This is a very nifty use of a service worker—choose a local folder that you want to navigate using HTTP rather than the file system.
What an excellent question! And what an excellent bit of sleuthing to get to the bottom of it. This is like linguistic spelunking on the World Wide Web.
Oh, and of course I love the little sidenote at the end.
Here’s a nice one-sentence definition for the marketing folk:
A Progressive Web App is a regular website following a progressive enhancement strategy to deliver native-like user experiences by using modern Web standards.
But if you’re talking to developers, I implore you to concretely define a Progressive Web App as the combination of HTTPS, a service worker, and a Web App Manifest.
A fantastic piece by Aaron who—once again—articulates what I’ve been thinking:
Your site—every site—should be a PWA.
He clearly explains the building blocks of progressive web apps—HTTPS, a manifest file, and a service worker—before describing different scenarios for different kinds of sites:
Progressive Web Apps may seem overly technical or beyond the needs of your project, but they’re really not. They’re just a shorthand for quality web experiences—experiences that can absolutely make a difference in our users’ lives.
Highly recommended!
The slides from Calum’s presentation about progressive web apps. There are links throughout to some handy resources.
This primer on progressive web apps starts by dispelling some myths:
- Your thing does not have to be an “Application” to be a PWA.
- Your thing does not have to be a Javascript-powered single page app.
- PWAs are not specifically made for Google or Android.
- PWAs are ready and safe to use today.
Then it describes the three-step programme for turning your thing into a progressive web app:
- The Manifest.
- Go HTTPS.
- The Service Worker.
Defining the damn thing over and over again.
Defining the damn thing.
Don’t let the name distract you—progressive web apps are for everyone.
Making a better offline page.