This article provides an introduction to Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), discussing what they are and the advantages they offer over regular web apps.
What is a Progressive Web App?
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Note
The term 'Progressive Web App' isn't a formal or official name. It's just a shorthand used initially by Google for the concept of creating a flexible, adaptable app using only web technologies.
PWAs are web apps developed using a number of specific technologies and standard patterns to allow them to take advantage of both web and native app features. For example, web apps are more discoverable than native apps; it's a lot easier and faster to visit a website than to install an application, and you can also share web apps by sending a link.
On the other hand, native apps are better integrated with the operating system and therefore offer a more seamless experience for the users. You can install a native app so that it works offline, and users love tapping their icons to easily access their favorite apps, rather than navigating to it using a browser.
PWAs give us the ability to create web apps that can enjoy these same advantages.
It's not a brand new concept—such ideas have been revisited many times on the web platform with various approaches in the past. Progressive Enhancement and responsive design already allow us to build mobile friendly websites.
PWAs, however, provide all this and more without losing any of the existing features that make the web great.
What makes an app a PWA?
As we hinted at above, PWAs are not created with a single technology. They represent a new philosophy for building web apps, involving some specific patterns, APIs, and other features. It's not that obvious if a web app is a PWA or not from first glance. An app could be considered a PWA when it meets certain requirements, or implements a set of given features: works offline, is installable, is easy to synchronize, can send push notifications, etc.
In addition, there are tools to measure how complete (as a percentage) a web app is, such as Lighthouse. By implementing various technological advantages, we can make an app more progressive, thus ending up with a higher Lighthouse score. But this is only a rough indicator.
There are some key principles a web app should try to observe to be identified as a PWA. It should be:
- Discoverable, so the contents can be found through search engines.
- Installable, so it can be available on the device's home screen or app launcher.
- Linkable, so you can share it by sending a URL.
- Network independent, so it works offline or with a poor network connection.
- Progressive, so it's still usable on a basic level on older browsers, but fully-functional on the latest ones.
- Re-engageable, so it's able to send notifications whenever there's new content available.
- Responsive, so it's usable on any device with a screen and a browser—mobile phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, refrigerators, etc.
- Safe, so the connections between the user, the app, and your server are secured against any third parties trying to get access to sensitive data.
Offering these features and making use of all the advantages offered by web applications can create a compelling, highly flexible offering for your users and customers.
Is it worth doing all that?
Absolutely! With a relatively small amount of effort required to implement the core PWA features, the benefits are huge. For example:
- A decrease in loading times after the app has been installed, thanks to caching with service workers, along with saving precious bandwidth and time. PWAs have near-instantaneous loading (from the second visit).
- The ability to update only the content that has changed when an app update is available. In contrast, with a native app, even the slightest modification can force the user to download the entire application again.
- A look and feel that is more integrated with the native platform—app icons on the home screen or app launcher, applications that automatically run in full screen mode, etc.
- Re-engaging with users through the use of system notifications and push messages, leading to more engaged users and better conversion rates.
Success stories
There are many success stories of companies trying the PWA route, opting for an enhanced website experience rather than a native app, and seeing significant measurable benefits as a result. S4 meter port devices driver download for windows 10. The website PWA Stats shares many case studies that indicate these benefits.
The best-known success story is probably that of Flipkart Lite. India's largest e-commerce site was rebuilt as a progressive web app in 2015, which resulted in 70% increase in conversions. The AliExpress PWA has also seen much better results than either the web or the native app, with a 104% increase in conversion rates for new users. Given their profit increase, and the relatively low amount of work required for the conversion of these apps to PWAs, the advantage is clear.
Early stage emerging startups like couponmoto have also started using progressive web apps to drive more consumer engagement, showing that they can help small as well as big companies to (re-)engage users more effectively.
You can check the list at pwa.rocks for more examples. Particularly worth mentioning is the hnpwa.com page—this lists an example implementation of the Hacker News website (instead of the usual TodoMVC app), in which you can see the use of various front-end frameworks.
You can even generate PWAs online using the PWABuilder website.
For service worker and push specific information, be sure to check the Service Worker Cookbook, a collection of recipes using service workers in modern sites.
It's well worth trying out a PWA approach, so you can see for yourself if it works for your app.
Advantages of web applications
A fully-capable progressive web application should provide all of the following advantages to the user.
