Progressive Web Apps or PWAs are bringing positive changes in the web landscape stated Bahaa Al Zubaidi. They do this by bringing together the best of web-based and mobile applications. One of the crucial elements that enable these apps to bring a seamless user experience is the use of service workers. With the help of service workers, these apps can deliver the best user experience even in offline scenarios. Are you wondering who are service workers? Read on to learn more:

Service Workers – Who Are They?

You might think that service workers are individuals working in the service niche. On the other hand, from the technical viewpoint, Service Workers are JavaScript files. They function as proxies between the web application and the network.

Service workers function in the background. They are not dependent on the main browser thread. They enable features that improve performance and functionality. Most importantly, service workers play a crucial role in enabling PWAs to work in low-network conditions or offline.

Know About Offline Capabilities

Push Notifications

For PWAs, Service Workers play a key role in enabling push notifications.

  • They can help with push notifications even when the PWA is not in active run in the foreground.
  • These notifications can be displayed to the users as well
  • In turn, it will be possible to achieve user engagement. It is possible by permitting real-time communication even when the PWA remains silent.

Background Sync

Service Workers enable background synchronization. In turn, PWAs can update data and perform particular tasks when the user is not engaged actively with the application.

  • When you take the case of an offline note-taking PWA, Service Workers can create notes offline.
  • Here, the Service Workers ensure that the data is synced with the server once the web access is restored on the device.

Offline Page Navigation

  • Service Workers help PWAs define custom offline fallbacks
  • When the internet connection is not active, users can continue to navigate through the PWA.
  • They can access predefined offline pages and cached content.
  • This offers a consistent and seamless user experience.
  • In turn, it fosters engagement even when the connectivity is intermittent.

Caching Resources

  • Service workers permit PWAs to cache crucial resources
  • Examples include JavaScript, CSS, HTML and even images
  • This happens during the first visit
  • When a user accesses the PWA once again, the service worker will check if the needed resources are available in the cache
  • If so, it serves the content straight from the cache.
  • In turn, it brings down the dependence on internet connectivity.

In short, Service Workers can make PWAs even more powerful. They play a key role in improving the offline capabilities of PWAs. Thank you for your interest in Bahaa Al Zubaidi blogs. For more information, please visit www.bahaaalzubaidi.com