workflows' which nearly always lead to a polarisation in opinions and for the few years I have left I plan to concentrate on a 'simple first' approach where possible and not be drawn into using niche workflows, which do not sit comfortably in with my philosophy. A 'simple first' appraoch would cover the majority of front end solution. It's unlikely that I will get involved with specialist app building which requires a more complex approach and would advise any cleint to seek a more experienced developer rather than attempting to produce something myself, which would be second best.

I'm not condeming Docker as that would be stupid of me but I have a workflow now that works well and I don't see my position changing or the kind of work that I produce changing. If I was at a certain age and had several years ahead of me in this field I may well feel more pressured into changing course. Unfortuantely I seem to keep reading that todays young developer are confused as to what they should be learning and following. I cant say I blame them.

But hey each to their own, we all have different approaches. I keep an open mind and never say never, just not at this particular time.

Enjoy Docker! 🙂

Thanks for marking Brads answer as correct, appreciated.

[BenPleysier]

At this stage I tend to agree with you. At the same time I am quite excited about newer approaches as long as they do not interfere with development time.

[osgood_]

I agree its exciting but seriously l could spend 24/7 trying to take everything in and it still wouldnt be enough time. What l tend to do is at least be observant of what is happening and make an assessment as to how it will bring anything to the party in terms of my own circumstances. I will probaby give Docker another go soon once l get a new computer and l need a new server workflow established. The current version is not compatible with my OS. I have Docker Toolbox installed and I believe it is now just Docker. So a fresh start may well be the point at which l will consider a fresh approach to how a server is set up.