Discoverability
The eventual aim is that web apps should have better representation in search engines, be easier to expose, catalog and rank, and have metadata usable by browsers to give them special capabilities.
Some of the capabilities have already been enabled on certain web-based platforms by proprietary technologies like Open Graph, which provides a format for specifying similar metadata in the HTML<head> block using <meta> tags.
The relevant web standard here is the Web app manifest, which defines features of an app such as name, icon, splash screen, and theme colors in a JSON-formatted manifest file. This is for use in contexts such as app listings and device home screens.
Installability
A core part of the web app experience is for users to have app icons on their home screen, and be able to tap to open apps into their own native container that feels nicely integrated with the underlying platform.
Modern web apps can have this native app feel via properties set inside the Web app manifest, and via a feature available in modern smartphone browsers called web app installation.
Linkability
One of the most powerful features of the web is the ability to link to an app at a specific URL without the need for an app store or complex installation process. This is how it has always been.
Network independence
Modern web apps can work when the network is unreliable, or even non-existent. The basic ideas behind network independence are to be able to:
- Revisit a site and get its contents even if no network is available.
- Browse any kind of content the user has previously visited at least once, even under situations of poor connectivity.
- Control what is shown to the user in situations where there is no connectivity.
This is achieved using a combination of technologies: Service Workers to control page requests (for example storing them offline), the Cache API for storing responses to network requests offline (very useful for storing site assets), and client-side data storage technologies such as Web Storage and IndexedDB to store application data offline.
Progressive enhancement support
Modern web apps can be developed to provide an excellent experience to fully capable browsers, and an acceptable (although not quite as shiny) experience to less capable browsers. We've been doing this for years with best practices such as progressive enhancement. By using progressive enhancement, PWAs are cross-browser. This means developers should take into account the differences in implementation of some PWA features and technologies between different browser implementations.
Re-engageability
One major advantage of native platforms is the ease with which users can be re-engaged by updates and new content, even when they aren't looking at the app or using their devices. Modern web apps can now do this too, using new technologies such as Service Workers for controlling pages, the Web Push API for sending updates straight from server to app via a service worker, and the Notifications API for generating system notifications to help engage users when they're not actively using their web browser.
Responsiveness
Responsive web apps use technologies like media queries and viewport to make sure that their UIs will fit any form factor: desktop, mobile, tablet, or whatever comes next.
Safety
The web platform provides a secure delivery mechanism that prevents snooping while simultaneously ensuring that content hasn’t been tampered with, as long as you take advantage of HTTPS and develop your apps with security in mind.
It's also easy for users to ensure that they're installing the right app, because its URL will match your site's domain. This is very different from apps in app stores, which may have a number of similarly-named apps, some of which may even be based on your own site, which only adds to the confusion. Web apps eliminate that confusion and ensure that users get the best possible experience.
Browser support
As mentioned before, PWAs don't depend on a single API, but rather using various technologies to achieve the goal of delivering the best web experience possible.
Mozilla App Store
The key ingredient required for PWAs is service worker support. Thankfully service workers are now supported on all major browsers on desktop and mobile.
Other features such as Web App Manifest, PushNotifications, and Add to Home Screen functionality have wide support too. Currently, Safari has limited support for Web App Manifest and Add to Home Screen and no support for web push notifications. However, other major browsers support all these features.
Above all you should follow the progressive enhancement rule: use technologies that enhance the appearance and utility of your app when they're available, but still offer the basic functionality of your app when those features are unavailable. Presenting a trusted website with a good performance is a consequence of using these enhancements; this in turn means building web apps which follow better practices. This way everybody will be able to use the app, but those with modern browsers will benefit from PWA features even more.
An example application
In this series of articles we will examine the source code of a super simple website that lists information about games submitted to the A-Frame category in the js13kGames 2017 competition. You don't have to think about what the actual content on the website is; the main point is to learn how to use PWA features in your own projects.
You can see this app in action online, and the source code is available on GitHub. We'll be examining this code carefully over the course of this series of articles.
For now, let's move to the second part of this series, where we’ll be looking at the structure of our example app.
A faster, more secure and customizable Web browser.
Mozilla Firefox is a fast, light and tidy open source web browser. At its public launch in 2004 Mozilla Firefox was the first browser to challenge Microsoft Internet Explorer’s dominance. Since then, Mozilla Firefox has consistently featured in the top 3 most popular browsers globally and this is set to continue thanks to the release of Firefox 30. The key features that have made Mozilla Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. The browser is particularly popular with developers thanks to its open source development and active community of advanced users.
