A microservices framework enables individual research, autonomous deployment, scalability of specific services, and the selection of the best technological answers. But what about the front end?
The micro frontends architecture for many applications is still single-page apps or server-side rendering programs that grow with each new platform feature. Despite scalability and organizational issues, front-end teams face the same challenges as back-end teams.
You might use the same techniques that microservices use on the backend to address these issues on the frontend, improving cooperation and giving programmers more flexibility to experiment and take accountability for their decisions. This system is known as a micro-frontend.
In this article, we will talk about Micro Frontends overview including the benefits and drawbacks. Let’s take a dive right in and find out everything we can about this topic.
What is Micro Frontends Architecture?
Micro frontends are parts of your UI that use React, Vue, and Angular to render their individual parts. They frequently have dozens of elements. Every micro-frontend might be created using a different team and framework, and that team might also maintain it.
A single framework should be used for all of your micro frontends because it is convenient and recommended, though you can add more when transferring or testing.
To put it simply, a Micro-Frontend is a section of a website (not the entire page). A “Host” or “Container” page in the Micro-Frontend Structure can house one or more Micro-Frontends. Additionally, some of the Micro-Frontend components already present on the Host/Container page might be shared.
Benefits Of Micro Frontends Architecture
Let’s discuss the locations where micro frontends are used, emphasizing the traits that arise and the advantages they provide.
1. Variability and Adaptability
Developers are free to select the front-end framework or computer program they’d prefer to employ to build the front end they’re in charge of, including React or Vue.
Because the project is not required to conform to a particular framework or programming language, this permits developers to collaborate in a manner that is most comfortable and convenient for them, which promotes creative and innovative thinking.
2. Development and Implementation Speed Up
The primary justification is that small micro-frontend development is quicker and simpler than huge monolithic software development. As a result, implementation speed will also increase greatly.
Additionally, once a developer gets finished with a component, it can be released immediately.
To put it another way, the foundation of micro-frontend apps is the continuous development of distinct groups on separate features. Smaller group sizes are on the rise, which only increases the chance of achieving higher release rates.
3. Development Expertise
The programming needed for a single microservice is significantly simpler to grasp than for a whole monolith. Additionally, programmers are free to work on their features in the language with which they are most familiar and at ease.
Due to the fact that they need not rely solely on the most experienced employees, organizations now have access to a larger pool of possible employees who may work on various apps. It provides financial benefits that are comparable.
4. Increases the Maintainability of Your Web Application
Enormous apps can quickly become challenging to manage if you’ve ever worked with them, particularly if they’re monolithic and destined to go big. Micro frontends, however, rely on the divide and dominate strategy.
It means you can make every business requirement easier to test and maintain by choosing this structure for your web application. As a result, the process is streamlined and accelerated.
5 Library Expansion
Once the component has been evaluated and implemented by various teams, the code reuse will allow those teams to reintroduce it to other projects. It makes it possible to develop the company’s own environment of online applications and web components.
The Downsides Of Micro Frontends Architecture
Utilizing a micro frontend has advantages, but there are some disadvantages as well.
1. Redundant Reliance
As a matter of definition, every micro-front-end application is independent of the others. Or, to put it another way, a micro-frontend design entails a lot of frontend programs that need to be able to function independently of one another.
Actually, a large portion of your application’s components—scattered among the micro-frontends in multiple variations—will probably be identical libraries.
Unreasonably growing in size compared to a monolithic version, this is unquestionably a concern for your online application. The burden of downloading additional data falls on consumers.
2. Complicated Development Process
In order for others to implement new ideas or updates from your product management team, the code must be efficient, accurate, and understandable. It requires both unit tests and documentation.
Micro frontends might soon grow too complicated within each individual module if they got developed carelessly, making them difficult for developers to understand later on.
3. Performance Issues
The entire program will subsequently slow down if there are multiple JavaScript frontend applications active on the same page. It is because each framework installation uses resources, such as CPU, RAM, and network bandwidth.
Be aware that if you assess your micro frontend in a vacuum, you might not notice this. Multiple instances of a framework running at once cause problems.
Because of it, when they operate independently rather than when they get deployed, they do not need to share the resources of the underlying computer.
4. Teams’ Communication Gap
Communication between numerous teams, which can be challenging even in large teams, is the worst. When numerous teams are working on various codebases, this makes it more difficult to identify reusable features, functions, and utilities.
It is detrimental to code discovery and, consequently, reusability. In other words, it’s possible to wind up with several instances of the same element implemented on various micro-fronts.
Bottom Line
Using micro frontends architecture with React, every team can work independently, allowing you to write code in a flexible and scalable way. This is just a brief overview of the micro-frontend ecosystem; we still have a lot to discuss.
However, there is still more to learn, and we anticipate that the mass adoption will lead to fresh perspectives on the pros and cons of global UI systems.
