[xmatos]

Best web app I've developed was basically Django, with bare minimum JavaScript to handle some in-page effects. People been trying to shoehorn desktop concepts in the web since forever and it will never work. A desktop app is installable, a web site is not. It makes no sense to wait your js app to download for the sake of smooth page transitions.

Take a look at reddit's new mobile site, written in react. It takes around 7 seconds to load, to display text and links. Compare that to HN's, which loads in 0.1 sec, for basically the same content.

SPA's have their place, for things like games or the likes of google maps. But for the rest, please respect the web paradigm . Your site will be simpler to build, faster and most importantly, lighter. The web world has become mobile-first, not js-centric...

[todd3834]

I don't agree with this logic one bit. What you seem to be experiencing is SPA's that can use improvement. There is no reason why a SPA is required to load the entire app at once. There are many ways to split out the code so that each page only loads the bare minimum of what it needs. It is totally possible to provide a better user experience on mobile devices when the app only has to download the JSON required to render the next page. There are many tricks that can be done to take advantage of this. The SPA can load the bare minimum to render the page requested and then start pre loading the rest of the app or leave it on demand.

While I agree that there are many situations where a straight port of a static site to a SPA doesn't give too much benefit, it sets them up to move to more advanced interactions moving forward.

The web, although maybe not originally intended, has become the most powerful software platform we have. Things are getting dramatically better and the rate of innovation isn't showing any signs of this slowing down. It is already amazing and it's going to get better.

[lucaspiller]

I honestly feel the same. I've been working as a web developer for 8 years now, so it's not like I've been locked in a basement for decades and don't like all this new fangled stuff because it's not what I'm used to. I just don't get what SPAs provide over server rendered pages with a sprinkling of JavaScript to make things more interactive.

Ok maybe it makes sense if you are building a game. Or something that needs to run offline. Or Facebook. But most web sites aren't like that.

The other day there was a Ask HN about what stack a CMS should be built in. Most people were recommending their favourite client-side JavaScript framework. I just don't get it...

[TheCoelacanth]

A CMS seems to me like exactly type of thing where a SPA is a large UX improvement. It's an app you would frequently be spending a large amount of time in which easily offsets the few extra seconds of page load time.

[hh2222]

The web paradigm also supports accessibility for people with visual disabilites.

[todd3834]

single page apps are part of the web paradigm. They too benefit from this.

[sotojuan]

As someone who spent the whole week migrating a static site to React, I hear you. I don't care if it means I have to learn another language or framework, just stop making SPAs for no reason!

[zachlatta]

You're betting against history.