Progressive Web Apps - Does PWA Have a Future?

In a world where two-thirds of the population connects via mobile devices, a strong mobile presence is essential if you want to capture attention. The question is: how can you target mobile and desktop users equally without developing and maintaining both a mobile app (iOS and Android) and a responsive website?

In recent years, many web developers have become convinced that Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are the best answer. In this article, we'll look at whether they really represent the future of web design.

What Is a Progressive Web App (PWA)

The term "Progressive Web App" was coined in 2015 — basically a century ago in web-development terms — yet there is still confusion about what it actually is.

Essentially, a PWA is an app-like website that uses web technology to combine the best of both the web and native environments. It is built from three main components.

Website: at its core, every PWA is more or less a regular website written with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Since a PWA relies solely on JavaScript for interactivity, there's no need to install a special development environment to build one, and it already works in every modern web browser.

Web manifest: a PWA comes with a JSON file that tells the browser and the device that they're dealing with a PWA rather than an ordinary website. This JSON file contains information such as the PWA's name, its icon, its description, and the access it needs to work properly on the device.

Service worker: to provide the technical foundation for features traditionally associated only with native mobile apps — push notifications, rich offline experiences, periodic background sync, and more — a PWA uses a JavaScript script that runs in the background, independent of the website itself.

"PWAs are a natural evolution in how software is distributed and used," say the Google and Microsoft web developers behind Progressive Web Apps. This is the future of the mobile web, they note, "because it's built on web technology and isn't tied to any particular operating system or development environment."

A PWA is built from three main components

Reference: What Is PWA? Progressive Web Apps Explained for Beginners

Is PWA the Future of Responsive Web Design?

For almost 20 years (the first documented responsive-design website was published by Audi around 2002), web developers have stuck with the responsive-web-design approach so that a website can display properly on devices of any screen size, without having to maintain a separate mobile-only version of the same site.

The problem with responsive web design is that it doesn't fully meet the expectations of users accessing a site from devices with all kinds of different window and screen sizes. That's why many web designers are now asking, "Is PWA the future of responsive design?"

Specifically, responsive web design uses progressive enhancement but doesn't deliver native-like functionality regardless of the device it's viewed on. Progressive Web Apps solve this using service workers, and — beyond responsiveness — they bring together some fundamental design considerations that every web developer and designer should keep in mind.

・Handling change: the progressive nature of a PWA means more functionality can become available on later visits (or even in real time), so users need to be properly notified of every change through status notifications or other means.

・Push notifications: push notifications are one of the key features of a PWA. Their power to boost user engagement is well documented by now, but if handled poorly, push notifications can just as easily drive users away.

・Handling different states: a PWA must be designed with various states in mind, working offline just as well as online. Other states include network issues, content still loading, or content that has only partially loaded.

・Perceived performance: especially in emerging markets like India, where most people access the web from low-end devices, it's important to use loading-skeleton screens and transition animations to show users that progress is being made — thereby improving perceived performance.

・Accessibility: needless to say, a PWA must also comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

Key characteristics of a PWA

PWAs Offer Plenty of Benefits

Many major companies, including Twitter and Alibaba, already know the answer to "Is PWA the future of web design?" They've adopted PWA as part of their digital strategy and are reaping plenty of benefits from this next chapter of web design.

With its Twitter Lite Progressive Web App, the social media giant delivered a faster, more reliable, and more engaging mobile web experience — increasing pages per session by 65%, tweets sent by 75%, and cutting bounce rate by 20%.

Alibaba's online retail service AliExpress reported that after launching its PWA, average time spent per session rose by 74% across all browsers, and users viewed twice as many pages per session. The same thing happened when Alibaba launched a PWA for its B2B trading platform — showing that the benefits of PWA aren't limited to any single market vertical.

Reference: Progressive Web Apps (PWA): Advantages and Disadvantages Explained

Reference: 12 PWA App Case Studies Explained in Detail

PWA Has a Bright Future Ahead

PWAs represent the future of web design, letting web app developers create user experiences with the reach of the web and the capabilities of a native app. Like any new technology, they come with their own fundamental design considerations, but their many benefits make them well worth the investment.

At Miichisoft, we have a development team capable of handling both mobile apps and web systems (including PWA). We've also built an IT consulting team based in Japan since 2020, providing a one-stop service from requirements definition through design, development, and operation for whatever system or app you want to build.

If you have a need to build a PWA, a web system, or a mobile app, please feel free to reach out.
We'll be happy to put together a detailed proposal for you.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you very much.

Source: BrainHub (Progressive Web Apps: Is PWA the Future of Web Design?)