Breaking Down the Frontend: A Deep Dive into Micro-Frontends
The concept of microservices has been a topic of debate in recent years, with its pros and cons being weighed by developers worldwide. Similarly, micro-frontends have sparked interest in the development community, promising to revolutionize the way we approach frontend development.
What are Micro-Frontends?
The term “micro-frontends” speaks for itself – breaking down the frontend into smaller, independent pieces that can be developed, tested, and deployed rapidly. This approach allows for greater flexibility and scalability, enabling teams to work on different components simultaneously without affecting the entire application.
The Birth of Micro-Frontends
The concept of micro-frontends was first introduced in the ThoughtWorks Tech Radar in 2016, extending the microservices architecture to the frontend. Today, many frontend developers work on projects that require integration at some point, and micro-frontends offer a solution to this challenge.
Creating a Micro-Frontend App from Scratch
In this article, we’ll explore how to build a micro-frontend application using single-spa and React. Single-spa is a JavaScript router that simplifies the construction of micro-frontends by allowing the integration of multiple applications built on top of various frameworks.
Our Example Application
We’ll build an application comprising four separate micro-frontends:
- App header and menus
- Home page
- About Us page
- Contact page
Each micro-frontend will be managed by a separate application, demonstrating how single-spa integrates these components seamlessly.
Setup and App Creation
To create our micro-frontend projects, we’ll use the create-single-spa CLI tool, which automates the configuration process for Webpack, Babel, Jest, and the chosen frontend framework.
Configuring the Root App
The root app is responsible for managing the integration of all micro-frontends. We’ll register each micro-frontend app in the root app’s configuration file, specifying the name, route, and condition for activation.
Micro-Frontend Apps
Next, we’ll set up each micro-frontend app, creating the necessary components and configurations. We’ll use React as our frontend framework, leveraging its powerful features to build our application.
Designing the Application
To customize the design of our application, we’ll use Bootstrap, adding its CSS files to our index.ejs file. This will give our application a clean and responsive layout.
Testing and Deployment
With our application set up, we can test it by running each micro-frontend app individually and accessing the root app. Single-spa’s live-reload feature ensures that changes are reflected in real-time, streamlining the development process.
The Future of Micro-Frontends
Single-spa offers a range of features beyond what we’ve covered in this article, including parcels, a framework-agnostic feature for building chunks of functionality. The optional single-spa-layout package provides advanced routing API controls, and support for Angular, AngularJS, Ember, and more.
Get started with micro-frontends today and discover the benefits of this innovative approach to frontend development!