In the last few years, the internet is touching skies, and along with that has come numerous challenges. Internet expansion has led to some issues that have troubled the users due to the mobile web's unreliability and slow nature. Several technologies came forth to solve technical problems, such as progressive web apps and accelerated mobile pages.
AMP & PWA promise a quick, rich, and immersive experience to the users to engage and inspire them. These technologies came at the right time when the mobile's utility has been experiencing unpredicted growth. According to studies, half the traffic on the web is coming through smartphone users.
Consequently,
App developers 2020 shifted their focus to AMP and PWA tools to deliver a phenomenal mobile user experience. This article will cover everything you need to know about AMP and PWA to make your decision.
- What is AMP & PWA?
- How are they similar?
- How are they different?
- Which is better?
What is Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)?
AMP is an abbreviation for
Accelerated Mobile Pages, and it's a mobile-friendly web page. It is designed to load quickly. It is a quick and seamless loading solution that is created, keeping the user experience in mind. It was introduced as an open-source project, and Google incorporated the technology in Feb 2016.
The Guardian announced its platform as an AMP in 2016. They showcased the same article as an AMP version and a web version to help readers see how it worked.
There were some insignificant differences. But one thing that you'll notice faster than anything else was how much quicker the AMP article loaded than the web article.
Basics
The idea of AMPs is to lessen the amount of needless content and functionality so that the app showcases essential content instantly. The data can be lessened up to 10 times. The critical components of AMPs are AMP components, AMP HTML, & AMP cache.
AMP Components: The idea here is to eliminate all JavaScript scripts because they make pages load slower. There is also a vast library of components that allow you to implement these and several features.
AMP HTML: This is a simplified version of standard HTML. AMP HTML does not permit some elements and tags of HTML.
AMP Cache: This is a proxy-based content delivery network that brings and caches page content. AMP cache allows you to introduce page updates as an app owner easily. It enhances and modifies the AMP.
What is Progressive Web Apps (PWA)?
PWA is an abbreviation of
Progressive Web Apps. According to Google, user experiences that are reliable and are web-accessible are quick and engaging. This technology lets you use a website like a native app.
PWAs are a web page that feels like native mobile apps and offers similar interaction and navigation. PWAs help users to revisit the website by delivering push notifications, fast-loading, and offline web pages.
Basics
PWAs are highly responsive and can work offline. There are 3 essential components of PWA; they are:
Service Workers: They are JavaScript code components that play a proxy between the browser & the network.
After opening a web page for the first time, they store the browser cache's required data.
The Manifest File: This is a JSON file comprising all the information of your app. For example, it includes data about the home screen icon of your PWA, theme, or color palette.
Secure HTTP Protocols: This is a must if you build a progressive web app. Service workers are vulnerable to network breaches or errors. They can intercept network requests and alter responses. The security protocol needs to be used to ensure data and network security.
How are AMPs and PWAs similar?
Both of them are ways of displaying web pages on smartphones. Both are built to improve the user experience.
They both help reduce page load time. Whereas AMPs might be a bit more effective in terms of loading speed compared to PWAs.
Google actively supports both of them. There is an AMP page on Google Developers and PWA page on Google Developers.
Differences between AMPs and PWAsn
Development
In PWAs, the app code is scripted either from scratch or with some current code parts.
Whereas in AMPs, the web page's current code is cleared out of unrequired JS and CSS for the web pages to load faster.
Appearance
PWA does not give you the feel of a web page, but its look and feel are similar to a mobile app.
Whereas AMP gives you a look and feels of the web page because that's what it is.
User experience
PWAs offer a better user experience. They have a home screen icon, push notifications, and no browser tabs. Moreover, they are much easier to install and lighter in size than a regular mobile app. PWAs load quicker than a standard web version as they are implanted with App Shell. PWAs can be used when the internet connection is down.
AMPs offer a bit better user experience since page loads are quicker than a regular page. This is the only UX benefit that they offer. AMPs cannot work offline, unlike PWAs.
Performance
AMP wins the competition from an SEO standpoint. Google favors these pages & lists them in the carousel of top stories. This can substantially boost your click-through rate.
Whereas PWAs do not have a direct SEO advantage. However, with a better user experience, there are chances to win with SEO.
Support
PWAs are not equally supported on all devices. Thus, you might find some difficulties when displayed on iOS. Moreover, they also do not help all the hardware functionalities like NFC, Bluetooth, accelerometers, and GPS.
To Conclude
AMPs and PWAs are both robust technologies. You can choose either of them, depending on the type of website you are running. AMP is your best bet if your site does not have too many heavy images and is mostly related to content like education and news sites. In contrast, PWA is a good idea if your site is eCommerce and will let your users have a user-friendly experience without downloading mobile apps. The choice is all yours! Hire top app developers to develop app for your business.