Easier Browsing
Mozilla put of a lot of resources into creating a simple but effective UI aimed at making browsing quicker and easier. They created the tab structure that has been adopted by most other browsers. In recent years Mozilla has also focused on maximizing browsing area by simplifying toolbar controls to just a Firefox button (which contains settings and options) and back/forward buttons. The URL box features direct Google searching as well as an auto predict/history feature called Awesome Bar. On the right side of the URL box there are bookmarking, history and refresh buttons. To the right of the URL box is a search box which allows you to customize your search engine options. Outside of that a view button controls what you see below the URL. Next to that you have the download history and home buttons.
Speed
Mozilla Firefox boasts impressive page load speeds thanks to the excellent JagerMonkey JavaScript engine. Start up speed and graphics rendering are also among the quickest in the market. Firefox manages complex video and web content using layer-based Direct2D and Driect3D graphics systems. Crash protection ensures only the plugin causing the issue stops working, not the rest of the content being browsed. Reloading the page restarts any affected plugins. The tab system and Awesome Bar have been streamlined to launch/get results very quickly too.
Security
Firefox was the first browser to introduce a private browsing feature which allows you to use the internet more anonymously and securely. History, searches, passwords, downloads, cookies and cached content are all removed on shutdown. Minimizing the chances of another user stealing your identity or finding confidential information. Content security, anti-phishing technology and antivirus/antimalware integration ensures your browsing experience is as safe as possible.
Personalisation & Development
One of the best features of the Firefox UI is customization. Simply right click on the navigation toolbar to customize individual components or just drag and drop items you want to move around. The inbuilt Firefox Add-ons Manager allows you to discover and install add-ons within the browser as well as view ratings, recommendations and descriptions. Read about the top recommended add-ons for Mozilla Firefox on TechBeat. Thousands of customizable themes allow you to customize the look and feel of your browser. Site authors and developers can create advanced content and applications using Mozilla’s open source platform and enhanced API.
- Firefox keeps getting faster as a result of significant updates to SpiderMonkey, our JavaScript engine, you will now experience improved page load performance by up to 15%, page responsiveness by up to 12%, and reduced memory usage by up to 8%. We have replaced part of the JavaScript engine that helps to compile and display websites for you, improving security and maintainability of the engine at the same time.
- Firefox introduces HTTPS-Only Mode. When enabled, this new mode ensures that every connection Firefox makes to the web is secure and alerts you when a secure connection is not available. You can enable it in Firefox Preferences.
- Pinch zooming will now be supported for our users with Windows touchscreen devices and touchpads on Mac devices. Firefox users may now use pinch to zoom on touch-capable devices to zoom in and out of webpages.
- Picture-in-Picture now supports keyboard shortcuts for fast forwarding and rewinding videos: use the arrow keys to move forward and back 15 seconds, along with volume controls.
- When you are presenting your screen on a video conference in Firefox, you will see our improved user interface that makes it clearer which devices or displays are being shared.
- Selecting a search engine at the bottom of the search panel now enters search mode for that engine, allowing you to see suggestions (if available) for your search terms. The old behavior (immediately performing a search) is available with a shift-click.
- When Firefox autocompletes the URL of one of your search engines, you can now search with that engine directly in the address bar by selecting the shortcut in the address bar results.
- We’ve added buttons at the bottom of the search panel to allow you to search your bookmarks, open tabs, and history.
- Firefox supports AcroForm, which will allow you to fill in, print, and save supported PDF forms and the PDF viewer also has a new fresh look.
- For the recently released Apple devices built with Apple Silicon CPUs, you can use Firefox 83 and future releases without any change. This release (83) will support emulation under Apple’s Rosetta 2 that ships with macOS Big Sur. We are working toward Firefox being natively-compiled for these CPUs in a future release.
- Screen reader features which report paragraphs now correctly report paragraphs instead of lines in Google Docs.
- When reading by word using a screen reader, words are now correctly reported when there is punctuation nearby.
- The arrow keys now work correctly after tabbing in the picture-in-picture window.
- For users on macOS restoring a session with minimized windows, Firefox now uses much less power and you should see much longer battery life.
- Developers can use the scroll badge in the Page Inspector to Debug scrollable overflow. Selecting the badge highlights elements that are causing overflow and marks them with the overflow badge.
Mozilla Application Suite
Mozilla Applications