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So this question is a little of a tease. I understand that Inertia makes bundling Laravel and front-end framework convenient.
But one thing that is disappointing for me is the user experience of Single Page App delivered by Inertia. Unlike some other solutions, there's no immediate response between the pages. This is what I love about Next.js, for example. It has a really neat way to implement immediate page loads and then additional loading of elements. It really feels like a desktop app. But not with Inertia.
I started questioning whether this Inertia-like kind of SPA is even worth it. Is it really that different comparing to old-fashioned, server-side loaded apps? Modern browsers handle navigation of old-fashioned apps quite nicely anyway, taking care of good back/forward behavior, preventing unstyled content flash, showing content once it's ready etc. With current network speeds it feels almost the same as Inertia apps.
Then why do we mimmick this behavior, making it slighly better, but with a cost of making the app so much more complicated? Do you guys think it's worth it? I wish Inertia prioritized client-side page loads and component loading states.
I have tried InertiaJS on a personal project and I share your opinion.
InertiaJS is a kind of glue between a backend and a frontend, but I really prefer using just Laravel and VueJS without InertiaJS. I think that InertiaJS messes what I can do with VueJS. With InertiaJS, you have to code your application exactly how you would code it with only Blade views.
If I need to imitate the behavior of VueJS without VueJS, I prefer using Livewire.
I mostly use Laravel with Inertia, Vue and Tailwind and I like this stack. Overall it has given me a good dev experience with faster development times compared to building a project with separate front & back-end applications.
Some people find the benefit of "sticking with what they know" and being able to be able to easily pass your data like Inertia does. It's just another option for getting things done. It's not for everyone or every project, but it's a decent enough option to have.
Inertia simply replaces the Blade part with Vue or React.
@puklipo ignoring the fact that it stops you needing to write a backend and frontend API?
Inertia is powerful and the response time is very quick. Just be sure your server is providing the proper data quickly. I try to keep all response times under 200ms.
I'm currently working on a desktop app and the performance is literally like a local desktop app. That may not hold up at full scale, but it's a good place to start.
Inertia becomes even more interesting when stepping slightly outside the standard REST approach. So, for example, sometimes I put the index and edit form on the same page. And Vue's ability to conditionally show, hide or style components also provides very fast and powerful UI features.
But if you're just doing a basic REST style app with a few resources, then Inertia could be overkill for that purpose.
I've also spent some time using Filament, which is really great! But, for now, my go-to development stack is still Inertia with Vue and Tailwind. Looking forward to Inertia 2.0!
@Max100 I find Inertia to be lacking, hardly an overkill.
Then why do we mimmick this behavior, making it slighly better, but with a cost of making the app so much more complicated?
It's really not that complicated.
@JussiMannisto Yes sure, I think that it has to be relevant for the application you are developing.
@JussiMannisto I mean complicated behind the scenes and much more prone to failures.
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