Modern Stack for Modern Web Development

A web application consists of at least a database, operating system, web servers, and the development environment. Any web development company should have specialized personnel to implement these functions using a set of available platforms.

The "Modern Stack" for web development offers a comprehensive collection of core technologies and tools that determine web application functionality and user experience.

What does modern web development mean?

It refers to the methodology used to simplify complex tasks, by means of the languages, frameworks, and technological arrangements most in line with modern trends.

These trends are simplicity, portability, versatility, and adaptability because many people use different devices (personal computers, cell phones, smart watches, etc.) to visit a website.

Thus, in modern web development, the developer is more of an architect than a builder.

Web development stacks

A web development stack is the group of tools and technologies that are used together to develop web applications. That is, they are the programming languages, libraries, frameworks, servers and tools used by web developers.

JavaScript es un lenguaje esencial para cualquier stack de desarrollo web, por ser la tecnología dominante utilizada en el back-end y el front-end.

• Back-end: Refers to development on the server side of the application, focusing on how the website will function. The back-end is created using certain libraries, frameworks and languages, such as PHP, Python, Java and Node.js.

• Front-end: It is the visible part of the website to the client, where the client interacts to communicate with the web application. It is built by combining JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Among the front-end libraries and frameworks are React.js, Bootstrap and jQuery.

• Database: A collection of interrelated data used to efficiently retrieve, enter and delete it, organizing it in the form of tables, reports, etc. Database tools include Oracle and SQL.

• Static site generators: These are used to generate a complete static website, based on raw data and a set of templates. Essentially, they automate the task of coding HTML files, preparing them for quick presentation to users as web pages. Some static site generators include Jekyll, Gatsby, and Next.js.

• APIs: The Application Programming Interface is an intermediary software that allows two applications to communicate with each other. Every time you use an application such as Facebook or send a message, you are using an API.

• Microservices: Microservices architecture builds an application as a set of small, independent services that work coherently, providing greater functionality. Microservices can be created using different programming languages and platforms. Some frameworks are Spring Boot and Jersey.

The main aspects to be taken into account are: 

• Requirements: Web development tools and languages that can help create the functionality needed for the application should be investigated.

• Scalability: The web application must be easily scalable and maintainable. For this, a simple structure must be developed using reliable technologies.

• Time-to-market: Focus on a Modern Stack that is available and accelerates time-to-market, looking for the most popular and easy-to-use web development tools.

• Security: Each project must comply with a list of rules and regulations. In addition, a high level of data security must be provided.

Serverless architecture

Thanks to servers, users can communicate with a web application. However, managing them requires a lot of resources and time to maintain their hardware, run software updates and create backups.

By adopting the serverless architecture, these responsibilities are transferred to an external provider, allowing developers to concentrate on implementing the application code.

This architecture is an excellent way to reduce costs, in addition to simplifying the development of web applications, because there is no need to use infrastructure management tools.

A serverless framework, such as Amazon's Serverless Application Model (SAM), interacts with the cloud provider's platform through an API.

Content as a service

A monolithic CMS stores all the elements (videos, images, texts) of the content to deliver it as a single component to the application.

While this simplifies content management, it limits how and where that content can be used. For example, if the same content is offered for a website and for a mobile app, two versions of that content must be created.

Content as a service (CaaS) enhances this, because it is a method of storing content in its original format, so that each website, application and device can avail itself of each piece of content as required, using an application programming interface (API).

For CaaS to work, the content must be in a repository decoupled from any frontend. This separation allows other services to call the content through an API and display it seamlessly in each custom interface.

Headless CMS

This is a content management system without an integrated interface. By separating the front-end from the back-end, you can create and manage content in its native form, allowing you to create a better user interface using an API to access content.

Headless CMS is also called CMS API-first, to indicate that it works with an API to deliver content to omnichannel applications, providing content experiences beyond the website.

Content platforms

They are the heart of a "modern stack", because you have the flexibility to aggregate, structure and deliver any content across multiple digital channels.

It has flexible APIs that allow you to create engaging experiences across all channels, ensuring that the right content reaches customers at every touchpoint.

A Headless CMS platform integrates all technologies with a unified content hub. This improves the organization of content across different teams, as well as the customer journey through the website.  

Advantages of CaaS (content as a service)

Among the advantages of content as a service, one of the main ones is the ability to separate content from presentation, allowing content to be created once and published in any channel.

Other advantages to be highlighted are: 

Better content monitoring: In CaaS it becomes more manageable to track and check content performance. As content is stored in one place and sent to different channels through one API, API activities can be logged to see where and how content is consumed, comparing the performance of the same content on different channels.

Content personalization: Through CaaS it is very easy to offer personalized content. By understanding the demographics, interests and behaviors of shoppers, personalized content can be delivered at the right time.

Content infrastructure

Content infrastructure is the modern way of putting content management in the “Modern Stack”.

He is at the forefront of a content delivery network, guaranteeing low response times for any content and providing a reliable platform for digital assets.

Today, only content infrastructure and CaaS need to be integrated into the developers' workflow to create world-class user experiences that run on any platform.

Developers access content stored in the content infrastructure through API calls. Files can be downloaded and uploaded to the content infrastructure using any stack.

Contact us

At Aplyca we are experts in modern web development. We invite you to contact us to discuss your project needs.