Building Progressive Web Apps

Move over native apps. New progressive web apps have capabilities that will soon make you obsolete. With this hands-on guide, web developers and business execs will learn how―and why―to develop web apps that take advantage of features that have so far been exclusive to native apps. Features that include fast load times, push notifications, offline access, homescreen shortcuts, and an entirely app-like experience.

By leveraging the latest browser APIs, progressive web apps combine all of the benefits of native apps, while avoiding their issues. Throughout the book, author Tal Ater shows you how to improve a simple website for the fictional Gotham Imperial Hotel into a modern progressive web app. Plus:

• Understand how service workers work, and use them to create sites that launch in an instant, regardless of the user’s internet connection
• Create full-screen web apps that launch from the phone’s homescreen just like native apps
• Re-engage users with push notifications, even days after they have left your site
• Embrace offline-first and build web apps that gracefully handle loss of connectivity
• Explore new UX opportunities and challenges presented by progressive web apps

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introducing Progressive Web Apps

Chapter 2. Your First Service Worker

Chapter 3. The CacheStorage API

Chapter 4. Service Worker Lifecycle and Cache Management

Chapter 5. Embracing Offline-First

Chapter 6. Storing Data Locally with Indexed DB

Chapter 7. Ensuring Offline Functionality with Background Sync

Chapter 8. Service Worker to Page Communication with Post Messages

Chapter 9. Grabbing Homescreen Real Estate with Installable Web Apps

Chapter 10. Reach Out with Push Notifications

Chapter 11. Progressive Web App UX

Chapter 12. What’s Next for PWAs

Appendix A. Service Workers: A Great Opportunity to Adopt ES2015

Appendix B. Full-Page Interstitials or: How I Learned to Hate the Door Slam

Appendix C. CORS Versus NO-CORS

About the Author

Tal Ater is a developer, consultant and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. His experience includes both client, server and product development, and managing R&D and product departments. He is very passionate and involved with the open source community. His open source contributions, including his popular Service Worker and Speech Recognition libraries, are used by millions of people every day. He has written and spoken extensively on web development, product development, security and open source. His work and research has been extensively featured in the media, including Forbes, The New York Times and the BBC, making his mother very proud.