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Many big names such as Twitter, Forbes Magazine, and many more are now the leaders among the best PWA development companies. PWA managed to blend mobile and the web easily and make optimum use of technology.
Progressive Web Apps have opened the door to opportunities to create rich experiences on the mobile web. This has become possible with the help of standardized features in JavaScript and web browsers. It depends on web developers how crucially they utilize these features of progressive web apps to develop exceptional user experience (UX).
It is a cross-platform application development platform that eases the work of Android and iOS app developers. Progressive web app developers have been trying to compete with the functionalities of native apps.
Difference Between PWAs and Websites
From a designer's point of view, building a PWA looks very similar to a web app. But from the user's point of view, it might behave like a native app. One of the most prominent differences between a normal website and PWAs is that PWA is distributed. Also, they are web apps that finish the need to download them from any app store. Users can download this app by adding them to the home screen in their web browser.
Whenever there is a "Add to home screen" button in the browser, it is a surefire sign showing that the user is interacting with a PWA development company. Progressive web apps take much less data as compared to native apps. While, on the one hand, native applications reside on the user's phones and consume memory, PWAs need not be downloaded. They can be accessed when users go to that particular website. This is the time when data is used. These advanced applications are great data savers.
Advantages of PWA Over Websites
Progressive Web Apps have revolutionized the perception of mobile users application development and web development. A progressive web app looks way more attractive than a regular website. It can run in a full-screen mode giving exceptional user experience and easy browser navigation. It behaves like a typical app but also poses some UX development risks. It works offline and has a more improved performance than a website. It has no requirement for installation or buying. This results in no app store submission, saving a lot of money and development time. It includes some specific hardware features, such as push notifications. Publishers, as well as developers, have total control over how to implement such features. It opens the doors to creating solutions for advertising and marketing new content over the web.
It acts as a bridge between the mobile platform app and the website. Many professionals worldwide are already shifting towards progressive web apps to ensure better relationships with customers and fellow marketers. Studies also show that progressive web app banners conversion rates 5 to 6 times more often than native install banners.
Top UI/UX Concerns of Progressive Web Apps
When a PWA is designed, various concerns must be addressed to ensure the motive's success. First of all, the idea of PWA must be clear in its design so that it can reach more and more customers. Below are some of the top user interface concerns. Developers must look into it to create a highly meaningful and interactive application that serves the purpose and provides a faster ROI.
1. System Fonts
Making users feel comfortable while using progressive web app development services is important. The style can be improved slightly to match the user's operating system before implementing different menus and buttons per platform. The preferable font is different for different operating systems. For instance, the preferable fonts for Android and iPhone app development are different from each other.
2. App Icons
Mobile developers always pay extra attention to the app's icons as it is the first thing any user notices. Since PWA allows the app to be added to the phone screen, it will reside beside other native apps. So, it is important for the app icon to be professional and attractive to create a longer impression on the customers. A user may not be interested in clicking on an icon that does not seem interesting to them.
3. Touch Interactions
It is very important to implement touch interactions very well. There can be many examples of touch interactions, such as "pull to refresh" or "swipe to dismiss," which can ease users' work. Such interactions have a positive impact on the minds of users. But this will only happen if it works as expected. It is important to test them on real devices to ensure no error or lagging is there when the whole app is brought to the market.
4. Shareable Content
As far as progressive web app development services are considered, the current URL often needs to be more inaccessible or difficult to access. Thus it becomes important for the developers to ensure that the users can share what they watch with their contacts. This can be easily executed by adding a sharing button with the PWA. Another important thing to notice is that if the developers are planning to implement social sharing buttons, it must be made sure to delay the loading of the 3rd party JavaScript so that the primary content is loaded before that.
5. Touch Feedback
The tappable areas that do not give touch feedback can be highly frustrating to the users and leave them confused. When a button or any tappable area is clicked, the user should be left in ambiguity whether the tap was recognized or not. The main focus should be on the taps so that they get recognized. The tapped region can change color so that it shows some changes that help the user gain a sense of surety. It can also be done by immediately showing a material ripple or transitioning to a different page.
Below Are 5 Tips Which Can Be Used To Ensure A Great User Experience For Progressive Web Applications
There is one thing that advanced web applications have changed; it is the perception of people towards normal websites. Earlier after applications came, people started using them more and normal websites had to work very hard to attract visitors. Now, after PWA's, the users have again started using browsers and websites that look like mobile applications. Above are some advantages of advanced web applications.
There are many reasons why enterprises have started choosing PWAs over normal websites and even native applications. The biggest reason is that they save a lot of costs and are cross-platform-cross-platform means they can be used on any mobile device, irrespective of the operating system.
