Chris Heilmann codepo8 https://www.christianheilmann.com/

The web is not doing that well right now.

  • Censorship

  • Bullying

  • Trolling

  • Malware

  • Bloat

He thinks bloat is a big problem. He liked the simplicity of the early web.

Most of the new end users are on mobile devices.

The web was not ready for the mobile form factor. Initially the mobile web was a throw back to the early web.

The publisher's dilemma

On the web, users are in control.

Users are contitioned to not pay for things but find ways around paying.

Somehow you have to pay the bills

Publishers like apps

Control look and feel

Revenue resource

Built-in obsolescence

Control the environment, iOS first, android maybe

Reality check for publishers

Pricing race to the bottom

Lock-in to the marketplace

Revenue share with marketplace/OS

Updates are hard and may be delayed by marketplace rules.

94% of app revenue comes from 1% of publishers

80% of users who download an app fail to become active users.

In-app purchases are where the money is.

60% of the apps in the Google Play app store have never been downloaded.

Tips for making better mobile web apps: PWA Progressive Web Apps

Small initial payload

Form factor supporting interfaces: big buttons

High contrast

Support offline/flaky connection

Taking advantage of the power of the end user device

Avoid interaction latency

Chris let drop several pearls of wisdom during his talk about how he interacts with the digital world that left me with the desire to learn more about them. For example: ad blocking and VPN location spoofing, how to serve your site over https. People need to know how to do these things.

App Manifest, and Service Worker.

Progressive Enhancement

Great analogy: escalator

The great thing here is that progressive web apps is that it brings back the power of the link.