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I like them more and wonder why they are not more common. Explanations involving caching or SEO make sense to me, but I don't see them as directly driven by user experience considerations. In which way are traditional sites with page reloads better for the user?
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Security Issues As compared to multi-page apps, SPAs are more prone to cross-site scripting attacks. Using XSS, it becomes easy for hackers to introduce client-side scripts into a web app. Also, SPAs are more likely to expose sensitive data to all users.
A single-page application is a more modern approach to app development. It was used by Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. A SPA is an app that works inside a browser and does not require page reloading during use. On the other hand, a multiple-page application is considered a more classical approach to app development.
Speaking of the advantages of SPAs, sites with single page applications are more efficient in terms of processing, they can cost less than traditional MPA sites, and they demand less time from developers because they can use repetitive layouts and act as "content on demand" apps.
CONS OF A SINGLE PAGE APPLICATIONPoor SEO optimization. Since SPAs work on JavaScript loading data upon request from the client, they drastically lose in SEO optimization. Unchanging URL results in the lack of unique addresses for different pages.
Personally I think the best argument for normal page reloads from a user's perspective is that when you do that it's much harder to break many basic browser functions. In general the back/forward buttons work, bookmarking works, copying and pasting links works, history works, page titles work, getting an error page when a server call fails works, everything just works as expected. For free.
I have seen single page application implemented in a way that breaks one or more of the above more times than I can count.
It's naturally not a problem if you get it just right (and then it will in general be nicer to use), but not all sites do.
Just as an example here's a screenshot how a site that is a SPA and justifiedly so (they have a music player that you don't want to interrupt with page loads), broke a basic browser function in a way they might not even have thought of. I was trying to find a song I recently listened to but couldn't remember the exact title... but because of the SPAness the page titles weren't properly reflected in my browser history.
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