Another important thing is the user experience that PW applications provide to the user. PW Applications have a user experience that feels like a typical mobile application. These applications can be used with the help of a web browser, and they don't even take up any space on the user's devices.
Let's look at the tips below to improve the UX of advanced web applications:
1. Avoid Common UX Mistakes
Designing a progressive web application is no less than designing a native mobile web experience application; they look the same and have almost the same features, be it Android or iPhone application development. Transitions and movement of the pages are also the same. So, the developers and the designers need to ensure they avoid falling into the same loopholes while developing a PWA.
Try to recall the mistakes which used to happen while developing or designing a native application and make sure they don't get repeated here. Keep in mind that web applications should also be compatible with most mobile phones because screen resolutions and specifications are very different.
Below are some problems which should be avoided:
Blocked Transition on a Page
The pages sometimes need to catch up whenever there is some network issue. The designers and developers need to solve the issue. Even if the page's contents do not change, the page should not lag. There needs to be some way by which the users can still use the available data and the features. The transition should not be blocked; it should always be allowed. The issue can be resolved if the designers use skeleton screens. Skeleton screens are the screens that help the users to keep moving through the web application even when the network is down.
No Response to Touch or Click
Now, users face many problems while using native mobile applications. This problem should be solved so that users' touch or the click should not go black; this creates a state of frustration, and they might terminate the app. To keep the user engaged, the designers must design a page that has the power to respond to the touch by any gesture. This will let the user know that their touch is being taken and the application has stayed strong.
Designers work so hard on websites and advanced web applications; they need to put in some extra effort and work with their developers to fix this problem which might not seem big but has a big effect on the users.
Problems while Scrolling
There are some conditions where the scrolling becomes tough; sometimes, it stops altogether. These moments are very frustrating for the users. They often end with the users closing the progressive web app or the native application. The designers and the developers need to ensure that the scrolling feature is always working on the progressive web application.
The scrolling option should always continue working whether the website is processing something or the network needs to be better. The applications have many things that can keep the users engaged while the page is processing some things. The scrolling feature can allow the users to read something while the page is transitioning to the next page. This is very important, and the designers must keep this in mind. It significantly affects the user experience of the progressive web application.
Font Related Problems
The designers should focus more on device fonts than custom fonts during mobile application development. Users may not have the same font installed on their device, and in that condition, they will not be able to see the content properly. This will also help the users see everything on the website in its simplest form. Custom fonts are sometimes difficult to understand, so it is better to use basic device fonts. Custom fonts are also important to make the web page look attractive, but the designers should only use them at the places where they fit. Using them everywhere will make them look unattractive and not so good.
Unexpected Gestures
The User Interface and experience of some web applications or websites are so difficult to understand that users keep scrolling through them. They don't know what to touch and what to open. It is advised to keep it simple and give everything proper space. The users need to understand just by looking at what the feature will do. It is sometimes difficult for the users to design it in a manner that the users can understand it. Keep everything sorted properly. Keep everything in a different place; that will make it look not lovely.
2. Prefer Using Native UI on the Web
- Polymer Elements: Those who know about JavaScript will know about it. This is a JavaScript library, and it helps developers in building amazing progressive web applications. Android and iOS app developers can create custom and reusable HTML elements from this. They can also leverage web components and HTTP 2.
- Material UI: This is a set of React components. It enables developers to implement Google's material design. It is always better for the developers to know what React is and how to use it for the benefit of web and mobile applications. It will help them use this UI better if they understand how React.js fits into web app development.
- Material Components For Web: It provides developers with modular and customizable user interface components. It can help them create great progressive web applications.
3. Improve Load Performance
This is something that needs attention. The developers cannot offer their users a rich experience if they don't work on the load performance of the application. Google recommends some techniques, and the developers can take advantage of those.
Read the blog- Why is Demand for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) Growing?
The PRPL Pattern:
- This is used for securing and structuring the PWAs.
- P stands for Push critical resources to the initial URL route.
- R stands for Render initial routes.
- P for the second time for Pre-cache remaining routes.
- L stands for Lazy-Load to create the remaining routes on demand.
There are two more techniques:
- Service Worker Caching
- Server-side Rendering
4. Grasp the APIs shipped by Google
The APIs we will discuss are; Credential Management API, Payment Request API, and Service workers.
All three of them are very important in any PWA development company. Payment request APIs are important; almost all applications need an API to handle payment requests. The other two APIs are also very important; the credential management API helps users easily log in. And Service Worker API helps the users continue using some web application features even after the internet goes off. These three APIs help the developers to make the UX easy and better for their users.
