All About Progressive Web Applications(PWAs)!
Bridging the gap between device-specific applications and traditional websites.
Google launched Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) in 2015, they have generated a lot of buzz ever since. A lot of famous companies have followed the queue and benefited from these innovations.
Before getting to know more about PWAs, let us take a look at some famous companies which switched to PWAs rather than sticking with the traditional web pages or apps:
- Twitter: Twitter saw a whopping 75% increase in the number of tweets and a 65% increase in pages per session! At the same time, it’s PWA utilizes less data and around 3% less disk space as compared to its Android application.
- Forbes: The traditional mobile browser took up around 3–12 secs to load which has been remarkably slashed to just 0.8 seconds. There’s also a 43% increase in sessions and a 100% increase in engagement.
- Flipkart: Flipkart witnessed 3x more time spent on-site with 40% higher re-engagement rates after implementing its PWA.
- Pinterest: Given the image-heavy nature of this website, it used to take a lot of time to load and navigate around. Their PWA boosted their time spent on the mobile website by about 40% and they also saw a 44% increase in user-generated ad revenue.
- Spotify: Compared to the native app, the Spotify PWA is not only fast but also utilizes lesser data at the same time providing an app-like experience.
Both websites and applications have their own features but each has some limitations. A PWA attempts to combine an application and a web page, at the same time reducing the disadvantages.
Features of a webpage include:
- Web pages are always up-to-date.
- They are easily shareable and accessible on the same codebase.
- Web pages can be accessed on various devices and are not limited by hardware.
- No hassles such as installation and the need to constantly update.
On the other hand, device-specific applications come with their own share of awesome features.
Features of device-specific applications:
- Platform-specific applications are quite rich and customizable.
- They are not dependent on internet access.
- They have a lot of added functionality such as having access to local files.
- They can utilize device features such as Camera or Microphone to give a vast range of services.
A PWA on the other hand combines the best of both worlds! Using a PWA allows us to deliver a user interface that is “app like” as well as be fast and highly accessible.
PWAs pack some of the best features like:
1.Having an application like interface: a PWA mimics the traditional applications
2. Independent of connectivity: PWAs work well on offline and low-quality networks.
3. Installable: PWAs have an option to work as downloaded applications too. Users who download applications tend to use them more.
4. Safe: Safety should never be compromised upon and PWAs are served through HTTPS so that unauthorized users would be unable to access these websites.
5. Discoverable through search: PWAs should pop up on different search engines.
Excited to start learning? Here are some resources to help you out.
This forum provides you with a step by step guide to developing your first PWA. There are a lot of amazing features such as Google Codelabs which accelerate your learning.
The MDN Web Docs have comprehensive documentation that will help you in learning everything about a PWA!
The line between platform-based applications and websites is blurring. With new technological developments, it becomes really important for us to adapt to the rapidly changing online landscape as well.
