Why you should use Flutter for progressive web application development and how it helps your business. Find out the things to consider when working on a PWA project with the Flutter framework in this post.
About Progressive Web Apps
Before we discuss flutter for progressive web applications, let’s take a look at what these are and what are their uses. A PWA enables you to transform your website into an app with the same visual design and functionality. These web apps are compatible with any internet browser and a user can download them on their device as a native app or visit them on their website. The idea of PWA is to create a new tech that enables users to access all features of an app without wasting their phone’s storage. It also helps business owners save money as they don’t have to spend money on mobile development as these apps open on browsers.
Things to Consider Before Creating a PWA with Flutter
Although using Flutter for progressive web application is a great choice, there are a few things that you should consider before starting your project.
- Navigation:
When you talk about most Flutter applications, Navigator 1.0 is a fine choice. But, web apps don’t work the same way, and using the same navigator with imperative API will be inefficient for deep linking and complex routing. The Flutter team knows of this issue, which is why they introduced a declarative API Navigator 2.0 to make things easier. However, it also adds some complexity when handling nested navigation.
- Responsive Design:
The purpose of creating a PWA is to make the app easily accessible for users on all types of devices. A web application runs on any device with an internet browser, so it is safe to say that you need an interface design that accounts for various screen sizes. The only solution for this problem is to use Flutter for progressive web applications and make them responsive. A responsive web app will show a list view on small screens and opens a new screen for details. On large screens, the list view will go to either side of the screen while the other side will display the details.
Advantages of PWA
Here are some advantages of progressive web applications and why you should create one for your business website.
- With a PWA, the users do not have to get the app through app stores. They can open any internet browser and search for the website to download the app on their device. It also doesn’t require much data or speed as all the user has to do is get a shortcut of the app on their phone’s home screen. It saves money for your business as you don’t have to pay for promotions and to publish the app in any store.
- One of the reasons, people prefer PWA over native apps, is as they don’t take up much space. Most of these apps are only 1 MB in size and these apps are also extremely fast. On an average device, web apps only take one second to load. When you use Flutter for progressive web applications, you save time, effort, and money as the framework uses the same codebase to create an app that runs on multiple platforms.