5. Validation of the Progressive Web Application Through the Lighthouse
Google is a company that is constantly working to improve its web application, progressive web application, and cross-platform app development. They recently launched a tool for managing open-source software development. The developers can easily validate their PWA development cost through this tool. The tool is Lighthouse. It is easy to use and offers many features that can help developers improve the development process.
PWA can make app development more attractive and has the potential to replace native apps as well as websites. Though each technology has its advantages, PWA combines all of them to give meaningful services to users.
5 UX Guidelines to Improve Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
1. Ensure Smooth Navigation
A PWA should function more like a website and a mobile app from a UX standpoint. The PWA needs to be created in the same manner as a native app.
Avoiding footers and other web-based interaction components entirely is a smart idea. A PWA executed in full-screen mode does not offer user assistance browser features.
You can navigate these difficulties by including a straightforward navigation bar in your app. Touch gestures should be utilized sparingly because they might be challenging to code and are not worthwhile from a UX standpoint.
Keep a navigational element of some kind at the bottom of the screen. Remember the point about simplicity and navigation?
2. Use Simple Fonts
As previously stated, it is preferable to utilize straightforward typefaces with PWAs. This will speed up loading. This article explains how fonts can cause web pages to load slowly. When feasible, use the default fonts on your device.
Use only the fonts that you need. Don't load font weights you don't use. Limit the number of font files you have (including other weights) to three.
You can speed up your PWA's load time by sticking together all fonts used on modern platforms.
Your PWA users can seamlessly switch between your app and your PWA because they are familiar with the fonts. San Francisco for iOS and Roboto for Android are the default fonts.
Medium uses this technique to populate its user interface with fonts from devices. Avoid custom fonts. They can distract and slow down your PWA's performance.
3. Cross-Browser Functionality
A PWA has the advantage of being able to polyfill and enhance a variety of features even if the browser does not support them.
The term "Progressive" indicates the capacity of Progressive Web Apps to function across all browsers. When an update is made, users are shown improved behavior.
It is crucial to understand the compatibility of every browser with PWA features when designing a PWA.
Although most of the PWA features are supported by Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers, Safari does not support some key PWA functions, such as Web Push notifications.
Good Barber, our friends, has created a comprehensive checklist regarding compatibility between different PWA features and browsers. You can find it here.
These limitations should be considered when designing your PWA.
4. Create an Offline Mode
Because of your PWA design, your users can access all of its features whether or not they have an internet connection.
When Trivago, the top hotel search engine, installed their PWA-evolved website, they discovered that 67% of users who had their connections cut off continued to use it.
The trick is to replace the loading spinner with something more pertinent, like a little game the customer may play. At the same time, they wait for the content to load (remember the infamous Google Dinosaur game?)
Skeleton screens are another great way to keep users interested in lost internet connections. Skeleton screens provide a preview of what is to come and guide users to the page of their interest.
When used properly, a skeleton screen might make the user believe that the page is loading more quickly.
Service Workers are yet another tactic PWAs can employ. Service Workers lets you cache and save user data even without an internet connection.
When developing a PWA, keep in mind to design for offline compatibility and that just one accurate answer is necessary.
5. Make it Searchable
When designing PWAs, remember to keep some features of regular websites in mind, such as making them searchable and SEO-friendly.
Google needs Javascript rendering to view the content of your page. However, because it needs to be processed, compiled, and run, this requires a lot of time and resources. Google crawls websites using Javascript in two phases. While the second wave renders client-side, the first wave retrieves server-side material.
You can overcome these challenges by configuring your server to respond to deep dive URLs using fully-renewed HTML.
It would help if you also kept in mind the following advice when optimizing your PWA for search engines.
- Each page should be designed so that Google can crawl it independently and access it through a specific URL.
- The initial wave of indexing should solely use the server-side produced content index.
- Server-side rendering should be used. If server-side rendering is impossible, dynamic rendering is still possible using services like prerender.io.
- Use canonical tags to set the canonical URL for each page.
- Avoid cloaking. If you use dynamic serving, ensure that the content is presented to users and search engines similarly.
- Ensure that your website is secured and runs entirely on HTTPS.
- You want your web pages to load quickly, at least in 5 seconds.
Conclusion
PWAs have many benefits, but as we all know, there are always two sides. PWA development services also have their challenges. However, the term "Progressive" itself implies that technology is moving incredibly fast. Technology is improving every day, and there will soon be solutions to the problems.
PWA offers advantages to developers. Technical tools have been made available to developers specifically built for creating progressive web apps.
