Book Image

Progressive Web Apps with React

By : Domes
Book Image

Progressive Web Apps with React

By: Domes

Overview of this book

For years, the speed and power of web apps has lagged behind native applications. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) aim to solve this by bridging the gap between the web apps and native apps, delivering a host of exciting features. Simultaneously, React is fast becoming the go-to solution for building modern web UIs, combining ease of development with performance and capability. Using React alongside PWA technology will make it easy for you to build a fast, beautiful, and functional web app. After an introduction and brief overview of the goals of PWAs, the book moves on to setting up the application structure. From there, it covers the Webpack build process and the process of creating React components. You'll learn how to set up the backend database and authentication solution to communicate with Firebase and how to work with React Router. Next, you will create and configure your web app manifest, making your PWA installable on mobile devices. Then you'll get introduced to service workers and see how they work as we configure the app to send push notifications using Firebase Cloud Messaging. We'll also explore the App Shell pattern, a key concept in PWAs and look at its advantages regarding efficient performance. Finally, you'll learn how to add of?ine capabilities to the app with caching and confirm your progress by auditing your PWA with Lighthouse. Also, you'll discover helper libraries and shortcuts that will help you save time and understand the future of PWA development.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

App install banners and you


Being able to add to home screen is great functionality, but how will our user know that our application is installable, especially if they’ve never heard of PWAs?

Enter the Web App Install Banner. Previously, App Install Banners were a handy way to advertise your native app--see the following example from Flipboard:

Now, however, Google is leading the charge on PWA install banners, prompting the user to add to home screen. See the following example from the Chrome Dev Summit site:

This banner has the advantages of making your users aware that your site is a PWA, and for those unfamiliar with installable web apps, providing an entry point into the world of PWAs.

Here's what it looks like on your home screen when you click on Add in the preceding screenshot:

However, like everything in this section, this is new technology. As of now, firm support only exists on Chrome on Android and Opera for Android. Furthermore, there are firm criteria for when the install banner...