Micro Frontends: Expanding the idea of ​​microservices

In recent years, the idea of ​​microservices has seen a meteoric rise in popularity due to the fact that it provides a superior strategy for server-side software development compared to monolithic backends.

Microservices allow companies to partition large, complicated systems into multiple smaller, independent components that can be created, deployed, and scaled independently. However, the same strategy has not been implemented for frontend codebases, which continues to be a struggle for many different businesses.

Micro frontends are an important part of modern web development as they provide the organizational structures and architecture necessary to facilitate building modern websites. Micro frontends are an architectural approach that breaks down frontend monoliths into smaller, simpler parts. This makes it easier to develop, test, and deploy them separately, while giving customers the impression that they are purchasing a single, unified product.

When it comes to developing web applications, programmers face a variety of obstacles that can be overcome with the help of this technology. One of the most significant advantages of using micro frontends is that they allow businesses to build a progressive or responsive web application in a less time-consuming and more cost-effective way.

As developers try to integrate new features into an existing codebase, they often run into problems.

Because microfrontends allow for seamless integration, new features can be added without worrying about how the overall application architecture will be affected. Along the same lines, when using newly introduced JavaScript language features, it can be challenging to incorporate the appropriate build tools into an already established build procedure.

Developers are able to employ new language features thanks to the availability of micro frontends, which frees them from the responsibility of incorporating these features into the existing code base. Additionally, micro frontends make it easier to scale the development process, enabling numerous teams to work simultaneously on a single project.

This is because the smaller, more independent parts make it simpler for each team to work on certain components of the program without having to worry about the architecture of the application as a whole. The modular architecture of micro frontends minimizes the coupling and complexity that often plagues large, monolithic codebases, enabling greater efficiency in the development and deployment processes.

The micro frontends strategy was included in the 2016 edition of Thoughtworks Technology Radar as a method that companies should evaluate. Subsequently, the method advanced to the experimental phase. It was eventually adopted, suggesting that it is a tried and tested strategy that companies should implement whenever it makes sense to do so.

With the help of micro frontends, businesses can take advantage of a web development strategy that is more effective and scalable, which makes it much simpler to provide high-quality customer experiences.

What exactly are these micro frontends, then?

What are some of the most important benefits and challenges associated with it?

How do we put this into action?

How can we know if they are genuinely contributing to developing a better product for us to sell?

Today, I'd like to discuss the topic and advise you on how to get started with micro frontends.

1. What are microfrontends?

Micro frontends are a way of building software that divides the front end of an application into several separate, independent parts. Each of these parts is built and owned by a different team. This method is especially useful for larger applications with many sections or features, as it allows different teams to take responsibility for different functionalities and build them separately.

While each team may be responsible for different parts of the overall development process, they all want to ensure that the final product provides users with a consistent experience. This can be done with a comprehensive “shell” that has the agreed design language for each team and facilitates communication between all parties.

Developers can also use their favorite programming languages ​​with this microservices architecture without impacting other teams that may be using a different technology stack. It also helps reduce dependencies by ensuring that a change in one part does not mean that any other part of the system needs to be reworked.

A microservices architecture also helps break down large projects into smaller, more manageable parts . This gives teams more freedom in dividing work and makes it easier to scale and deploy resources.

An online store is a good example of microservices architecture. One team builds the shopping cart, while another monitors user profiles, handles order fulfillment, manages inventory, and so on.

Then all these separate parts are brought together to create a unified user experience. This is done with a comprehensive shell that ties everything together and ensures that all parties use the same design language, communication protocols, etc.

The idea of ​​microservices can be taken even further with “micro frontends”. Each component of a micro frontend is made up of multiple front-end applications that have been created separately each with its own automated build pipeline, continuous integration/continuous delivery workflow, language build systems, and so on.

At runtime, all these applications are combined into one URL or domain name. This allows groups to work together more effectively on large projects using DevOps best practices such as version control systems (Git), automated builds (Jenkins/Travis CI), etc., without having to worry about security issues. compatibility between third-party components or integrations during development and deployment.

2. The benefits of implementing microfrontends

Micro frontends have become a popular way of creating enterprise applications because they offer many benefits over traditional methods. The main benefits of micro frontends are faster time to market, better scalability and maintainability, increased team velocity, and greater extensibility. In this article, we will look at how micro frontends can be used to achieve these advantages.

First, let's think about how quickly products can reach the market. By separating the front end of an application into separate microservices, development teams can create isolated parts that can be deployed faster than traditional monolithic applications. Additionally, teams don't need to work together as much because they can do their work alone until it's time to merge the code. This greatly reduces the time it takes to add new features and updates.

Second, using micro frontends makes scaling and maintenance much easier in many ways. By breaking the application into smaller parts, each part can scale and manage on its own, making it easier to find and quickly fix problems. Additionally, each service is easier to debug and refactor, which makes it easier to add to the system.

Third, using micro frontends makes the team move faster. Members of a development team have more freedom to work on their own without relying on other teams. This places more responsibility on the individual who is then able to create modules that work with the entire system but are independent.

Additionally, it's easier for team members to talk to each other because they don't need to coordinate unless it's time to merge the code. This eliminates many of the problems that arise when teams are out of sync and confused.

Fourth, it is easy to add something to the architecture. With micro frontends, it's easier to fix bugs and change parts of an application. This means that these services can gain new features and functions without affecting other parts of the system. Additionally, changes can be made that do not need to be made system-wide and can be made quickly.

Fifth, micro frontends are great for teams working in different locations. With this architecture, teams working in different locations can work independently and with little coordination, which makes them more effective. Additionally, this system allows each team to track their own part of the application without having to work around other teams or dependencies.

