Beyond the Framework: Building Resilient Front-End Architectures for Adobe Experience Manager

The good news? A strong architectural foundation can prevent these pitfalls. Whether you’re working on a small marketing site or a large-scale enterprise application, thoughtful front-end architecture ensures your code stays scalable, maintainable, and resilient to advancing technologies. 

This isn’t about chasing trends or overengineering simple projects. It’s about adopting practical, proven patterns that make development smoother, collaboration easier, and future updates less chaotic. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to software architecture; even those shiny frameworks have their place. What matters is the reasoning behind your choices: why was this approach selected, and how can it be integrated thoughtfully? By focusing on modularity and reusability while making informed technology choices, you can build front-end applications that stand the test of time—without unnecessary complexity. The guidance shared here is rooted in Adobe Experience Manager front-end, but the concepts are flexible enough to benefit any architectural approach.

 

Core Principles of Front-End Architecture 

Before diving into specific patterns, it’s important to understand the foundational principles that guide modern front-end architecture. These three principles should be kept “back of mind” when designing or considering technologies for your application.  

 

Modularity 

Modular applications are easier to support and scale, as changes can be made independently without affecting the entire codebase. When designing your front-end architecture, applications should be broken into smaller, self-contained modules that handle specific functionality. These modules are then composed to form larger systems. We’ll touch on this in the next principle. 

I recently revisited a project from my early coding days. This app had a lot of features but essentially was 900 lines of pure jQuery spaghetti. As features were implemented—giving zero consideration to architecture because I honestly didn’t know that was a thing at that point—I sprinkled some if statements here and there, and it worked. It was a cool app, but, because everything was so tightly coupled into one piece of logic, updates became impossible and, ultimately, required a complete rewrite. This is an extreme case. You’re not going to deploy a single jQuery file with more nesting than an egg farm. But the message is the same—without modularity, applications become monolithic, making them harder to update and debug. A lack of module boundaries often results in tightly coupled code, increasing the risk of unintended side effects when making changes. 

 

Separation of Concerns (SoC) 

Separation of Concerns expands on the principle of modularity. A well-architected front-end application groups similar modules into individual concerns, such as UI, business logic, and state management. This separation can be achieved in various ways from individual repositories to a well-orchestrated monorepo. Doing this ensures applications are easier to debug. It also prevents the creation of fragile systems, where a change to one part of the application causes unintended side effects elsewhere. 

Componentization 

Front-end applications should be built using reusable components rather than monolithic structures. Following this principle, UI elements are encapsulated into independent, interchangeable parts that can be reused across different pages and applications. Without proper componentization, teams often face duplication of UI elements, making maintenance cumbersome. Components that lack clear interfaces and dependencies can also lead to unintended complexity and performance bottlenecks. 

Contrary to other system architectures, front-end architecture encompasses the technology driving the application and the UX. End users aren’t concerned about your architecture when using your application, nor your perfect performance scores. They won’t care that you are using server side React components, but they will care if the application is usable. Is your app compatible with assistive technologies? Can I navigate the site with only a keyboard? As a subset of thoughtful UX, A11y should always be considered as part of your component architecture.  

 

Architectural Patterns for Scalable Front-End Development 

We’ve looked at the core principles of front-end architecture, now we can implement them using common architectural patterns. There are tons of architectural patterns out there, and the great thing is that you can apply them to different scenarios. For example, Atomic Design isn’t exclusively for design systems; the core methodology is also beneficial for structuring applications. Remember that patterns are just that—they’re simply a reference on how to do things. How you implement them should be unique to you, your experience, and your application’s requirements. 

 

Atomic Design 

In my opinion, this is one of the most important patterns in modern front-end architecture. Introduced by Brad Frost, Atomic Design separates the interface into five distinct stages: atoms, molecules, organisms, templates, and pages. Each stage works on its own or combines with others to create new elements.  

Imagine a button, it can be used on its own or combined with others to create something new, like a card or a carousel. While it is open for interpretation on exactly what classifies as an atom, molecule, organism, etc. within your project, what matters is the idea of creating reusable “building blocks” for your application—whether that is applied to actual UI elements, page services, or even your file structure. Paired with a good event strategy, you can drastically reduce the number of components needed to create your application. A single button component could accept different parameters on what to emit when it is interacted with so that it can be used in several different scenarios without needing a new component for every use case. Poorly structured components can lead to unnecessary re-renders, performance issues, and, if you’re using a Single Page Application (SPA)—outlined in more detail later in this post)—excessive prop-drilling. 

 

Event-Driven Architecture 

Event-driven architecture helps decouple different parts of an application while providing an open line for communication. Using this pattern can help enforce Separation of Concerns and ensure better control over how different parts of the application communicate. Instead of direct communication between components, events are used to trigger actions through a publish-subscribe (pub/sub) model or event bus, which allows for asynchronous communication between components. 

A publisher emits an event—its sole job is to announce that something happened. The publisher doesn’t care who (or what) is listening. The subscriber manages its own specific concerns. If the subscriber doesn’t find what it is looking for, it simply does nothing. Having these publishers and subscribers in place helps maintain flexibility and scalability within your application, as it removes any direct dependency between components. The components are agnostic of the publishers and subscribers—they just listen and do what they’re told. 

 

Choosing the Right Technology 

With an overwhelming number of front-end technologies available, it’s easy to default to popular solutions without evaluating their necessity. Personally speaking, I’ll spin up a Next.js app for almost any personal project, simply because it’s familiar, and I love JavaScript—but it’s not always the right choice.  

 

To SPA or not to SPA 

Single Page Applications (SPA) have become an industry standard, but they are often overused for projects that could benefit from simpler architectures. Frameworks like React, Vue, & Angular provide a way to create robust web applications, but also come with their own tradeoffs. The trick here is to start with the problem, not the framework. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding JavaScript frameworks, but technology should always be a means to an end—not the goal itself. Begin by clearly defining your application’s requirements. Ask yourself: Is this a marketing site, a dashboard, a complex web app? Will this grow into a large codebase with multiple contributors, or is it a one-and-done build? Are there any critical performance targets or SEO needed? What are the strengths and experiences of your team? Will introducing a new technology create a learning curve that slows delivery?  

If you’re not building a dashboard or an app that requires complex data/graphical visualization, you most likely don’t need a SPA. In other words—keep it vanilla when you can. For example, you don’t need to lock your entire application into a framework to achieve a modern reactive UI. Instead, supplement with a library that provides only what you need, such as Alpine.js. 

 

Dependencies 

When choosing libraries and dependencies, it’s crucial to weigh their long-term impact on your project. Every dependency introduces risk—whether it’s bloat, security vulnerabilities, or future abandonment. Before reaching for a third-party package, evaluate whether the same outcome can be achieved using a native browser API. Prioritizing simplicity and native solutions not only reduces your app’s size and complexity but also future proofs your code by relying on standards that are unlikely to disappear. 

 

Building for the Future 

Intentional front-end architecture is a cornerstone of successful web development and warrants careful consideration at every stage of a project. By embracing proven patterns and making strategic architectural decisions, you set the foundation for scalable, maintainable, and resilient applications. There will never be a one-size-fits-all approach, nor a perfect solution to every challenge—but by prioritizing thoughtful architecture, you can build systems that empower your team, inspire confidence, and stand the test of time. 

 

Photo Credit: Brecht Corbeel | Unsplash