Progressive web apps (PWAs) are all the rage. They are gaining massive popularity as they are using highly advanced web capabilities to deliver engaging and fast mobile web experiences. More and more enterprises and businesses are planning to convert their traditional business websites into progressive web apps to make the most out of this amazing web development technology.
There are many business owners and digital marketing framework who are unaware of PWAs and what they do. Progressive web apps are basically websites that harness the power of cutting-edge web browser APIs and use the best design practices to provide native-app like experience and features across all platforms.
One of the best reasons why the majority of development companies and businesses are adopting the trend of developing PWAs is that they bring native app features to cross-platform web applications. The beauty of progressive web apps is that they look and feel like a real native app but in reality, it is a totally different story.
Here are some interesting statistics you should know before you consider PWA development.
·Companies switching to progressive web apps successfully managed to significantly reduce the page load time by immediately displaying all the information and features once the app is accessed. The famous streamline platform ZEE5 launched a PWA and achieved 3x faster loading time and reduced buffering time 50%.
Progressive web apps are 90% smaller than native mobile apps. Starbucks launched its extremely light and ultrafast progressive web app which is just 600KB in size. The smallest size and fast speed helped the famous coffee brand to increase the daily active users 2x.
·PWAs provide smooth look and feel and awesome user experience that eventually helped brands to achieve 36% higher conversion rate than native mobile apps. A famous UK clothing brand George.com observed a 31% increase in conversion rate after switching to PWA.
PWAs can increase customer engagement by 50% while allowing users to access their favorite websites in a comfortable way without downloading the app, thereby eventually increasing the business revenue.
Want to design a PWA for your business website? Let’s discover some of the best design and development practices to create a stellar progressive web app.
Keep the Navigation Simple
Keep in mind that progressive web applications are cross-platform, designers and developers need to create an awesome experience for desktop and mobile devices. Bearing this reality in mind, you need to design the navigation bar and add the most commonly used functions in the mobile PWA. Only add the most necessary and key features that are important for the end users.
Try to keep the important navigation elements at the bottom of the screen and make it easier for users to use the navigation in the app. However, a desktop provides your app with a lot of screen space, allowing app designers to add extended and diverse features to desktop PWAs.
Prioritize Important Design Elements
The ultimate goal of PWA development is to deliver a memorable mobile user experience and help users perform the desired action seamlessly. So, following the less is more approach is highly advisable. Figure out all the distracting elements that may create hindrance and prevent users from taking the desired action. Remove all the automatic sliders, banners and CTAs that steal user’s attention. Avoid providing too much information that is not required at this time.
Add only those elements that clearly define the value proposition and main CTA buttons. Remove all the page elements that take too much space and don’t provide value to the users. Again, there is no issue for large desktop screens, you need to follow this approach for mobile PWAs as mobile device screens as they don’t have that much space.
Keep the Fonts Simple
Don’t try to use fancy fonts to enhance the look and feel of PWAs. Try to use device default fonts as using custom or fancy fonts will only increase the size and loading speed of the page. It will slow down the performance of your progressive web app. If you don’t need to use the device’s fonts for your PWA, consider using images or SVGs instead of using fancy fonts.
Fast Page Load Speed
It is important to note that all image tags on the web page should have the dimension of the image. It allows browsers to layout the screen properly even if the image is not loaded yet. If you don’t follow this practice, it will simply create a negative impact on user experience. Many app development companies use the skeletons to reveal the position before the page completely loads. However, when it comes to PWA, adding placeholder content such as low-resolution images instead of full-size versions will ensure smooth page loading. With the help of dedicated server hosting, you can also ensure fast load speeds and uninterrupted availability.
Use a Launch Screen
Using a launch screen, splash screen or boot screen for your PWA development is simply the best idea to improve the user experience. This screen is displayed for a few seconds before the application loads, giving users a feeling of a native app.
When it comes to creating the splash screen for your PWA, it is advised to choose visuals that are customizable and easily fit Android and iOS devices. Make sure to use the visuals that catches the attention of users. Choose some creative elements and attractive colors that keep users engaged.
Make Your Features Available Offline
When it comes to designing PWAs, app developers need to make all the features available to users even when they are offline. The ability of working in offline mode makes it super easier for users to access the app when the connection is interrupted. Simply implement the caching option to prepare the PWA for offline mode.
Make it SEO Friendly
There is no denying that PWAs look and work like native apps, it is important to keep in mind that progressive web apps have URLs that are crawled and indexed by Google. Following the best SEO practices will help you make progressive web apps discoverable.
· Use mobile-first responsive design
· Try to use canonical tags, meta and structure data for each page
· Make sure your PWA support HTTPs
· Use “Fetch as Google” tool to check how Google sees your content
· Measure the page loading speed with Webpage Test Lighthouse tools
Key Takeaways
These are some of the best progressive web app design practices your app development company should consider to come up with a powerful and impressive PWA. By following these important design guidelines, a PWA can provide users with an incredible and smooth user experience. When users get a satisfactory experience, it will eventually increase user engagement and conversion rate. Hire the team of app developers that use innovative technologies to take your PWA development project to a next level.
Apart from that, if you are interested to know about Top 9 Web Development Languages to Use in 2023 then visit our Technology category.
