Title: A framework for implementing micro frontend architecture

Authors: Sylvester Timona Wanjala

Addresses: School of Computing and Information Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract: Web applications are an indispensable part of any enterprise information system. In the recent past, we have seen maturity in technologies that enable the separation of frontend and backend. The backend of these technologies has adopted microservices architecture while the frontend has maintained monolithic architectures. Micro frontends have come up as a solution to the conventional monolithic frontend. Still, so far, there is no straightforward approach to implementation that satisfies the different practical requirements of a modern web application. This paper proposes an architectural framework for implementing micro frontends to address challenges experienced in earlier implementations. We developed two simple web applications, one using the proposed architectural design, and another using the monolithic architecture and compared their performance. The proposed framework offers a clear approach for implementing micro frontends while addressing some of the challenges experienced in early design such as inconsistent layout and lack of clear implementation strategy without introducing performance issues.

Keywords: microservice architecture; micro frontend; monolithic design; software architecture; software pattern.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWET.2022.129251

International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology, 2022 Vol.17 No.4, pp.337 - 352

Received: 10 Feb 2022
Received in revised form: 24 May 2022
Accepted: 26 Jun 2022
Published online: 01 Mar 2023 *

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