Progressive Web App – Is Progressive Web Application (PWA) the Future of Web Design and Development?
Yes, you heard it right! PWA (Progressive Web Apps) is the future of web design and development. We live in a digitally equipped world where people use and rely on smartphones more than anything. Smartphones have become one of the most widely used personal accessories today, and everything is designed to suit mobile screens.
In this article, let us discuss further what PWA is. We will also be explaining how progressive web apps is the future of web design and development and how it dominates native app development.
We will also be explaining the benefits of PWA and how it will benefit your business.
What are Progressive Web Apps (PWA)?
PWA is a hybrid approach where you will be able to develop cross-platform technologies quickly that will run on both mobile apps and websites. You can access it easily from both desktop and mobile alike. It can also run within a web browser seamlessly.
Twitter Lite, Facebook Lite, and Uber are some examples of PWAs. In simple terms, Progressive Web Apps are web pages that act like apps. They offer continuity, responsiveness, and an app-like experience on both mobile and web pages.
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JS Frameworks are all used to develop Progressive Web Apps. These apps are highly acknowledged and accepted by users as they are robust, fast, and reliable. The biggest advantage is that it will be cheaper for businesses to roll out apps for users with PWA than create separate desktop and mobile apps that are heavy and costly.
What are the benefits of Progressive Web Apps?
Now let us examine the top benefits of PWA in detail. Progressive Web Apps are similar to mobile apps from all sides. Some of the advantages of PWA are;
- Faster loading
- Consistent performance even under unstable networks
- Small size
- App-like experience
- Can add the shortcut to the home screen
- Works in offline mode also
- Allows push notification
- Do no need aggregators
- Consistent updates
- Easy to engage with users
- Streamlines and improves user experience
As we have seen some of the top benefits of PWA, let us now see why Progressive Web Apps are the future of web design and development in detail.
Why is PWA the future of web design and development?
As per reports, the first responsive website was launched in 2002 by the famous Audi. They tried hard to make their website appear clean and responsive on large and small screens. One of the drawbacks of this responsive design evolution is that it only fitted perfectly on fixed screen sizes. As there had been a rapid revolution of smartphones and tablets of different sizes and dimensions in the later years, they needed a more versatile web design and development strategy and tools.
Components of PWA
We consider Progressive Web Apps as the future of web design and development because of its three components. Let us see what the three components of PWA are;
- Website
- Web Manifest
- Service Worker
PWA apps are basically websites made of HTML, CSS, etc., and use JavaScript to stimulate interactivity on websites. Progressive Web Apps uses a JSON file that contains its icon, description, and information to identify the website as a PWA. It makes itself clear that they are not dealing with any ordinary websites.
PWA uses a service worker to enable mobile app functionalities like push notifications, home screen shortcuts, offline sync, background refreshing, etc.
Future of web design and development
PWAs are independent of any operating systems or development platforms as they are purely web technologies that offer an app-like experience to the user.
Below given are the factors that make PWA the future of web design and development.
- Dealing with change
- Push notification
- Different states
- Perceived performance
- Accessibility
- Cost-effectiveness
- Consistent UX
- Conversion
Now let us see all the points in detail here.
Dealing with change: It is important to notify users of any possible changes that happen gradually or in real-time.
Push notifications: Engage with your users using push notifications, and let them know of the updates, new features, and alerts.
Different states: PWA is designed to work both online and offline. It should be able to handle network issues effectively to load data and load faster otherwise.
Perceived performance: Some countries are still working on network coverages, internet speed, and low-end devices. Therefore, PWA apps must be capable to load on all types of devices and offer consistency.
Accessibility: It should follow and be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The purpose of it is to make things more accessible to everyone.
Cost-effectiveness: PWAs cost only a fraction of what you normally spend to design and develop mobile apps and web apps, as they use the same source code on both platforms.
Consistent UX: The ultimate benefit and aim of PWA Apps are to ensure a consistent user experience by working around the UI part.
Conversion: PWAs are very useful and purposeful as they increase the mobile conversion rates faster.
Offline Access: Thanks to the service worker in PWA that allows users to access offline apps and engage. Users will be able to fetch the previously accessed contents.
Now as we have seen the critical components of a PWA and the factors that drive them to be the future of web design and development in detail. The best part is that it works perfectly with e-Commerce sites as well.
Concluding on Progressive Web Apps
Now as you know the importance, features, and capabilities of the PWA, remember that you will always need versatile, proven, and expert web developers to build the right app for you.
PWAs are the future of web design and development. It is fast loading, easy to deploy, cost-effective, and works on both IOS and Android. PWAs are for sure the app of the future.
If you need to ensure the desired quality of a PWA, if you need additional information on PWA, or if you need expert advice on building PWA apps, contact us at [email protected]
