Why Progressive Web Apps?

[MUSIC] 0:00 Hey everyone, I'm Guil, a front-end web development teacher here at Tree House. 0:04 In this workshop, you'll learn a new way of delivering amazing 0:09 user experiences on the web with progressive web apps or PWA's. 0:12 These are web applications that use a collection of modern web technologies, 0:16 design concepts, and web APIs, to provide native app-like experiences 0:20 on all types of devices, from laptops and tablets, to smartphones. 0:25 The way we build apps for the web, along with the tools and technologies, 0:28 are constantly evolving. 0:32 Recent advancements in browsers have allowed web app development 0:34 to catch up to mobile app development. 0:38 As Google Chrome engineer Alex Russell states, building 0:41 immersive apps using web technology no longer requires giving up the web itself. 0:44 Building and distributing native applications for 0:49 a mobile operating systems like iOS, Android, or Windows is a lot of work. 0:52 Add a web application to the mix and a company can spend a lot of resources 0:57 to support the same product on different devices. 1:01 And native apps, while they're mostly reliable, performant, and 1:05 convenient to use, are distributed through third party tools like app stores, and 1:09 need to be downloaded entirely before being experienced by users. 1:14 And studies have shown that on average, an app loses 20% of its users for 1:18 every step needed to start using the app. 1:23 And there are many steps to using a mobile application. 1:26 First, a user needs to make sure the app is available for their chosen platform. 1:29 They search for the app in a store, download it, while making sure they have 1:33 enough space on their device, install it, and finally, open it. 1:37 And for developers, creating a native mobile app provides other hurdles. 1:42 After you've built the app, you need to get it into the App Store. 1:47 You submit the app to the store. 1:50 Wait for approval, and repeat the process each time you update your app. 1:52 Developers also need to be mindful of version fragmentation in native apps. 1:57 Not all users will be running the same version of the app 2:02 with all the latest updates. 2:04 Some are running older versions while other users are running newer versions. 2:06 Now there are plenty of good reasons for building a native app. 2:11 Well-built native apps consume less data, 2:13 and they're faster because many of the resources reside on the device itself. 2:16 And for apps that are used frequently, or which leverage the sensors and 2:20 most of the hardware features of the device, native apps can be the way to go. 2:24 But for a developer or company that's building a native app for 2:29 a product on iOS, Android, and Windows devices, as well as supporting a website, 2:32 knowing the advantages progressive web apps provide could save loads of time and 2:37 development costs. 2:41 You could build one web app to replace them all. 2:43 As described by Google, who originally proposed the idea of progressive web apps. 2:46 Progressive web apps use modern web capabilities to deliver and 2:52 app-like experience. 2:56 They evolve from pages and browser tabs to immersive, top-level apps, 2:57 maintaining the web's low friction at every moment. 3:01 So in other words, progressive web apps take advantage of the latest browser 3:04 features so that they're able to behave like native apps. 3:08 When you build a progressive web app user simply visit your URL and 3:11 immediately start using your app. 3:15 And this eliminates the friction of installing native apps because there's no 3:17 unnecessary downloading and installation required. 3:21 Anyone with a web browser has access to your app. 3:24 So coming up in this workshop I'll teach you the important parts 3:27 of progressive web app development. 3:30 You'll learn about the characteristics, technologies, 3:32 and architecture models that together produce an app-like experience on the web. 3:34 By the end, you'll be able to get started with your own progressive web app, or 3:38 at least begin ideating and 3:42 talking about this exciting new way of building web applications. 3:44