Mobile users are growing at a swift pace and transforming the face of digital evolution. Today we are in the era of mobile devices and every business is constantly attempting to target mobile users. Businesses set a goal to offer a better experience and services to mobile users first.
Optimization of web pages can be excellent for mobile users. But when users browse through your web content, and there is a problem while quickly loading web pages on the browser, you might lose some of your valued customers. Progressive Web Apps and Single Page Apps, both technologies will help your website to load the content much more rapidly.
Although users have confusion among PWA and SPA, this is why here we discuss the difference between the two.
Introducing PWAs and SPAs
PWA (Progressive Web Applications)
Built using advanced technology, the PWAs can be accessed in all standards-compliant web browsers along with offering an app-like experience for the users. It is a flexible cross-platform solution and supported by developers and web app manifests. They work like native apps and their user interface and functionalities are easy-to-use that makes them the best choice among developers.
SPA (Single Page Applications)
SPAs have all the content loaded at once. They are dynamic when it comes to generating content without refreshing a page. There is no need to run back and forth between a server and a browser with Single Page Applications. That is the reason user interaction got increased with SPAs. If a user requests for the new content, only partial content is updated rather than the whole page being refreshed.
Successful Progressive Web Apps Examples
#1. Flipkart – A largest eCommerce site updated its mobile site to PWA known as Flipkart Lite.
#2. Forbes – Top U.S. business magazines having plenty of finance, investment, industrial, and marketing articles have developed a PWA to deliver an intuitive user experience.
#3. Pinterest – To boost website experience and user conversion, Pinterest has developed a Progressive Web App that helps users to curate images, recipes, and products easily.
#4. TwitterLite – Twitter rolled out its PWA in the year 2017 to deliver a default mobile web experience to the users called “Twitter Lite”.
#5. AliExpress – A well-known eCommerce website owned by the Alibaba Group converted its mobile site to PWA.
Get the list of other top PWA That Can Inspire You!
Successful Single Page Apps Examples
#1. Gmail – When a user clicks on an email in the Inbox, the browser stays on the same page but JS code hides the Inbox and displays the email body on the user’s screen.
#2. Twitter – This is also a SPA apart from when you click on pic.twitter.com.
#3. Facebook – The news feed page in Facebook enables users to scroll constantly through the feed along with watching videos and other facilities as well on the same page. No need to leave the news feed page.
#4. Netflix – With the use of React framework, this SPA helps users to continue streaming their preferred shows without any delay.
The Best Frameworks in 2021
#1. React JS
React is offering an extensive JavaScript Library, and that is the reason it is a popular choice amongst developers. The PWA development framework can build single-page and multi-page apps and assure that the content loads and updates within a single page. It uses JSX to provide functions to connect HTML structures and build a React Progressive Web App solution.
#2. Angular JS
AngularJS makes use of the JavaScript framing to develop robust and scalable Progressive Web Apps. JSON configuration is utilized to build PWAs. SO there is no need to develop an app from the beginning. It will simplify the process of web app installed on mobile devices.
#3. VueJS
It is an open-source front-end Javascript framework usually driven by the community. It is easy for developers to get rolling with the Vue as it simplifies the development process with salient features like routing, rapid MVP generation, and simplified coding for freshers.
Other frameworks For PWA are Ionic, Svelte, Polymer, PWABuilder.
Other frameworks For SPA are EmberJS, BackBoneJS library, Meteor.JS.
What’s The Difference between PWA and SPA?
People have a common misconception that a Progressive Web App is always a Single Page App, and that is very wrong. A Progressive Web Apps is just keeping a website that comprises all the better qualities that the Web can offer along with reliability, rapidity, and engagement.
#1. When Rapidity Concerns
When it comes to speed, both are quite similar as both are leading-edge technologies. However, an advantage might go with Progressive Web Apps here as PWAs can leverage its service workers to render some work. An excessive Javascript overhead that Single Page Apps add to your web apps can be assigned to the service worker to reduce JS footprint. So PWA sites can pre-cache many site scripts, CSS, images, and markup before they are needed.
#2. When Expenses Concerns
Here’s where Progressive Web Apps consequently come with higher costs. The development of PWA usually takes a long time for weeks or months as it is not a simplified process compared to Single Page Applications. There are also different factors on which your overall development cost can depend such as your choices for features, the complexity of projects, developer’s rate, customization, and much more.
#3. When UX/UI Concerns
Both offer an app-like interface to the users but PWA produces more user engagement and dependability even if the user is offline or there is a poor internet connection. That is the reason Twitter has developed the PWA called “Twitter Lite”. On the other hand, SPAs have their own limitations when it comes to delivering sufficient user experience on large websites, that is why it suits data-oriented sites.
#4. When Security Concerns
Most of the security concerns arise with Single Page Applications and its cross-site scripting (XSS) issue. Whereas Progressive Web Apps raised fewer issues as every connection undergoes a secure HTTPS source.
#5. When Accessibility Concerns
Progressive Web applications are usually easier to access compared to Single Page Apps especially when it comes to Chrome support for Desktop PWA. PWAs enable users to add app shortcuts on the desktop or home screen. When it comes to SPAs, it can leave their users in the middle of nowhere when the page updates. That can be very annoying.
Is it possible to turn SPAs into PWAs?
There is a lot of confusion between Progressive Web Apps and Single Page Apps and there is also a lot of news alleging that SPA can be turned into a PWA in the future. This is true, however, PWA’s visual aspects to offer an intuitive user experience are different and if you are thinking of converting your SPA into a PWA later, you have a strategy for it. Reconfiguring development architecture into another is a huge amount of work and is not just a piece of cake.
Summing Up
Have you ever thought a website can function just like an application? It might seem like a strange idea to some but the scope is too high! The creativity which can be presented by the developers is just beyond any restrictions. They are trending currently, each mobile app development company is fond of catching this trend to provide top-notch solutions to their clientele across different niche brands worldwide.
While picking one among PWA and SPA for your app development architecture, have a deep view of your business objectives and strategies. Search for a partner to address your goals and truly understand your business to build a successful web app.
