Getting Started With Top Progressive Web App Frameworks

Progressive Web App has recently arrived on the web and in app development. It is not at all fair to say that they took both worlds by storm at least a few years apart from the widespread adoption of the PWA.

Progressive web app frameworks

Why should we keep our eyes on PWA?

A common selling point is that a continuous web application brings the best of both the web and the mobile development world. This is usually supported by two main advantages.

  • PWAs look and sound like native apps, which help better mobile user information instead of the standard web page. Considering that mobile traffic reaches 51%, this sounds like a big deal.
  • PWAs store data on the client side, reducing the number of network transfers. Similar to a traditional application that uses Android or iOS as a virtual machine, PWA uses a browser as a VM.

The first point is already important – user experience explains the success of the software the most. However, it is controversial: PWAs lack the same native integration of APIs, and are limited.

Benefits of progressive web app frameworks

  1. Offline mode
  2. Good performance
  3. No installation and updates required
  4. Field-specific features
  5. Low data usage
  6. Independent App Store

The second point, on the other hand, is actually development. The ability to communicate with stored data has many advantages – such as PWA works offline, and all user interaction is much faster.

First step is to check the toolkit

Continuous Web App Development has great potential. It is a skill that engineers need to begin testing if they are not already doing so. For businesses, the benefits are obvious, too. Statistics show that companies that have adopted PWAs have seen a rapid increase in traffic and time spent on the page.

  • Twitter traffic increased by more than 65% on pages per session, 75% more Tweets, and 20% reduction rates – a clear indication of an developed UI.
  • Hulu saw 27% repeat visitors – proof of high customer satisfaction;
  • Mobify increased their natural traffic by 2.3 times.

Additional benefits

  • Modularity: React separates components effectively, allows you to control mean and unbalanced features, and re-uses functionality;
  • Works well on SPA and MPA alike: you can use both PWA structures;
  • The possibilities of working with Next.js allow for the production of static and separate content for the server, integration of APIs, etc.

Angular PWA library

Angular has enabled continuous web app support in its 5th edition. The draft uses an improved version of Typescript, which allows for the presentation of voluntary vertical typing. This means you will set up an integrated typing system for the entire project, catch bugs in real time, and save better coded code.

Additional benefits

  • Collaboration: due to dual commitment, Angular has always been good at managing collaborative operations. Since PWAs should feel like native apps, the level of interaction should be very high. Angular, however, has the dignity of one of the most responsive frameworks.
  • Angular service provider is supported on many browsers, including Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Samsung, UC Browser for Android.

Top PWA development frameworks

The selection criteria for the PWA development frameworks were performance, ecosystem, speed, and SPA / MPA support. We have highlighted the most popular tools – because they offer better interaction and have more resources.

React PWA library

Building continuous web applications in React offers two important benefits.

Vue.js currently does not offer a comprehensive integrated PWA development solution, and there are many niche frameworks and libraries created by the community.

One of our favorite is Vue Storefront – an open-source tool for building web-based apps for online marketing. Users find the right front elements, reusable libraries for images, and templates.

The biggest competitive advantage of Vue is its small size and fast performance. Also, its community has grown significantly over the years, until it became a full React and Angular competition.

Additional benefits

  • Many good templates: here the boys built a PWA calculator with reusable features;
  • Easy to read: Vue has a simple mind, and has no concept like other JS frameworks. Engineers can stick to the template or take a route from the beginning.

Ionic PWA framework

The Ionic PWA framework is a user-friendly UI toolkit develope on top of other frameworks. Its two most popular versions are Ionic React and Ionic Angular. Unlike React Native, Ionic uses a web layer in its apps instead of directly interacting with native components. At its core, the framework creates an ideal environment for PWA development.

Additional benefits

  • PWA-focused texts: Ionic provides more information on PWA development, provides free guidelines, tutorials, and tools;
  • Opportunity to choose between Angular and React: you can benefit from a large ecosystem of two of the most popular frameworks;

Conclusion

Most of the agencies already support PWA libraries and invest in their growth. Developing communities understand that technology can be the future of the web and the app development needed. If you have not yet invested in a PWA development team, it might be the right time.