Progressive web apps offer a smooth browsing experience even with no internet connection. Yes, you heard it correctly. It has an offline capability that makes PWA technology popular among web app development technologies. You can read our previous article on what the PWA offline is and how to set it up.
🔥Offline functionality helps users to engage with your web apps offline as well. But, it is not enough to improve user engagement. Your PWA design should also provide a great user experience on slow networks and offline. Several factors affect network connection, such as weather, dead zones, airports, temporary internet service, etc.
So, progressive app design should meet users’ requirements when they access them offline. Here are the following offline UX guidelines to create engaging and responsive PWA when there is no connection.
Table of Contents
Six Offline UX Guidelines for Progressive Web Apps
Decide What to do When Network is Poor
A PWA app will work fine with a successful internet connection. But, think about how your progressive application behaves during a laggy network. So, here are the things to do when your users experience a slow internet connection.
- Inform users about a network failure: You can create a pop-up message to notify them. For example, the Google I/O app uses a “toast” when a user is offline.
- Notify users when the content is updated: You should let users know your progressive web app has been updated. It allows users to refresh or reload the site manually. Don’t use auto-update mode. It would cause users to lose their place.
- Update UI to reflect the current state: For example, in an eCommerce store, the buy now button will be disabled until the connection is restored.
- Educate the user: You can educate your users on how the large data gets saved and content changes behavior when there is no internet connection. Use icons, colors, or imagery content to show that the PWA app is offline.
Default the Offline Content
Users get frustrated when they can’t access content offline. Try to create an app that does not get affected by a network failure. News sites can provide auto-downloading and auto-saving the latest news feature. It gives users a facility to read the news without an internet connection.
Inform the user when the app is ready for offline consumption
When your web app loads to show users, it is ready for offline use. Use widgets to show a message at the bottom of the web page or screen. PWA offline message should be in the language that your non-technical audience understands.
- Save for offline: There should be a switch or pin to add an item for offline use. It will work only when users ON this setting in their web app.
- Clear what is available offline: You may need to add a tab to show the offline library. It allows users to see what they have saved for later viewing. But make sure the library should look concise and clear. It shows where the data is stored and who can access it.
- Actual Cost: In low Internet connectivity areas, users mostly save the data for later use. However, Users may avoid downloading because of large files because it involves some costs. So, display an associated cost of a specific file.
As an example, the users of the music app above could be notified if their data plan is low, and the file size could be displayed so they could calculate how much it would cost to download the song.
- Prevent Hacking: Sharing cloud-based apps is a common practice. However, they may experience hacking while attaching and sharing larger files. It allows your users to share files smoothly offline. Also, keep in mind that sharing across multiple devices with security.
Create Inclusive Design Experiences
- Simple and Concise design: Progressive web apps should have a simple and responsive UI that describes the action to the users. So, using the “app offline” message conveys nothing. Try to use proper language and images to explain the app status.
- Use multiple designs: Not only use color to indicate a change of web app state. Try to use language, color, and visual components that allow visually disabled people to access web applications offline.
- Add Skeleton Layouts: It shows the wire form version of your app in the display while your content is loading. It demonstrates that content is about to look. During the download of the article, an empty placeholder layout will appear. It will disappear once the content is downloaded.
- Don’t block content: When the network is unstable, UI effectively blocks the content for users. The website should not block the content for users. Change the feedback design and check that it is visible when a user is offline. It also shows their file has been saved and will sync when connected to the Internet.
Summing up
All the offline UX guidelines may help you with some ideas to make your PWA offline. Transparency and frugality with data will earn your user’s trust. Improve the user experience by simplifying the interface and assisting users with poor connections.
The following guidelines should be considered when designing for poor network connections:
- Design for the instability of a network connection.
- Prepare PWA design for low-end devices with limited storage and small displays.
- Inform uses about the current state of PWA
- Make your app offline by default if it doesn’t require a lot of data.
- Educate users about how to download an app for offline use if it is data-heavy.
- Language, icons, imagery, typography, and color are all used to convey that the web app is offline.
- Make sharing between devices secure and safe.
- Assure that the connection is restored using the feedback feature.
