The architecture of applications
A quality website is like a house designed by a world-class architect. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the building fulfills many other functions. It is not enough for it to be attractive, thrilling or even shocking! A superior building is designed with a purpose in mind, is practical, and allows the visitor to easily orient himself. Part of it is designated for the people living there and visitors. A hidden component, not apparent from the outside, is the suitability for the operation and maintenance of the house. Of course, we cannot leave out the safety of the inhabitants and their visitors, as well as protection against intruders. And, to make things even more complicated, we must find a cost-effective approach to meeting all of the requirements in addition to minimizing ongoing upkeep costs.
A website can be viewed in a similar manner, with our requirements comprising layers or tiers.
Visitors see only part of the website, the public presentation tier. This tier fills the role of providing information and supporting communication.
The next tier is the internal presentation tier. It is through this tier that maintenance of the site is performed by individuals designated by the owner of the website (these can be in-house technicians and operators, or outsourced experts).
The business logic tier is where information and data from visitors (e.g. e-shop customers) and in-house operators is processed. This can include user administration, and adding and changing content.
A tier that is invisible from the outside is the data storage layer, which connects the web interface with the database. The main task of this tier is to ensure quick, reliable and secure storage and access to data.