客户端路由的缺点？

Question

I am building a universal/isomorphic javascript app (Express/Redux/React). I am contemplating routing on the client with React Router and/or routing on the server with Express.

I know that client side routing has become popular with single page apps because they make user interaction more seamless.

However, I am trying to get a better understanding of the client vs server side routing. What are potential downsides to client side routing that someone may encounter when building any application (single page or not)? And when is it best to consider routing on the server? Do large scale applications route exclusively on one side (client/server) or do they often blend the two?

Thank you!

Answer 1

I see no good reason to stay away from client side routing. If you're using something like react-router, then this is both client and server routing and there is nothing difficult about it. Some specific areas some people might tell you will be difficult:

• SEO. That comes for free, whatever URL you hit will be rendered on the server correctly and sent to the client, so Googlebot will see the page correctly. There is absolutely no truth to the suggestion that SEO is harder with client side routing, provided that you are server-side redering.
• Analytics. Easy, just put ga('send', 'pageview', path) wherever you're handling navigation on the client side (right before you trigger the router to change path).
• Resources, if your whole site is quite big, you don't want to send the entire thing to the client when the page first loads. This will require a little more complexity (for example defining multiple entry points with webpack). If you have a site with hundreds of pages then client-side routing is going to give you less benefit anyway.

This site (my own) uses client side rendering. You'll note that it works just fine with JavaScript turned off (the best way to be certain that Google sees it correctly). The source is here if you want to see how any particular piece was done.

Answer 2

Some of the downsides of client side routing (can be) that:

• While server-side routing is a tried and true technique and have many techniques and library options available, client side will probably be less robust and manageable.

• Monitoring. While server-side routed pages could be verified through any basic web scraper software, client-side routed pages would need to be monitored through a more advanced tool that actually renders HTML and fires client-side scripts.

• Difficulties with serving SEO content. Though it's possible, it's a lot more difficult.

• Resources. Depending on how you build your application, server-side routing might be more resource-effective, since there'll be less overhead to load client-side for each page.

• Compatability. Based on which browsers you're targeting, your preferred method of client-side routing might not be supported.

You can still use client-side routing for applications where the routed pages don't need to or shouldn't be indexed by search engines.

For pages that are critical to SEO and don't need to be a SPA (for example they just serve informational content), there's little reason not to go server side.