But suggesting you choose the right framework for progressive apps, let us dwell on what progressive web applications are.
What are progressive web apps?
Progressive web apps are web applications that access transpire or precisely emerging web browser Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). It features along with a conventional amplification strategy to bring out a native application like the experience of its concerned user to cross-platform web applications.
The development of progressive web apps happened when native apps failed at delivering the enveloping experience.
With the looks of a native app, it’s built on an application shell model. It facilitates minimal page refreshes. With integrated APIs, it is made to feature and provide better reliability and enhanced potentials. PWAs are connectivity independent and can be accessed in areas with limited connectivity or offline. It is incredible with its installability.
It enables you to reach out to anyone, anytime from anywhere with a single codebase.
The JavaScript application works over browsers and at the same time brings around the features of native apps.
Some remarkable features of PWA are:
offline accessibility, push notifications, fast loading, microphone, storage, background updates, access to the device camera, and so on.
PWAs have been recognized and endorsed by major platforms like Google and Microsoft for Android and windows.
Know in detail and learn more about Progressive web apps, learn from Udemy courses!
What are the best Progressive Web App frameworks for 2021?
Following are the best progressive web app frameworks:
1. Angular PWA Framework:
Angular is a notable development of Google. It is one of the oldest and most popular frameworks for Progressive Web Apps since its creation in the year 2010. It enables the user to access it with ease and comfort.
Angular makes use of JavaScript for its formulations in its path of application development which are utterly reliable and flexible.
Not all the version of Angular facilitates the building of PWA. Angular 5 has been the first version to support PWA, with all the necessary Service worker scripts. Angular 5 was introduced in the year 2017. It includes a new service worker that favors the boosting of the built-in support of the framework.
Previously Angular dealt with the problem of not being able to live along with the complex dynamic application, however, the issue has been resolved in the latest version.
Angular is remarkable for its ever-going maintenance by Google and the involvement of a considerable circle of developers.
The command-line interface tool has also cut short the learning curve for angular making it more of a popular choice.
One drawback of Angular is the reduction in the learning curve.
Read to know more, How long does it take to learn Angular?
2. React PWA Framework:
It is complicated than any other progressive web app framework. Yet it has so much popularity among developer for its amazing features and functionalities.
React is a creation of Facebook, launched in the year 2013. It is another very popular and highly used PWA framework. React facilitates a great JavaScript library.
This PWA framework enables the user to create single-page applications as well as multi-paged apps.
The framework serves very helpfully in creating scalable and flexible applications. The rendering process in React is very speedy due to the virtual Document object model (DOM).
It provides smooth running of code, due to its good maintenance and support from Facebook.
React serves a very pervasive ecosystem. The code that is entitled to used to React for web apps, can also be used for native apps.
As its strong sets, React also has some stumbling blocks. They are,
To use react one needs to be knowledgeable about JSX. So, it is mainly open to the programmer for its usage.
The framework is complicated to some extend. The implementation is tricky, as it lacks a prominent methodology.
3. Ionic PWA Framework:
Introduced in 2013 it is an amazing amalgamation of Angular frameworks as well as, Apache Cordova. It is an open-source framework. It has a very flexible tech stack and gives tough competition to other PWA framework providers.
Its library consists of components for both Android and iOS.
This ensures easy maintenance of the in-built applications. It facilitates a huge library and enables you to access APIs without coding.
Ionic entails a library of about 250 pre-built plugins, in order to add native device functionality to the solution.
One point that leads the Ionic PWA framework back is that you keep up with frequent updates in order to track the latest updates on the framework.
4. Vue PWA framework:
Newer in the domain compared to angular and react but quite competitive in creating its goodwill. It is one of the fastest-growing libraries from the set of all frameworks.
It is an open-source front-end JavaScript framework, that ensures lowering your developmental budget.
Projects like Alibaba and Lavarel use Vue to build their user interface.
The two very characteristics of Vue PWA frameworks, that make it popular are – simplistic coding and rendering at a high speed.
It is a hub of features that simplifies your work when you choose to work with Vue. It enrolls higher flexibility and simpler in structure. Thus, it is user-friendly and easier to work with.
It capacitates for dynamic and complex applications.
Drawing the drawbacks of frameworks of PWA are:
The community is small, as it is owned by a single person and not a company. Also Vue and as claimed by the users, the advantage of flexibility issues are faced when accessed.
5. Polymer PWA framework:
The polymer is an open-source library. It is written in HTML. It is solely developed, for creating web applications using reusable web components.
Like Angular, Polymer is also a product of Google used in web features like Play Music, Google Earth, etc.
Polymer is a growing community and gaining popularity over time. It provides conditional and repeats templates along with gesture events.
The APIs here are easier to be understood compared to others.
It provides all-over web app stack supports. It is a compact of data tier, routing, and responsive layouts.
With its tough features, it reduces the space between a web developer and designer and cuts down on expenditure.
As for the good nodes, it also persists some drawbacks. It lacks an official IDE. It does not have a complete Search Engine Optimization which casts some effect on web app development using polymer.
The page loading time is more than any other PWAs. At times, it needs debugging tools, because of the embedded developmental tools present in it.
6. Svelte PWA framework:
Svelte introduced in 2019 is a reactive framework. It gained a good reputation for its component-based framework and significant adopters such as The New York Times or Go Daddy.
The framework is turnings with ease as it enables access to plain CSS along with integrated progressive CSS web app frameworks.
It facilitates the following key properties:
- Smaller bundle size,
- Fast page loading speed,
- Application of leaner codes, and
- Syntactic analysis.
The starter template involves PWA packages, which have basic server workers and boilerplates for the social sharing of metadata.
The patches that pull back Svelte are, its community is small as it is newer in the bucket. It lacks TypeScript support since engineers prefer TypeScript these days. Its documentation is believed not to be sufficiently developed.
What is the difference between web apps and progressive web apps?
A web app is a website that is designed to be accessible on every device in such a way the content accommodates itself as per the screen size and order.
Whereas, Progressive web apps, are a type of web app that has all the features of a web app along with some integrated features for an amazing user experience.
General web apps are build using web tech. stack such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc)
PWAs are similar but use frameworks but better interfaces.
All Progressive web apps are native web apps, but not all web apps are progressive web apps.
Progressive web apps are enabled with much better and superior features like quick loading time, easy accessibility, engaging appearance, interactivity, updated real-time and data accessibility, etc.
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