Defaulting on Single Page Applications

Site generators focused on performance, shipping low to zero-client-JavaScript (e.g. the one I work on, Eleventy) typically use full page navigations. SPA advocates have rebranded this architecture as a Multi-Page Application (MPA) but fundamentally this is how the web has always operated.

Zach Leatherman, Defaulting on Single Page Applications

Zach´s article is another piece in a series of recent writings by different authors who are pointing out the benefits of Multi Page Applications (how the web always operated 😃). Zach makes some bullet points (I changed the order of topics to reflect the importance they have to me):

Better accessibility defaults
Inclusive and robust by default
Privacy-focused
Searchable by default
Better empty cache performance
Energy-efficiency

Read to the end to get links to similar articles by Manuel Matuzovic, Jason Godesky (When JavaScript Fails, great!), and several articles by Jake Archibald (among is a tweet showing GitHub opening faster when used as a Multi Page App in a new tab compared to following their Single Page App link).

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