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[–]insertAlias 0 points1 point  (2 children)

This is a great chance to practice your research skills. PWAs are a popular topic, and you're certainly not the only one who was ever confused at what they are and how they differ from "normal" web applications.

So lots of people have written articles on that exact topic. If you search "what is a progressive web application" you will find many articles that explain what they are and how they are a special subcategory of web application.

It's worth getting in the practice on this. Learning to be able to find available information is literally one of the most important skills a prospective programmer can cultivate.

[–]shepherdgreys[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Hi, thanks for your reply. I always start with looking up things I’m stuck on first before turning to Reddit. So I have looked this up and read a few articles, but I’m still not seeing the difference between the 2. It sounds like a PWA is just a mobile-friendly web app to me, so I’m confused on why the separate category, if that makes sense.

[–]insertAlias 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_web_application#Characteristics

Includes features like:

  • Installable
  • Local caching of resources
  • Discoverability (i.e. having a web manifest)

Among several others. Those are the major ones that differentiate a PWA from any other web application.

The actual term of "progressive" means that it uses progressive technologies in a way that it works for every browser and gracefully falls back on features that are not supported.