4 ms·

Insanely fast server side rendering middleware for Express

4 points by YoussefKababe 11y ago

richmarr 11y ago
This module essentially proxies requests on the fly using a headless browser and returns the rendered HTML. This is quite a sneaky solution to some types of problem (and the module weighs in at an enviable 18 lines of code). That said, I have a hard time how "insanely fast" is a reasonable claim.
- YoussefKababe 11y ago
  "Insanely fast" was borrowed from the project that Serender is based on, which is Zombie (an insanely fast headless browser used for testing client side code). Now of course, the speed of rendering depends on how fast your client side code is. If it has some ajax calls that fetch some really heavy data, the rendering can take few more milliseconds, but it's still fast because there is a very low network latency and your database is surely on the same network as your application, if not on the same server! I'm claiming that it's "insanely fast" because creating a new headless browser instance takes nearly no time at all, so the speed totally depends on your client side code.
  - richmarr 11y ago
    Sure, makes sense. I guess it's the difference between 'fast' relative to other rendering methods and 'fast' relative to the actual work that's being done.
drinchev 11y ago
Well If I write my code in a decent way, I wouldn't need to use that middleware. Another thing that pops up in my mind is scaling. What happens if I have 200 request to my front page for 1 second?
- YoussefKababe 11y ago
  Yes, no one's forcing you to use that middleware of course! But saying that you don't need to use it because you can write decent code is seriously not a relevant reason. The idea behind this middleware is to provide a solution that works regardless of what front-end framework you use. Sure you can do it with decent code and handle fetching data and passing it to your templates yourself, but your decent code will probably work for one single framework, and maybe for just that single application you're working on, and it can get messy! Can you imagine now how much work and time this middleware can save you? Regarding your question about scaling, if your application can handle 200 requests per second, I think it will work just fine even when using this middleware. Expect seeing some benchmarks soon! Also, next versions will provide an option that lets you choose to render your pages only when the request is coming from a search engine bot or a social network scrapper.
  - drinchev 11y ago
    Hey. Great reply. Kudos for that passion on your framework.
    - YoussefKababe 11y ago
      Thank you!

4 points by YoussefKababe 11y ago

This module essentially proxies requests on the fly using a headless browser and returns the rendered HTML. This is quite a sneaky solution to some types of problem (and the module weighs in at an enviable 18 lines of code). That said, I have a hard time how "insanely fast" is a reasonable claim.

YoussefKababe 11y ago
"Insanely fast" was borrowed from the project that Serender is based on, which is Zombie (an insanely fast headless browser used for testing client side code). Now of course, the speed of rendering depends on how fast your client side code is. If it has some ajax calls that fetch some really heavy data, the rendering can take few more milliseconds, but it's still fast because there is a very low network latency and your database is surely on the same network as your application, if not on the same server! I'm claiming that it's "insanely fast" because creating a new headless browser instance takes nearly no time at all, so the speed totally depends on your client side code.
- richmarr 11y ago
  Sure, makes sense. I guess it's the difference between 'fast' relative to other rendering methods and 'fast' relative to the actual work that's being done.

drinchev 11y ago

Well If I write my code in a decent way, I wouldn't need to use that middleware. Another thing that pops up in my mind is scaling. What happens if I have 200 request to my front page for 1 second?

YoussefKababe 11y ago
Yes, no one's forcing you to use that middleware of course! But saying that you don't need to use it because you can write decent code is seriously not a relevant reason. The idea behind this middleware is to provide a solution that works regardless of what front-end framework you use. Sure you can do it with decent code and handle fetching data and passing it to your templates yourself, but your decent code will probably work for one single framework, and maybe for just that single application you're working on, and it can get messy! Can you imagine now how much work and time this middleware can save you? Regarding your question about scaling, if your application can handle 200 requests per second, I think it will work just fine even when using this middleware. Expect seeing some benchmarks soon! Also, next versions will provide an option that lets you choose to render your pages only when the request is coming from a search engine bot or a social network scrapper.
- drinchev 11y ago
  Hey. Great reply. Kudos for that passion on your framework.
  - YoussefKababe 11y ago
    Thank you!