Early Web

The early web was characterized by Multi-Page Applications (MPAs), where each user interaction typically resulted in a full page reload. Understanding this foundation is crucial for appreciating how web development and network management have evolved over time.

In this exercise, we'll explore the fundamental aspects of MPAs:

Server-side rendering of HTML
Full page reloads for navigation
Form submissions and server responses

Server-side rendering of HTML

In an MPA, the server renders the HTML for each page. When a user navigates to a new page, the server sends the entire HTML document.

When a user navigates to a new page, the server sends the entire HTML document.

Form submissions and server responses

When a user submits a form, the browser sends the form data to the server. The server processes the form data and sends a response back to the browser. The browser then reloads the entire page with the new HTML from the server.

Post -> Redirect -> Get

The POST -> Redirect -> Get pattern is a common pattern in early web applications. It's a way to handle form submissions and prevent duplicate form submissions.

You may have noticed issues using web applications where you submit a form and then try to refresh or navigate backward. You'll get a confirmation dialog from the browser asking if you want to resubmit the form. This is because the browser is trying to reload the page from the server, but the server doesn't know that the form has already been submitted.

With the POST -> Redirect -> Get pattern, the server processes the form data and sends a redirect response to the browser. The browser then reloads the page from the server. So the browser gets a new HTML page, and the server doesn't have to deal with duplicate form submissions.

Example

Here's an example of how this might work on the server side (using Node.js and Hono.js):

import { serve } from '@hono/node-server'
import { Hono } from 'hono'

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000
const app = new Hono()

let message = ''

app.get('/', (c) => {
	return c.html(`
		<!doctype html>
		<html lang="en">
			<head>
				<meta charset="UTF-8">
				<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
				<title>Early Web Example</title>
			</head>
			<body>
				<h1>Welcome to the Early Web</h1>
				<form action="/submit" method="POST">
					<input type="text" id="messageInput" name="message" placeholder="Enter your message" />
					<button type="submit">Submit</button>
				</form>
			</body>
		</html>
	`)
})

app.post('/submit', async (c) => {
	const formData = await c.req.formData()
	message = formData.get('message')
	return c.redirect(`/message`)
})

app.get('/message', (c) => {
	return c.html(`
		<!doctype html>
		<html lang="en">
			<head>
				<meta charset="UTF-8">
				<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
				<title>Early Web Example</title>
			</head>
			<body>
				<h1>Message submitted:</h1>
				<p>${message}</p>
				<p>Thank you for submitting the form!</p>
				<a href="/">Go back to the homepage</a>
			</body>
		</html>
	`)
})

const server = serve({ fetch: app.fetch, port: PORT }, (info) => {
	console.log(`Server is running on http://localhost:${info.port}`)
})

This example demonstrates:

A simple HTML structure for a registration form
The form submits data to the server using a POST request
The server would process the form and return a new HTML page as a response

Key points to note:

Each user interaction (form submission) results in a full page reload
The server is responsible for generating and sending complete HTML pages
Network requests are handled implicitly by the browser (form submissions, page navigation)

In this exercise, you'll create your own MPA-style web page, exploring these concepts and understanding how they laid the groundwork for future web development paradigms.

Let's dive in and experience web development as it was in the era of Multi-Page Applications!

Early Web

Server-side rendering of HTML

Full page reloads for navigation

Form submissions and server responses

Post -> Redirect -> Get

Example