Thoughts on current push to PWA and changes proposed for Internet Protocols?

General
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Google is really pushing Progressive Web Applications and the recent update to Chrome makes it easier to develop and install PWA’s. Windows and Apple have also made changes to their operating systems to better support PWA’s.

Here is a link to a recent article on PWA’s.

Google recently stated that PWA’s currently in their play store need to have some sort of offline functionality at the very least so users can access content offline.

Around this time last year there was a focus on pushing people to learn about PWA’s and in July 2020 there were quite a few tutorials and courses created teaching people how to create them.

Now I am seeing a strong push to turn existing and new websites into PWA’s which I guess replace the mobile version of websites entirely for an “application” version. Android, Windows, IOS, Chrome Browser etc… are turning more focus to PWA integration. It seems that PWA’s are being pushed heavily to be the new standard in web development through 2022+.

And the new block chain protocol " IPFS:\ " that the brave web browser has adopted.
The proposed change to the underlying structure of the internet itself and how websites and all internet content will be accessed in the future.

The link below to the article on the brave browser adoption, the white paper link is in the article for those interested.

What are your thoughts to these game changing developments?

Are you investigating PWA development?
Have you put any thought into making your websites PWA accessible?

I can see immediate advantage to PWA version of websites, for one, instant access to the content offline and queing commenting on posts, articles until the device is online again.

The internet structure changes proposed and being worked on for later this year, I am not sure about yet. I am concerned with how this impacts web hosting and Domains, DNS etc… Especially since with IPFS your content is cached and may not get updated regularly so there could be multiple versions of your sites available and depending where the user is they could see one version and if they go to another location get something different. I don’t know how I like that idea.

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I am also not sure how IPFS works with security of your site. I mean can someone hijack your domain and for those in whatever area of the world get routed to the cloned or stolen site / domain? I am not sure how this works with bit chain or how easy it is to spoof a site. With HTTP / HTTPS it isn’t that easy IF the site is created correctly and the coding is written to eliminate the common pitfalls. Not sure with IPFS the pitfalls there that people aren’t looking for or don’t know about.

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Well, All of this stuff is new to me. I swapped over to Brave browser a while ago for several reasons but this whole protocol refresh is …interesting. Ive kind of dropped off the edge of web stuff for a while, so I shall look into this in bits later. I thought I hadn’t seen you around for a while, I guess you went down the rabbit hole of this stuff then.

Several interesting posts you’ve just put up.
Cheers, will check them out.

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The PWA drive has already been around for a few years, welcome aboard.

In case you have yet to come across it already then PWABuilder by Microsoft makes most things relatively easy if a person desires, Google also has Bubblewrap.

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this all sounds like a browser cache on steroids… think of the problems ppl have where the solution is to purge the browser cache and multiply that by an order of magnitude or more.

i’m not a fan of business that forces you into using an app to use their service vs using a browser on your mobile device… it’s intrusive and you have to sign an “i agree” document that gives away all your privacy rights.

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You can install the PWA within browsers such as Chrome and Edge.

Basically you turn your website into an offline application. Depending on your website and content it does add a new level of user interaction while at the same time reducing bandwidth on your existing hosting.

Both the regular and app version exist simultaneously you just “Activate” the PWA related javascript when “install web app” is chosen by the user. No change to content or having a separate mobile version of the site other than css media queries. Depending how your design it, the site can be the actual online website just “installed” offline with online functionality for fetching new content etc… Instead of redownloading the entire site each visit only content is updated in the “PWA.”

Or it can be a different user experience, you get to choose.

The new protocol for the internet itself, I don’t know how that works with caching exactly but seems it could cause problems with having multiple copies or incomplete versions of your sites all over the place cached in users computers, mobile devices, routers etc… Yuck.

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Yes, I do not live in the pinegrow forum and spend my time mostly elsewhere off of forums and social media. Thanks for noticing.

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This seemed pretty informative too, and highlights a whole kind of direction change with PWA, Microsoft, PWA… their change to Edge and etc etc.
Illuminating… well for me anyway

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Not sure what to think about this. I knew that MS had switched to Chromium for Edge. I didn’t realize what an investment they were making. Two thoughts:

  1. Does this mean that MS is now going to have an outsized voice in the direction of the chromium engine?
  2. Chromium will have access to a deeper API on Windows OS, but where does that leave Mac and Linux? Is Chromium going to be crippled for non-MS boxes?
    KMFMS!!!
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It really is a no-brainer that Pinegrow should now implement PWA output generation and/or deployment. Apps are going the PWA route, and Google and Microsoft are pushing it aggressively and are rewriting their flagship and other apps to PWAs.

I think it won’t be difficult at all for our Pinegrow dev team to get it done. It’s just a matter of the Pinegrow management recognizing the commercial opportunity soon enough.