With the choices of platforms and technology, the digital world faces intense competition. As businesses are going modern with unique approaches, having the best trends and tech stack can help you stand out. In your business website, it is very important to manage the connection between a server and a client if you want to deliver the best customer experience.
There are many solutions to manage communication between a server and a browser. Using WebSocket is a quality approach to development and if you want to utilise it for your platform development, you should know what is a web socket and how it works to use it effectively.
WebSocket is a bidirectional protocol that is used to handle communication between a client and a server. This protocol maintains the connection until there is any disruption from either the client or the server. The connection between the server and the client ends when there is any disruption from any side.
After the client and server connection, they try to form a new connection to keep it alive for a longer time and this new connection is known as WebSocket. The socket works a little differently than the HTTP.
If you want to understand the working of the WebSocket, you should know about the request that is sent to the browser. When a WebSocket handshake request is sent to the user’s browser, a connection is established which is known as WebSocket. It sends the request from an HTTP connection to the browser and continues the connection without any interruption.
A handshake request has a 64-bit WebSocket key header and it works when the server responds. This exchange of header controls a caching proxy and it does not need HTTP protocol. The server side manages communication while remaining open until one end is closed. This process enables event-based web programming and makes communication between the server and client easy.
Just like WebSocket, HTTP is also a communication protocol that is used in managing communication between a client and a server. Both techniques follow encrypted communication for security but here are some differences between these two connections:
|
Feature |
HTTP |
WebSocket |
|---|---|---|
|
Connection and protocol |
It has a stateless connection and follows HTTP protocol. |
It works on a bidirectional connection and has WebSocket protocol. |
|
Data format |
Full duplex binary data |
Half-duplex plain text |
|
Use cases |
Web page request, Restful API, downloading. |
Streaming, gaming, trading, and chat platforms. |
|
Latency |
It has high latency. |
It has low latency. |
|
Data size |
In HTTP, data size is limited by the server or client configuration. |
In WebSocket, data size doesn't have any limit. |
|
Port type |
It works with the shared port. |
It works with a dedicated port. |
WebSockets can be used in many areas of development. Here are some of the best examples of WebSocket API:
Web applications utilise web sockets to showcase the data on the client side. With the help of the backend server, the data is continuously sent to an open connection and this process improves the overall performance of the web apps. Moreover, this is used for data when data is constantly pushed by the backend server to the client by a WebSocket channel.
In games, there is a constant need of sending the data to the server. WebSockets are used here and they can elevate the gaming experience without refreshing the user interface. With this, the UI gets refreshed instantly without requiring a new connection every time.
In chat apps, there is a constant need to exchange and broadcast messages among users. WebSockets can be helpful here and it can reuse the same connection to send or receive messages conveniently.
Social media is one of the best use cases of WebSocket. It helps in providing updates in real time to users worldwide across devices. WebSocket is also used in delivering quick information and chatting.
When there is a need for team collaboration, WebSockets can come in handy. With this, team can work on the same part and increase efficiency. It can also help in team task allocation as other team members can see which portion is being used by someone else.
WebStocks helps in the analysis of interactions on a platform and making informed decisions to improve it. By using WebSocket here, it is possible to restrict the data sent to the client. It also allows users to manage customer interactions.
One of the best use cases of WebSocket technology is location-based apps. It is easy to update the data in real-time and businesses can enhance the user experience. If there is any need of managing user location, it is one of the quality ways to do it. There are many big names that use this for enabling location-based services.
Financial tasks and transactions have to work with top-tier security and speed in real time. With the help of this technology, it is possible to stream data quicker than ever. It helps in getting the details rapidly and eliminates any delay on any financial-related tasks.
The sports business uses WebSocket to deliver rocket-fast updates to users. It is very crucial for user improvement and this technology can help with giving accurate score updates and other details in real-time.
Every company is looking to stay ahead of the curve in the highly competitive business world by utilising cutting-edge and innovative technologies. The use of advanced approaches and the latest techniques like WebSockets has both many benefits and drawbacks. The followings are some advantages and disadvantages of utilising WebSocket in development:
If you want to develop your business platform, one of the best options is WebSocket is a great option and can be very beneficial as it can boost user experience. Get to know about these advantages of using WebSocket so you can use it effectively for the development of your platform:
It is faster and requires fewer resources for development.
WebSocket has quality efficiency and can work on a single TCP connection.
Businesses can deal with the constant streaming of requests and quick responses by using this.
There is no latency-related issue with this.
WebSocket technique is used as it is cross-platform compatible.
It supports duplex connections.
WebSocket is not suitable for every development process. Here are some disadvantages:
For WebSocket, you need to have a web browser that is HTML compliant.
With this, edge caching is not possible.
It is not the best choice if there is no need for dynamic interaction.
Now that you know how WebSockets works, you can have a better understanding of the element and whether you need it for your development process or not. We, as a leading development company, are providing cutting-edge IT solutions.
There is no better option than us if you want to create a website or expand your current website. Reach out to us right away to realise your full business potential.
