Could Progressive Web Apps Be the Future of Web Development?

November 30, 2015 at 2:55 pm By

It’s safe to say that a vast majority of the web-browsing is still done on PC’s and laptops. However the amount of browsing being done on mobile phones and tablets has become enormous. This means there could be a greater shift in the development of more mobile apps steering browsers away from mobile websites that are quite frankly pretty slow.

Facebook Instant ArticlesΒ is theoretically predicated on speed. The Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP) spearheaded by Twitter and Google and will launch in early 2016 with thousands of publishers already on board,” according to Arc by Applause.

“To a certain extent, AMP and Instant Articles are a patch on a more systemic problem in that mobile Web applications and websites are just not fundamentally built for smartphones or tablets.”

It’s all about performance and the plain simple truth which is, mobile websites just aren’t as fast as mobile apps can be. Dan Rowinski of Arc by Applause, believes that progressive web apps will be the aim of developers. Rowinski also said that hybrid apps, in his opinion, are the wrong approach to solving the performance issues in mobile browsing speeds.

“Progressive Web apps are an idea first espoused by Google engineer Alex Russell in June 2015,” according to Rowinski’s report.

“In a nut shell, progressive Web apps start out as tabs in Chrome and become progressively more ‘app’ like the more people use them, to the point where they can be pinned on the home screen of a phone or in the app drawer and have access to app-like properties such as notifications and offline use. Progressive Web apps are linkable with an URL, fully responsive and secure.”

It’s obvious that the intent is progression, after all, it is in the name of the approach. For many developers it might be all in the preference, however Rowinski remains passionate throughout his explanation in trying to drive home the fact that mobile browsing is changing and the new approach seems to be the best way to mesh with the times.

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