PWAs have received a lot of attention recently, with many stating that they are the future of web development, particularly mobile devices. At its heart, a Progressive Web App is a web application that employs contemporary web technology to provide users with a native app-like experience. In addition, these are web apps that have been enhanced over time to include caching, background sync, and push notifications.
Even though
PWAs have been around for more than two years, the reaction has been
disappointing. A few significant players have accepted this ideology, but most
have not fully embraced it. Because Apple has yet to embrace PWAs, Chrome and
Mozilla are the ideal browsers to test them.
Is PWA
really best?
On the one
hand, we have native applications, which are undoubtedly quick and efficient in
the vast majority of circumstances. However, on the other side, certain
websites are incredibly sluggish, which is magnified by network troubles.
In 2016,
Twitter and Google announced the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP) to address
only those sluggish connection difficulties. In all feasible conditions, PWAs
perform wonderfully. There is never an issue with a good connection. The
problem arises when we cannot connect and are presented with an error page.
However, if
our connection is slow, this might be inconvenient. The website appears to be
loaded, but we see a blank screen. We keep waiting, but the website never seems
to load. PWA comes to our help in this situation. The best aspect of PWAs is
that you receive the best user experience possible in both slow and no
connectivity situations (yep, you read it right..).
Why is it
a good idea to adopt PWA?
According to
research, the average user spends % of his overall time on only three apps
(Chrome, Quora, and Medium).
The other
apps stay inactive most of this time, eating valuable memory. Furthermore,
developing an app is ten times more expensive than developing a website for the
same purpose. If you plan to create and maintain various codebases for multiple
platforms such as Android, iOS, and web development, the cost might be rise.
PWAs may
use native app features:
- Push notifications
- Full Screen
- Offline working
- Splash screen is supported
Many more
similar functionalities are available in PWAs. The preceding points are merely
intended to give you a taste of what PWAs can do. However, several conventional
functionalities are now available exclusively in native apps.
Features
of native apps that PWAs can't use right now:
- Phonebook Access
- Modifying System Settings
- Alarms
PWAs are rapidly
developing, and we should expect to see these functionalities implemented
shortly.
Comments
Post a Comment