Top Frameworks & Tools For Building Progressive Web Apps How often do you think about the role of technology in your life? Or for that matter, how has technology changed your life? The answer, as far as I know, would be quite frequently, probably several times a day. Whether you are watching television or browsing your mobile phone, every aspect of our lives has undergone significant changes due to the sole reason, technology. Similarly, businesses have been quick to adopt the changing curves as well, in fact much faster than us. And those who didn’t, have been boring the brunt. This is why a giant like Nokia lost the battle to companies like Samsung and Apple. As smartphone adoption has grown, businesses have witnessed a considerable change in how they can market their product and services to customers. They have become an essential and influential channel for driving customer loyalty and engagement. Well, one technology within smartphones that has been taken over is the Progressive Web Apps or PWAs. Progressive websites are rapidly growing in popularity as a way to build apps with JavaScript, CSS and HTML that perform and feel like native apps. While there are many “Introduction to progressive web apps” tutorials on the web, we’d like to dig a little deeper and offer suggestions for tools and frameworks you can use to start developing PWAs at a faster pace and with minimum complexity.

Best PWA Frameworks One thing is for sure - PWA is taking the smartphone world by a storm. If you are planning of getting one for your business, the first step is to decide which framework to build it on. While there are several options available, it’s advisable to evaluate each before deciding on the most suitable one, since not all frameworks are up to par. Here are the best ones you can find.

AngularJS

First introduced by Google in 2009, AngularJS is among the most popular Progressive web app frameworks. It uses the JavaScript ecosystem for building responsive apps that are both robust and reliable. In addition to this, the arrival of Angular 5 has given developers a simpler, yet effective way to create PWAs. Equipped with a powerful service worker for built-in PWA support, it boasts unique features for creating responsive and reliable PWA.

Key Benefits     

Clearly defined methodologies for easy implementation Smaller learning curve due to CLI Includes IntelliSense and Typescript Large community and extensive support as Google maintains it MVC framework

ReactJS

React, supported by Facebook, is the most well-known PWA frameworks. The major reason: its extensive JavaScript library as well as a large community. While JavaScript forms the base for React, it uses JSX for employing render functions to connect to HTML structures. It provides developers with an ability to share and reuse code, thus minimizing errors and efforts. Further, Create-react-app generator automatically generates all the required data for your PWA, leaving the task of customization for you.

Key Benefits

 A pervasive and extensive ecosystem  Smooth operations and support since Facebook owns and maintains the code  High degree of flexibility and scalability  The same code can be used for Native as well as web apps  The rendering process is very speedy, thanks to Virtual-DOM

Vue.js Compared to Angular and React, Vue is much newer. At present, Vue features one of the fastest-growing libraries among all other frameworks. The framework has managed to crack the code by delivering two essential thingshigh-speed rendering and simplistic coding. Being a progressive web app framework, it allows scaling the project with the addition of extra packages.

Key Benefits

 Supported by giants like Alibaba and Laravel, it is growing to be a preferred PWA framework.  The simplicity of the code reduces the learning curve.  Boasts simple structure and features several concepts from the React and Angular 1 frameworks.  Extremely flexible to set up using JSX and Typescript.  Speedy rendering using Virtual-DOM.

Have a detailed insight into the best JavaScript frameworks of 2019- React, Angular and Vue.js.

Ionic

Introduced in 2013 as an open-source SDK, Ionic is based on the Angular framework and Apache Cordova. Used for developing almost 5 million hybrid apps, it has a library of components for both iOS and Android. Ionic allows developers to create web pages that run inside the browser of a device using WebView, which essentially renders web pages so that they resemble a native app.

Key Benefits  Open-source framework which reduces the cost of development.  Easy maintenance using debugging tools and built-in browser instruments.  Large library of plug-ins for accessing APIs without coding.  It is easier for developers to learn how it works.  It features a large community of users.

Polymer

Developed by Google, Polymer is again one of the open-source PWA frameworks. Offering a wide variety of tools, web components and templates, it makes the operation aspect highly simplified.

All the tools and components within the framework are supported on a wide variety of browsers, which in turn, makes the app highly adaptable and accessible. The fact that it uses pure HTML, CSS, or JavaScript makes it an independent framework.

Key Benefits

 Open-source  Comprises a wide base of components, including web components that work across various browsers.  Full web app stack support, including data tier, routing and responsive layouts.  Remarkable documentation covering all phases of the app development.  Easy to understand APIs.  Browser embedded development tools ensure no need for special debugging tools.

Frameworks are many, but not all work. However, each of these PWA frameworks has managed to deliver extreme convenience to developers and a pleasant experience to users. Rest, the decision to choose the framework depends on the expertise of your developers, needs of your business and of course demands of your customers.