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A brief synopsis: An architectural paradigm that has massively grown in popularity in recent years is micro front-ends. Bearing similarities with microservices, the approach aims to decompose an application’s architecture into smaller, more manageable, self-contained modules for seamless integration and development. In this blog, we explore the definition, types, and significance of embracing micro front-ends. We’ll try to dig deeper into how micro front-ends surpass monoliths to promote autonomy, scalability, and speed of development cycles in todays’ digital landscape.
An overview
Not long ago, applications were written in a “monolithic” structure.
The monolithic architecture, like a massive block of wood, was a source of brewing trouble. All the architectural components were tightly integrated, forming a single, cohesive unit. This meant that any modification or enhancement to any part of the application could potentially disrupt the entire system, leading to a nightmare for developers.
Since components were intertwined, dependencies became acute. Any modification or enhancement to any part of the application could disrupt the entire system.
So, the division of the baseline architecture into front-end (client-side) and back-end (server-side) became inevitable, resulting in:
- Enhanced scalability and flexibility
- Simplified maintenance processes
- Improved adaptability to evolving technological landscapes
The introduction of microservices in 2011 simplified software development in unimaginable ways. This new architectural pattern involved breaking down large, complex software applications into smaller, independently deployable services.
These services, communicating through APIs, catered to specific business functions.
The benefits were clear: enhanced scalability, simplified maintenance processes, and improved adaptability to evolving technological landscapes.
Micro front-ends extend the concept of microservices to Front-end development services. Touted as an agent of revolution in the software industry, it involves creating a collection of “mini-applications” within a larger application.
What are micro front-ends?
The term “micro front-ends” first surfaced in the 2016 edition of the ThoughtWorks Technology Radar, underscoring the need for a big ol’ shake-up to do away with monolithic architectures.
Software development has radically changed over the years. To capture demand and stay competitive, front-ends have become increasingly bigger and more intricate. The monolithic approach isn’t ideal for such applications because it makes everything highly non-maneuverable, from replacement to reengineering.
Micro front-ends solve this problem by dissecting an application into separate, loosely coupled “micro apps,” which are easier to scale, enhance, and change.
Working much like microservices, it entails building a distributed application architecture in which every component is self-contained, targets a specific function, and can be modified or altered without disrupting the system as a whole. The concept has helped every Front-end development company break free from the confines of inflexible, unscalable development, allowing for more efficient workflows.
How do micro front-ends work?
A micro front-end can consist of either a standalone page or specific sections of a page, seamlessly aligning with the workflows of adjacent pages.
Unlike traditional monolithic approaches, micro front-ends can be developed, deployed, tested, maintained, and re-engineered as independent projects without affecting the pace of the foundational architecture.
Micro front-ends are flexible and adaptable, presenting only the necessary components as required. This means that for any given page, only the essential elements are loaded. These components efficiently manage data and route requests without relying on a centralized server. Instead, they communicate directly with the data source.
To build micro front-ends, a Front-end development company creates each component individually and dynamically integrates it at runtime. In addition to content display components, devs are supposed to include user interface components or utility functions to facilitate interaction within the program environment.
Types of micro front-ends
Micro front-ends span a spectrum of choices, catering to different development needs. Choosing the right types depends on scalability, maintainability, and team expertise.
- Monorepository
Here, we refer to applications that pool their projects in one single repository.
While this might appear contrary to the principle of micro front-ends—which essentially refer to creating independent projects and then integrating them—in the monorepository setup, projects are contained within a unified structure of dependencies, with each having its own sub-holder.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Centralized dependencies Easier collaboration Consistent tooling | Complexity with growth Build and deployment challenges |
- Multirepository
In this context, we discuss applications having projects in different repositories.
Since every project resides in isolation and within its ecosystem, dependencies are significantly eliminated, allowing more flexibility and agility to execute development tasks.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Reduced conflicts and dependencies Autonomous development Easy expansion | Complex integrations Requires careful compatibility management |
- Metarepository
This approach combines the two previous categories, monorepository and multirepository, leading to several repositories while maintaining one integrated repository.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Better autonomy and flexibility Seamless integration | Balancing autonomy adds complexity Team may still coordinate for integration |
Top 7 benefits of micro front-ends
Micro front-ends trump monolithic architectures to help businesses reap various benefits. Here are the top seven.
1. Independent implementations
With micro front-ends, the development teams work individually as different artisans in a workshop. This freedom stimulates the imagination and the development of many modular units without any unnecessary and lengthy dependencies from a central authority.
2. Reduced dependencies
A micro front-end architecture reduces reliance among teams. Therefore, this architecture brings faster decision-making and adaptation to the changing environment. The capability of incorporating feedback and improvement immediately provides the advantage of accelerated development cycles, wherein teams are capable of iterating and releasing subsequent updates independently, thus facilitating a more agile system.
3. Higher performance
Micro front-ends boost the performance by only loading specific modules when requested, allowing the user to finish the initial process smoothly. They, therefore, promote resource utilization since they load only the required components, which are essential for the optimal performance of an application.
4. Reliability
A micro front-end architecture, with its multiple independent components and self-healing mechanisms, guarantees reliability. No matter what problem one module tackles or repairs, the rest of the application still functions smoothly without the user feeling any interruption in the overall user experience when updates or maintenance are being done.
5. Scalability
Micro front-ends ensure scalability at the module and team levels. Modules can be used separately to have flexibility that adapts to changing demand, enhancing the user experience. Moreover, expanding the project scope with new teams or resources is always simple, leading to trouble-free extended development.
6. Simplified maintenance
The modules are smaller and self-contained, making maintenance easier. Micro-front-ends allow a developer to focus on individual modules, making the application maintainability simple to maneuver and handle.
