The time ahead for the web
Since last few years, the usage of mobile has grown up to a large extent. Today 60 percent of internet transaction is happening from mobile. This is because of its portability, inexpensive hardware, affordable internet service and integrated platform holding different censors. Long days back, when website business was started, it was used to share only useful information on the web. But today websites are perceived to work on a lot broader level than that. Expectations of users from a website are very high. Websites are supposed to find nearby shops, book movie tickets, do social media posting, and chat with friends and many more such ancillary activities, apart from looking into the core functionality of it. Since most users are on mobile, therefore today’s websites should be made accessible from mobile as well.
To fulfil these requirements, the concept of a responsive website and the idea of a mobile app came up. Responsive websites are merely the mobile interface of websites for displaying information – a one-way communication. When it comes to Applications on the web, then mobile apps were the only best option available. The user experience of such a mobile app is always better than a responsive website and hence was more coveted.
Time progresses and the Internet is flooded with so many of these mobile apps. With these growing apps in the markets, we face new challenges – space/capacity constraint. Due to this space constraint in the devices, users do not prefer to install apps, more than what is necessary for them. And thus service providers miss out on disseminating powerful and essential information. The authenticity of the apps is another aspect. Mobile apps do not get ranks on the basis of their performance in search engines. So there remains the probability of either missing out or losing trust over the performance of an app. Last but not the least, management & promotion of a website and the mobile app separately, is a difficult, time-hungry and redundant job. With a solution to these challenges, a new trend is evolving these days that utilize the working and technologies of both the responsive website and the mobile app.
Progressive Web Application (PWA App)
It feels like an app but runs in the browsers of mobile devices. PWA enables the web apps to run where there is no network, store information and sync in the background seamlessly to provide native-like experience to users.
Why PWA
Our customers have always wanted much more than either a website or an app.
CSM’s digital services are more User-oriented, therefore cannot limit itself to information dissemination – it embraces applications and interactive forms. Thus, PWA. Another distinct advantage to CSM for its customers is the capability to sync offline data with and when online!
These and many other features of PWA that has made our digital journey a big hit are mentioned here.
Reliability & Speed
Working on citizen-centric platforms and for the last mile of all public services, accessibility to connectivity is a challenge, we develop our solutions with. PWA works like magic in poor network or slower internet connectivity areas, or even where there is no network at all. Because of the presence of service walkers the pages loads faster and transition between two pages is also smooth and quick.
Ease-of-usability
Websites in PWA behave like native apps by automatically installing on phones. And once installed, they reside on the app home screen along with the other native apps, so that the website can be opened in one click. So the PWA Websites impersonate the native apps, that on opening a website, you first find a Splash screen!
User Engagement & Responsiveness
For CSM designed forms & to and fro movement not just for information but also for submission, PWA provides an array of engagement features like push notifications, home screen icon, full-screen view option and last but not the least an offline-first app. Responsiveness comes from the various frameworks used like bootstrap, ionic etc.
Having said that, PWA being relatively new, comes with its own challenges of being unexplored. CSM’s Center of Excellence devotes hours into research to identify challenges and find solutions for each. Challenges like security, browser-independence, and offline sync are future challenges that we are ready to tackle. But there are many more being discovered as we speak.
