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Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

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Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#71

Post by ntaso »

osrec wrote: post #66
ntaso wrote: post #64

I want PWAs to succeed, because I would love to publish close-to-native apps without an app store. I think PWAs are a great thing for the open web. However, hyping PWAs with unrealistic expectations doesn't do any good. The Ionic team talks in the same vein. I like Ionic, I don't like hype. Here are a few reasons why PWAs aren't there yet and probably won't replace most apps in the near future: - No native APIs. Yeah…

One mobile safari bug that really irritates me is not being able to move the cursor on a text input element. Basically, if the text in there is longer than the element, you won't be able to move the cursor left or right. You can only work with the visible part of the input element. Try it - it's really quite terrible!

I know. Same with textareas, especially if they're wrapped in some kind of scrollable container. It is a mess. I don't know why it's not being fixed.

The only reason I can think of is that Apple intentionally keeps the mobile experience slightly crappy so that people perceive native apps having higher quality.

Of all companies, Apple should be the one with the best usability in a browser, no? But hardly so.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#72

Post by Andrex »

millstone wrote: post #22

> It is now possible to build PWAs that are indistinguishable from their native counter parts It's not now possible, but even if it were, it would only be because the native app does not in fact use native components. The Starbucks app already doesn't feel native, with its custom casing, fonts, navigation and behaviors.

It's reasonably doable to get a PWA looking and feeling like a native Android app if you opt to use Material.io or Polymer's Paper Elements. Some behavior isn't 1:1 though, which can be frustrating.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#73

Post by WA »

_noqo wrote: post #65

It's possible to sell a PWA like sell a $5 app on the App Store/Play Store? The author doesn't address this topic and it's important to make a transition imho.

Well, since the trend goes towards In-App-Purchaes, you could simply paywall some functionality and slap Stripe or PayPal on your website. That should give users a relatively similar experience. Don't even have to share 30% that way. It's up to you.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#74

Post by celeritascelery »

criddell wrote: post #17
djrogers wrote: post #11

I think one of the uphill battles you're going to have to fight with PWAs is end-user habit. If Joe consumer is looking for a great way to see a weather forecast he's going to look for an app. Jane wants to play podcasts - she's looking for an app. Ezra wants a Jewish calendar - app store. 99 times out of a hundred for the smartphone carrying crowd, the app store has become a replacement for google searches when it c…

You don't have to change users, you have to get Google and Apple to change. There's no technical reason they couldn't include web apps in their app stores. In the article the author speculates that both Google and Apple are working on this. I could see Google embracing web apps, but I'd be surprised if Apple does.

I would be seriously surprised if any smartphone company added PWA's to their app stores. Web apps inherently can't take advantage of many platform/model specific features. Even thing like UI elements, fonts, gestures etc. OS manufacturers want their feature sets used because it adds value to their ecosystem. As a consumer of smartphone apps, I tend to agree with them.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#75

Post by sjun »

ntaso wrote: post #64

I want PWAs to succeed, because I would love to publish close-to-native apps without an app store. I think PWAs are a great thing for the open web. However, hyping PWAs with unrealistic expectations doesn't do any good. The Ionic team talks in the same vein. I like Ionic, I don't like hype. Here are a few reasons why PWAs aren't there yet and probably won't replace most apps in the near future: - No native APIs. Yeah…

> - They still run in a browser. It shows an address bar and whatever else your browser is always showing. Try Twitter's PWA right now: https://lite.twitter.com It's way too easy to accidentally swipe back. And then, Twitter being a shitty Single-Page-App, the browser loses its scroll position.

Android doesn't show the address bar. I don't have iOS but it seems like Safari support for PWA isn't as far along as Chrome.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#76

Post by problems »

conroy wrote: post #35
e12e wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> look up when the next bus is coming That's ridiculous argument against offline use - bus schedules are small enough data that we print them out and carry them in our pockets. Sure, if the bus company socks, it might be nice to know about changes due to roadwork, real-time updates (ie look up the next bus via it's gps location and speed) - but doing off-line route planning would be a great feature...

It sounds like you're not a daily bus rider. The printed bus schedules are useless due to delays. I take transit into work everyday and you need to know when the next bus is coming or you risk waiting at a station for twenty minutes.

Yeah, they're majorly helpful for transit commuters - you can avoid extended wait times, know when you can take a walk to the convenience store or even know when there's another or a bigger bus coming so you can decide whether it's worth getting on the packed bus or waiting for the next one. It really does change the transit game a lot.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#77

Post by kevmo314 »

scaryclam wrote: post #68
CamelCaseName wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like such an app could download the bus schedule and do this all offline (and let the user know it is simply an estimate) In fact, I really wish Google Maps did this, but I guess the damage of getting it wrong once is far greater than getting it right 100 times. Phones are pretty powerful with huge storage. If you can compute directions offline, why not buses? Saving a map or route is tiny compared to the 64,…

I think you may misunderstand. The bus company provides live information. This is not a schedule, so cannot be downloaded ahead of time.

What if I just want the schedule though? It's not unusual that I'm underground (perhaps getting off a subway train) and don't have connection.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#78

Post by aeorgnoieang »

scaryclam wrote: post #16
aeorgnoieang wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to use the 'app' offline is a pretty important feature tho. I almost always have web access, but most apps also almost never need it (for me to do what I want to do).

This really depends on what the app is . A few of my friends use apps to look up when the next bus is coming. I use the official website. There's zero need for their apps to be available offline, they only thing they're for is looking up the next bus, which requires an internet connection. The app in this case gives absolutely no advantage to the website. I find that's the case for a lot of phone apps

Nah, you're wrong! [You're not totally wrong, tho you wrote in really broad absolutes.] Even your example would be a much better app with offline support. The app shouldn't stop working just because of a hiccup in the user's internet connectivity.

If I, the user, switch from the when-is-the-next-bus-coming app to another app and then switch back (within, say, a few minutes), it'd be really great if the app could default to showing me info based on the data it just downloaded instead of automatically resetting the UI and waiting to update it until it downloads the data again.

Re: Betting on the Web – Why I Build PWAs

#79

Post by kevmo314 »

celeritascelery wrote: post #74
criddell wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to change users, you have to get Google and Apple to change. There's no technical reason they couldn't include web apps in their app stores. In the article the author speculates that both Google and Apple are working on this. I could see Google embracing web apps, but I'd be surprised if Apple does.

I would be seriously surprised if any smartphone company added PWA's to their app stores. Web apps inherently can't take advantage of many platform/model specific features. Even thing like UI elements, fonts, gestures etc. OS manufacturers want their feature sets used because it adds value to their ecosystem. As a consumer of smartphone apps, I tend to agree with them.

You can already add PWA's to your home screen: https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/engage-and-re...

It's not that far of a leap to think they'll be added to the app store.

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