On Jul 22, 2017, we will be running the first Study Camp event focused on Progressive Web Apps (PWA) through the Google Developer Group NYC, hosted at General Assembly in New York.

You can find out more about the agenda on our event page and purchase tickets to attend it here. Use the promo code pwa-30 to get a 30% discount for a limited time.

The main goal for the event is to jumpstart PWA development by beginners and solidify real-world deployments by practitioners. As a fan of Deep Work, I see 1-day events like this as critical to empowering the immersive learning approach that translates awareness to action.

#PWACamp Series

Over the next few weeks, I hope to publish a series of posts that provide both context for #PWACamp and resources for those who will attend it, and want to go further. This list will be updated with links to the relevant articles as the posts are rolled out..

1. Road To PWA Camp / Principles
2. Road to PWA Camp / Programming
3. Road to PWA Camp /Practices
4. …

#PWACamp Agenda

The event is broken into three sessions – Principles, Programming and Practices – effectively moving from an understanding of core concepts & tools, to getting hands-on development experience with building a PWA, and finally, to learning about real-world deployments from industry experts.

#PWACamp Session 1: Principles

At its core, the Progressive Web Apps vision is about using progressive enhancement to deliver a web app experience that is reliable (functions even in poor network conditions), fast (quick to first paint, smooth animations and responsive to user events), and engaging (feels like a native app with immersive full-screen UX, familiar launch options & push notifications).

Pete LePage (Developer Advocate @Google) will kick off #PWACamp with a deep-dive on PWA that will cover these concepts in more detail.

It also takes security very seriously, with HTTPS being a core requirement for PWA compliance. HTTPS ensures that all communications between client and server are encrypted by default, protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks while also supporting data integrity of the website and user data. More importantly, HTTPS is critical to permission workflows required for leveraging many of the new browser platform features, making it vital for developers to understand how HTTPs functions and how it is used for PWA.

Mariko Kosaka (Dev Rel @Google) will break down the complexities & uses of HTTPS in her much-anticipated #PWACamp talk on “HTTPS Adoption in PWA”

But PWA is a vision for building better web apps, and not a new framework or platform for development. Rather, the goal is to find ways to incorporate and validate best practices in the various front-end technologies (e.g., React, Angular, VanillaJS, Polymer, Ember, Vue, etc.). And doing that well requires tooling support – not just for building PWA but for auditing their compliance against various metrics like performance and accessibility.

In May 2017, the Chrome team unveiled WorkboxJS, a toolkit of JavaScript libraries that work frictionlessly with popular build tools to enable core PWA functionality. They also announced the integration of Project Lighthouse into Chrome Dev Tools, making it intuitive to audit your web app using the same interface used for development and debugging. Like PageSpeed Insights, the Project Lighthouse audit is prescriptive – it not only identifies issues based on a PWA Checklist, but it provides clear guidance on how to fix them in order to gain compliance even as requirements & features evolve.

Jeff Posnick (Dev Rel @Google) will revisit his Google IO17 session on PWAat #PWACamp, focusing specifically on WorkboxJS & Lighthouse usage for devs

Why attend #PWACamp

If you manage teams or oversee projects in industry, then 2017 is the year to double-down on PWA. Forbes identified PWA as one of the top web trends to watch in 2017. AndPWA was one of the big topics at Google IO (May 2017) with many high-profile PWA launches that showcase PWA adoption at scale.

For web developers, Google IO was marked by the release of WorkboxJS, the announcement of Lighthouse integration into DevTools, and the debut of HNPWA – the _spiritual successor to ToDoMVC – _now providing developers with comprehensive examples of PWA implementations of the Hacker News client with diverse front-end technologies.

And the momentum keeps growing ..

Whether you are new to PWA or have been using it for a while, this is great way to get up to speed with the latest developments on the PWA front. And, more importantly, it’s a way to build your connections within the community of PWA developers, practitioners and users

In the next installment, “ Road to #PWACamp: Programming” , we’ll explore how you can get started with PWA development using generic platforms (e.g., remix with Glitch) or with specific front-end technologies in mind (e.g., React, Angular, Polymer, Vue etc.).

Stay tuned.

Videos To Watch / PWA @GoogleIO 2017

1. Progressive Web Apps: Great Experiences Everywhere, Sam Birch and Alex Russell
2. Great PWA Experiences with Angular, Stephen Fluin and Alex Rickabaugh
3. WomenTechmakers.com: A PWA Migration, Jeffrey Posnick and Ewa Gasperowicz
4. Production PWA with JS Frameworks, Addy Osmani
5. Staying off the Rocks: Using Lighthouse to build seaworthy PWA, Eric Bidelman and Brendan Kenny
6. Getting the Green Lock: HTTPS Stories from the Field Emily Schechter
7. Creating UX that just feels right with PWA, Owen Campbell-Moore