Overall, development teams and businesses as a whole can greatly benefit from using micro frontends. There are many benefits, including faster teamwork, scalability, and better extensibility. Anyone who wants to take advantage of the potential of this method should know these benefits, but also keep in mind some of the biggest challenges.

3. Challenges in using a micro frontend model

Although using micro frontends brings a number of advantages, there are also some difficulties associated with employing this style.

The complexity of the architecture presents the most significant obstacle. When there are several different front-end services, each connecting to the other, it can be challenging to monitor everything that is happening at the same time. This can make it difficult to discover and fix problems that occur, and it can also make it more difficult for developers to understand how everything is connected together.

An additional obstacle is the requirement for a testing technique that is more resilient . When there are many different services all talking to each other, it is essential to have a testing plan that ensures everything is working as expected. This requires a more complex approach to testing, which sometimes involves a significant investment of time and resources.

One more obstacle is the requirement for open communication and cooperative effort between different teams. Because each team is responsible for a distinct component of the application, it is essential to have open communication channels and tools for collaborative work to ensure all parties are on the same page. This can prove difficult, especially for larger companies that have multiple teams working on various program components.

Last but not least, there is the difficulty of selecting the appropriate technology stack. Because microfrontends allow each team to choose their own technology stack, it can be more difficult to ensure interoperability between the various program components. It is essential to not only have a comprehensive knowledge of the various technologies being implemented, but also to have a defined strategy to ensure that everything can be integrated smoothly.

4. Strategies for developing and deploying micro frontends

Compared to traditional monolithic applications, developing and deploying microfrontends presents a new set of problems. To enable effective development and deployment of these applications, best practices and strategies must be carefully considered.

Micro frontend architecture development

The first stage in designing a micro frontend application is to design an architecture that allows the development and deployment of multiple components separately but simultaneously. They can contain client-side libraries, web application frameworks, databases, cloud services, and so on. It is essential to build a scalable architecture so that the application adapts to the new needs of its users.

APIs

APIs can be used to specify communication patterns between micro frontend components so that they can communicate with each other. These APIs can facilitate data and functionality sharing and provide an abstraction layer between components so that they are not directly dependent on each other. Having well-defined APIs facilitates code reuse across multiple components, ensuring consistency.

Building using modules

When developing micro frontends, it is essential to consider how each component will work independently while collaborating with other components. This can be done by creating modules containing all the code needed for a particular feature or functionality within a component. This makes it simpler for developers to divide the resource into smaller tasks that can be managed and deployed independently while being part of the same system.

Applying Version Control

Versioning is critical to designing micro frontends because it allows developers to track changes made over time and more easily manage conflicts when merging multiple versions. Additionally, employing version control allows developers from multiple teams/locations to collaborate on a project without having to manually merge code each time a team member makes a change.

Testing Strategies

As with any software development project, incorporating testing throughout the development process ensures that functionality works as expected at all phases of development. By utilizing automated testing, such as unit testing, integration testing, and regression testing, teams can identify issues early, saving time and money in the long run. Additionally, continuous integration pipelines can help with testing during deployment phases and provide an overview of how changes affect an application's performance over time.

Deployment strategies

Whenever an application is ready for deployment, there are a number of factors to consider, such as which environments the application will be deployed to (i.e. production versus test) and whether there will be rollbacks or deployments associated with specific changes to the codebase. . Additionally, it's crucial to consider how deployments will fit into your CI/CD pipelines if you want automatic deployments to occur at regular intervals or in response to certain triggers (for example, new commits being pushed to source control).

Overall, employing these tactics can ensure successful development and deployment of micro frontend applications, as well as reduce the likelihood of later issues due to inadequate communication between application components or a lack of code/version control procedures. .

5. Measuring success with a micro frontend architecture

When a company or organization decides to use a micro frontend architecture, it is crucial to evaluate the success of their new architecture.

Many metrics can be used to determine the effect of micro frontends on your application's overall performance and user experience.

One method for evaluating the success of a micro frontend is to compare the application's performance before and after adopting the design. This comparison can clarify whether the transition from a standard monolithic architecture to a micro frontend architecture improved or degraded application performance.

Additionally, monitoring the load time of each component can reveal whether or not they are properly optimized and suggest places where additional optimization is needed.

When measuring success with micro frontend architectures, the user experience must also be evaluated. Page loading speed, ease of site navigation, data loading times, reaction times to user activities (e.g. form submission), and application stability are some important user experience considerations. user.

Additionally, evaluating customer satisfaction surveys and feedback forms can reveal how users perceive your app to work, as well as identify potential areas for improvement and issues that require attention.

It is also important to consider how micro frontends have affected developer productivity and satisfaction . Development speed (how quickly can a developer make changes or create new features?), development team scalability (can you onboard new members quickly?), code maintainability (developers find it easier to manage an entire system made up of of small components? ), etc., can indicate whether or not developers benefited from using this methodology.

When evaluating the success of an implementation, cost savings should be considered last. This involves considering both operational expenses (the cost of operating an application) and development costs (the cost associated with developing new features).

Comparing pre-implementation and post-implementation expenses can provide important insights into whether or not investing in microfront-ends has been profitable over time and help identify areas where resources could be used more effectively to maximize cost savings.

Ultimately, quantifying the effectiveness of a micro frontend architecture requires evaluating several aspects, including performance metrics, user experience metrics, developer satisfaction levels, and cost savings over time, in order to determine how advantageous This strategy is for your company.

Effective use of these metrics will allow you to make well-informed decisions regarding your implementation, while also allowing you to continually improve your architecture over time to maximize its future performance.

Like all technology, micro frontends are not the be all and end all of web development, but they are a very interesting new approach that has been tried and tested for years on the backend. For both new and legacy projects, micro front-ends can offer the flexibility and scalability to compete in the modern market.