Browser APIs
posts (17)
- Ways of Talking to a Backend: From HTML Forms to GraphQL3/6
Fetch API: The Modern Browser Interface to HTTP
fetch did not change the communication model, only the interface. Request and Response are objects, the body is a stream, and a 404 is not an error.
- Ways of Talking to a Backend: From HTML Forms to GraphQL2/6
AJAX: When a Request Stopped Meaning a Page Reload
XHR did not change the protocol, only the reader of the response. Status, headers and the origin boundary stopped being the browser's business and became the…
- Ways of Talking to a Backend: From HTML Forms to GraphQL1/6
HTML Forms: Backend Communication Without JavaScript
A form is not an API helper. The browser itself serializes the controls, builds the request and treats the response as a new document.
- Frontend Rendering: from server-side pages to hybrid rendering4/17
The cost of shipping the application to the browser
Transfer size is the first cost, not the only one. What counts is the work the device must do before the application becomes usable.
- Frontend Rendering: from server-side pages to hybrid rendering3/17
SPA and CSR: when the browser took over the application
The browser downloads the document once and manages screen transitions itself. The frontend stops being a presentation layer and becomes a long-lived runtime.
- Frontend Rendering: from server-side pages to hybrid rendering2/17
AJAX: the moment a page started behaving like an application
A request stopped meaning navigation. The browser keeps the current document alive and decides for itself what to do with the server's answer.
- Frontend Rendering: from server-side pages to hybrid rendering1/17
Server-rendered web: before the frontend became an application
The server assembled a full document for every request and the browser was a document renderer. A simple model, as long as the whole document could be the unit…