[Feature Request]: offline functionality

[mfulton26]

Relevant Scope

Frontend specs

Description

This is a neat project and it is great to see all the varying implementations, tradeoffs, etc.

I'm interested in seeing this for web apps that work offline:

1. Assets are cached and served via a service worker so that the site loads fast with or without an internet connection.
2. A subset of data (e.g. latest articles) are synced for reading while offline.
3. Actions (e.g. marking as a favorite) are queued using web storage (LocalStorage, IndexedDB, Cache, Origin Private File System, etc.) and then synced when next online.
4. Updates to the app are rolled out gracefully to users and schema changes in offline data sets are managed through some form of migrations.

Describe the solution you'd like

No response

Describe alternatives you've considered

No response

[geromegrignon]

Hi @mfulton26,

That's a great idea! The first step would be to define the expectations in the documentation and provide as much content as possible to help the community implement it, as from my experience, many devs are not familiarized with PWA.

[mfulton26]

It looks like Medium supports downloading lists but, from what I can tell, Conduit doesn't currently have lists. I think having the ability to download single articles is sufficient for RealWorld.

Here's my first attempt at coming up with content to add to Features | RealWorld to describe what an app should support for offline functionality:

Offline functionality (optional)

Although not generally required, providing offline capabilities can really make your solution shine.

• Cache necessary assets for offline functionality
• Notify users when the app is available for offline use
• Notify users when an app update is ready
• Download articles and article updates while online for offline viewing
• View articles, comments, & favorites while offline (viewing other users requires being online)
• Enqueue mutations while offline and perform them once online again
  • C-UD Articles
  • C--D Comments on articles (no updating required)
  • Favorite articles
  • Follow other users

What do you think?