About Lesson
Progressive Web App attributes: What makes a PWA?
Let’s get nostalgic for a moment. The term Progressive Web App was coined in 2015 by Alex Russell. Together with Frances Berriman, Russell “enumerated the attributes of [a] new class of applications” based on the gradual and powerful evolution of modern browsers. Here are those attributes as Russell and Berriman envisioned them:
- Responsive: To fit any form factor
- Connectivity independent: Progressively-enhanced with Service Workers (we’ll explain these in more detail below) to let them work offline
- App-like-interactions: Adopt a Shell + Content application model to create appy navigations & interactions
- Fresh: Transparently always up-to-date thanks to the Service Worker update process
- Safe: Served via TLS (a Service Worker requirement) to prevent snooping
- Discoverable: Are identifiable as “applications” thanks to W3C Manifests and Service Worker registration scope allowing search engines to find them
- Re-engageable: Can access the re-engagement UIs of the OS; e.g. Push Notifications
- Installable: To the home screen through browser-provided prompts, allowing users to “keep” apps they find most useful without the hassle of an app store
- Linkable: Meaning they’re zero-friction, zero-install, and easy to share.