E-commerce is entering the golden age with massive growth in 2020. The question is no longer whether we should build an online store or not but how to bring the best experience to online shoppers. For Magento businesses, building a Progressive Web App could solve part of the concern. One of the most popular ways to integrate PWA technology into Magento websites is using Magento PWA Studio. However, if you are still wondering whether Magento PWA Studio is the right tool to set up your PWA or not, keep reading. Everything will be explained in the post.
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What Is Magento PWA?
Progressive Web App is the perfect combination of a website and a native app. A Magento website after being converted to a PWA (considered as Magento PWA) will have a new superfast storefront with exciting features such as add to home screen, push notification, and offline mode while maintaining e-commerce functionality.
If merchants find building a website and a native app too costly, Magento PWA development is a more budget-friendly solution to possess app-like functions on the site.
What Is Magento PWA Studio?
Magento PWA Studio provides developers with tools to create and develop a PWA storefront connecting to the backend of Magento 2 websites via APIs.
It uses modern tools and libraries to create a build system and framework that adheres to the Magento principle of extensibility.
- PWA-buildpack package: Include essential tools for your Magento PWA development project (e.g.: configuration management, setup tools, and an extensibility framework)
- Venia-concept package: Venia is the Magento PWA Studio demo and its package contains a template for developing your PWA storefront.
Why Magento PWA Studio?
Free Tools and Tutorials
This is the only tool from Magento that supports PWA development for Magento stores.
You can easily download the PWA Studio Magento 2 build tools and learn how to use them through the Magento tutorial series.
Frequent Updates
The PWA Studio is updated periodically with new features, bug fixes, and a lot of improvements.
Rich PWA Features
By using the PWA Studio, your PWA will be equipped with powerful PWA features while maintaining Magento’s e-commerce functionality.
For example, it can work offline, allowing your customers to access preloaded pages anytime without the requirement for an Internet connection.
Some Limitations Of This Tool
Supported Magento Versions
Magento PWA Studio is only for websites based on Magento 2.3.x and 2.4.x. Thus, for those who are still on Magento 1, they will have to finish Magento migration before beginning to build the PWA site.
Extension Compatibility
Up to now, most of the third-party Magento extensions are not compatible with Magento PWA Venia Storefront. Hence, the developers will need to add custom code to make those work together. And in most cases, it will be very time-consuming.
Boring PWA Storefront
Similar to the issue with the Magento default theme (Luma), the Venia demo’s design is too basic and unrealistic to be applied for a real store. Owing to that, mass customization might probably be required if you want to use this storefront.
To deal with the second and third disadvantages of Magento PWA Studio, you should consider using a ready-made PWA storefront that is based on this tool instead.
Final Words
Magento PWA Studio provides the answer to merchants who are struggling to find the right method to build the Progressive Web App. It’s free, continuously updated, and adherent to Magento standards.
What is your opinion about this tool? Leave a comment below to let us know.