Top Features and Framework of Progressive Web Apps By James Tredwell on November 22, 2019 We humans discovered the technology, to change the way we used to live, now the technology at every second is changing the way we live, communicate, educate and learn. The future of technology consists of many exciting things from driverless cars to robots working in factories. Companies continuously urge to adopt new technologies to make their presence outstanding on the other hand giants like Nokia, who are not ready to use the latest technology lost the battle to companies like Samsung and Apple. If we’re talking about the modern world, many of us could not even imagine a single day or a minute without checking mobile phones. As per Statista, currently, there are 3.3 billion smartphone users in the world! This figure is projected to reach 3.8 billion in 2022. As the demand for smartphones increases the companies looking for new trends to market their products and services. Now the big thing found for mobile is progressive web apps that resolve the problem which comes on the way of mobile app development. Tons of big companies like Flipkart, Uber, Pinterest and so on are already using PWAs and getting better results in terms of increasing conversions and engagements. But have you ever amazed what specialties makes PWAs so popular? Just take a moment and here we go through the main features and framework on which PWAs became hot trend in the marketplace. But before going further, let’s take a snapshot of term “progressive web app” What are Progressive Web Apps? Progressive web apps are taking advantage of the latest technologies to combine the best of the web and mobile apps. PWAs are great because they avoid the lengthy process of going to an app store, searching for the app, waiting for the app to download and install, and then, finally, opening it. Now you’re wondering what is PWA, but don’t look for a perfect definition because it’s an interesting concept more than a definition. The concept is pretty simple: Progressive web apps are modern web capabilities that deliver a hybrid app-like user experience. The apps adopt multiple hardware, platform, and devices. Progressive web apps combine the advantage of native apps and enhance them with their special features. In some scenarios, users can’t install certain applications but with PWA, they only have to visit the Web page and the best way for developers to make their web load faster. This is the first reason for creating the PWA app, rather than mobile applications. In addition, it is a web app rather than a mobile app, users don’t have to continually update them. Users always visit the latest version whenever they visit progressive web apps. Now that you understand a little more about the progressive web apps but if you want to know deeper about the PWAs then you must read – All progressive web apps have their different characteristics, they are fast, scalable and highly engageable to users for love them. Top Features for Progressive Web Apps 1. Instant Loading Progressive web apps are reliable in terms of speed, it loads like the blink of an eye, even if you have poor internet connections. Instant loading features of PWAs improves site performance and users spend more time on website. A progressive web app that loads fast means better conversion rates. 2. Offline Support This is the main feature of PWAs to work offline, however because they use cached to work offline. Whenever user lost connection PWAs not become blank like native apps. That means even you lost internet; you will not be interrupted while using PWAs. You might not be able to see the fresh content but a stored version instead. By allowing users to work offline, you keep them busy and engaged. 3. Add to Home Screen Add to home screen is another main feature of PWAs. When users visit your PWAs for more than 30 sec then the option appear of add to the home screen, users have the choice they need to add or not. This helps them save the PWAs for instant access especially for users who revisit your site many times. Progressive web apps launch with home screen icon just like an app icon, but it doesn’t require any storage space and use less data. After building a PWA to improve their mobile experience, the company Alibaba.com observed a 4x higher interaction rate only with the add to screen feature. 4. Push Notifications Have you ever noticed, you visit any site and got pop-up for subscribing? Yes, so it’s a feature of PWAs. Push notification is instant messages with a single objective to keep visitors coming back to your site, catching your attention with updates or leaving them remainders. Push notifications are a powerful feature to keep increases user engagement and improves user retention rates, among many benefits. For instance, The Weather Channel, developed a PWA that notify and re-engage users when they are likely to be affected by severe weather. 5. Responsive PWAs are built to fit in all types of screen sizes, so no matter from where users access to your site. A progressive web apps are developed with a single code which is adaptable to all kinds of devices and browsers. Top Framework for Progressive Web Apps The key element for building powerful progressive Web applications is an ideal platform. You must analyze which system is best suited to developing PWA before deciding on the most suitable one. While there are several options available, it’s advisable you to evaluate the pros and cons of each progressive web apps. 1. React It is one of the strong and highly functional PWA frameworks supported by Facebook. It is recommended by many developers as its highly extensive JavaScript library. The framework makes use of JSX to link with HTML structures. One can use various available packages to scale up their app and project further. Pros of React A prevalent ecosystem. It helps to create a flexible and scalable app. The rendering process becomes speedy because of virtual DOM. The code used to react to web apps can be used in native apps. Facebook maintains the code to ensure smooth operation and support. Cons of React The framework is more programmer oriented since it requires knowledge of JSX. As compared to JavaScript, the framework is quite complex. Higher flexibility, higher issue popup. Due to undefined methodology implementation becomes tricky. 2. Angular Developing of PWA using Angular is the new standard in the modern era of web development. Angular is introduced by Google. It is the most popular framework for the progressive web app and the latest version of the Angular framework has several new features for creating responsive and reliable PWS just like a native mobile application. Pros of Angular Easy to implement since the methodology used is quite simple. Community support in large numbers. Existence of IntelliSense and Typescript. MVC framework Cons of Angular Developers need to learn typescript for using this framework. A bit complex as compared to another framework. Older version needs high-level expertise. 3. Ionic Ionic is introduced in 2013 as open-source SDK. It is mainly based on Angular framework and Apache Cordova and since then, it is part of hybrid app development. It has a collection of components for both iOS and Android which basically used by the developers to develop the web pages which run inside the web browser with the help of a web view. They also offer community forum to connect other Iconic developers for any assistance or query. Pros of Ionic Due to its open-source feature, it can be obtained free and the development cost is reduced. Easier to learn for developers. Inbuilt tool allows easy maintenance. It has quite an extensive library for accessing API. Cons of Ionic Required to work on an existing app frequently with the latest updates on the framework. 4. Polymer It is an open-source lightweight framework developed by Google. It consists of a wide range of web components, templates, and progressive web tools. It makes an excellent choice for PWA development for making it own as it makes use of HTML/JSS/JS. Moreover, the tools and components used in the framework are supported on a wide variety of browsers. Note- Using this framework increases the size of PWA and hence the load time. Pros of polymer It features complete support, including data tier, responsive layout, and routing. Easy to understand API. Excellent documentation. Cons of polymer Less SEO friendly High Load Time No official IDE 5. Vue Though many of us don’t know much about it in comparison of Angular and React. But it is one of the most fast-growing libraries among many frameworks because of the ease in coding and high-speed rendering. Like, React you can use the additional package to enhance your app using Vue. Pros of Vue Supported by the big giants like Alibaba and Laravel. Since the code is simple, so it is easier for the developers to learn. Fast rendering with Virtual DOM Simple features and has a similar concept like Angular and React. Cons of Vue The framework is only supported by a single person, not by the company. Hence the support team is tiny. The advantage of flexibility causes more issues. Ending Thoughts PWA is fast evolving and game changer technology in the IT world, presently it is infancy stage but in the forthcoming years PWA gives a tough challenge to native apps. These are the main framework and features in which many companies rely upon for converting an idea into an app that merges the best of mobile and web. PWA technology makes the process of accessing app functions convenient for users. Undeniably, this technology is quickly becoming a dominant force in the world of app development. Which type of framework is right for you depends on your app needs, you can’t decide without the help of developers. Choose the quality developer and framework and enjoy what the progressive web app brings.
