Project Structure Patterns

Domain-Based Folder Structure (Modular or Feature-Based Structure)

This approach organizes your project by feature or module. Each feature (like Authentication or Homepage) contains its own model, services, and UI components. This structure focuses on separating functionality by feature, grouping all related files for a feature together.

Example

Authentication/
  - model.js
  - services.js
  - UI.js
Homepage/
  - model.js
  - services.js
  - UI.js

Benefits:

• • Easier to navigate and reason about the code related to a specific feature.

    • Promotes encapsulation, so all logic related to a feature is grouped together.

    • Easier to scale in large applications.

      When to Use:

    • This structure works well in applications with many features, making it easier to manage and maintain the code as the project grows.

Layered (or Vertical) Folder Structure

This structure organizes the project by layer or type of responsibility (e.g., models, services, UI). Each layer holds all the models, services, or UI components for the entire application, grouped together by their role.

model/
  - AuthenticationModel.js
  - HomepageModel.js
services/
  - AuthenticationServices.js
  - HomepageServices.js
UI/
  - AuthenticationUI.js
  - HomepageUI.js

Benefits:

• • Clearly separates the concerns of different layers (e.g., data, business logic, UI).

    • Easier to share common logic (e.g., services or models) across multiple features.

    • Standardizes where different types of logic reside.

When to Use:

• This structure is often better for applications where there is significant overlap between business logic or UI components across different features.

Comparison:

• Domain-Based (Modular) Structure:

  • Great for teams working on different features independently.

  • Each module is more self-contained.

  • Easier to onboard developers working on specific features.

• Layered Structure:

  • Ideal for codebases where the logic for models, services, and UI are highly shared or reused across features.

  • Maintains a clear separation of concerns across different layers.

Hybrid Approach

Many projects use a hybrid approach, combining both strategies:

Top-level features, with each feature having a separation of concerns inside (e.g., services, UI, model), but at a higher level, the feature is self-contained.

src/
  Authentication/
    - model/
    - services/
    - UI/
  Homepage/
    - model/
    - services/
    - UI/

This structure keeps the benefits of modularity while ensuring clear separation of responsibilities within each module.