7. Flexibility in development and design
Micro front-end architecture benefits the various teams. It features diverse requirements and tech stacks, which leads to flexibility in both design and development. Each team can make its own decisions, leveraging its strengths, taking an approach that would take less time to develop, and adding worthwhile features.
The image below illustrates some additional benefits of micro front-end architecture.
Building a micro front-end architecture: Guidelines to adhere to
Following a set of guidelines and best practices is critical when creating a micro front-end architecture and delivering Front-end development services. It’s an imperative to build an architecture that promises high deliverability and consistent performance gains.
To begin with, businesses must:
- Establish clear communication protocols and API integrations to ensure fluid-like interactions and data exchanges among micro front-ends
- Encourage independent development of micro frontends to streamline processes and reduce team dependencies
- Ensure module autonomy for faster development cycles and easier testing and deployment
- Establish well-documented API contracts between micro frontends to avoid integration issues
- Isolate dependencies within each micro frontend to prevent conflicts
- Consider centralized routing or navigation management for a unified user experience
- Implement versioning strategies to maintain compatibility and prevent disruptions
- Define coherent module boundaries to promote encapsulation and reduce unintended dependencies between modules
- Employ a progressive approach to ensure a foundational user experience and keep augmenting it with cutting-edge functionalities
- Implement monitoring and logging solutions for proactive issue detection
- Set up robust CI/CD pipelines for automated testing and deployment
When should businesses use micro front-ends?
While micro front-ends shine as a promising avenue for software development success, many organizations struggle to determine if they’re the right choice. To dispel the confusion, we’ve enlisted five business scenarios where micro front-ends can fit to drive maximum value.
1. Large, extensive applications
Micro front-ends spark with the possibility of building applications with intensive, multifaceted functionalities. Through breaking down the architecture into smaller and manageable modules, micro-front-ends open up an array of scalability benefits while reducing the complexity at the same time.
2. Changing business requirements
The micro front-end approach enables businesses to be agile while responding to changing requirements. Through the power of independent development and deployment of new features, micro front-ends assist businesses in being agile enough to adapt to market shifts and feel no stagnation.
3. Segmented functionalities
Micro front-ends present themselves as the most striking option for isolating distinct function sets. They help in breaking down applications into several different modules and provide more space for experimentation and innovation through focused teams.
4. Diverse technology stacks
Micro front-ends offer flexibility, allowing developers to leverage different technology stacks and develop solutions with unique characteristics. With micro front-ends coming into play, software development becomes more agile and autonomous, allowing organizations to use diverse technologies.
5. Team collaboration
Lastly, micro front-ends provide an impetus to collaboration among teams while they still remain independent and steer clear of conflicts through numerous clear boundaries, hence being efficient and productive.
Examples of micro front-ends
Here are three real-life examples of micro front-ends.
1. eBay
eBay utilizes a micro front-end architecture to enable independent teams to develop, deploy, and manage different parts of their website.
Each team can work on different sections, such as the homepage, product pages, or the checkout process, without interfering with each other's work. This allows for faster development cycles and more flexible maintenance and updates.
2. Spotify
Spotify uses micro front-ends to manage its vast and complex web and desktop applications. Different parts of the app, like the playlist management, search functionality, and user profile sections, are handled by different teams.
Spotify’s micro front-end approach
This separation of concerns allows Spotify to innovate and roll out new features quickly without disrupting the entire system.
3. IKEA
IKEA chose to implement micro-frontends using a unique approach by combining Edge Side Includes (ESI) with Client Side Includes (CSI). The company employs micro front-ends in their e-commerce platform to streamline development and enhance user experience. Various parts of their website, such as the product listing, shopping cart, and customer reviews sections, are developed and maintained by separate teams.
This modular approach enables IKEA to update and deploy features independently, ensuring a smoother and more dynamic shopping experience for their customers.
Ready to explore the power of micro front-ends for game-changing results?
Let's talkMicro front-ends: Important FAQs
Wrapping up our comprehensive guide on micro front-ends, we share insights on some of the pressing questions around the subject that pique the interest of the community and beyond.
1. What is a micro front-end?
A micro front-end is an architectural paradigm in which an application is built as a composition of independent deployable modules or components. Each module is known as a micro front-end, which is a self-sufficient unit of the UI and is often developed and managed by different developers. Micro front-ends allow teams to operate independently, which speeds up development and enables easy scalability.
2. What are the popular micro front-end frameworks?
Some popular micro front-end frameworks or libraries include single-spa, Web Components (e.g., lit-element, Polymer), Angular Elements, React with Module Federation, and Vue.js with Module Federation.
3. What is an example of a micro front-end?
Some popular micro front-end frameworks or libraries include single-spa, Web Components (e.g., lit-element, Polymer), Angular Elements, React with Module Federation, and Vue.js with Module Federation.
4. Is micro front-end a framework?
No, a micro front-end isn’t a framework in itself. It is rather a concept or pattern of designing a front-end application. There are frameworks and libraries that support the development of micro front-ends and make them feature-rich, accessible, and easy to work with.
5. What are the common implementation approaches for micro front-ends?
The standard implementation approaches for micro front-ends include:
- A server-side composition, where a micro front-end is first composed on the server, and then delivered to the client.
- A client-side composition, where a micro-front is downloaded from the client's browser.
- An edge-side composition, where a CDN (Content Delivery Network) or edge server is employed to compose the micro front-ends at the network edge prior to delivering them to end-users.
6. What are the challenges of adopting front-ends?
While micro front-ends offer a multitude of advantages, adopting them can be a daunting journey. Businesses face multiple challenges, including managing communication and data sharing between micro front-ends, providing consistent UX, and dealing with cross-cutting concerns, such as authentication and routing, implementing effective testing and monitoring strategies, and coordinating development efforts and tooling across teams among many more.
