As part of Mozilla’s mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web we not only make our own products, like Firefox, but work on technologies that will benefit the entire Web ecosystem. We do this because we want the Web to reach its full potential and grow with interoperable and consistent experiences for both users and developers. This includes experimenting with Service Workers and other technologies that enable a new design pattern known as Progressive Web Apps -a key next step in the Web Apps story.

Web Apps have been evolving rapidly over the last few years with the introduction of new technologies that expand the Web to allow more developers to leverage its advantages for their applications. Mozilla-pioneered standards such as WebGL and asm.js and others like WebAudio, Media Source Extensions and Fullscreen API have greatly enriched the Web-based experiences developers can deliver. However, a crucial need has been the ability to drive adoption through push notifications, offline usage and background updating.

The upcoming release of Services Workers, Web Push API and the Web Manifest will enable Progressive Web Apps that provide responsive, re-engageable experiences that can work on- or offline. We’re partnering alongside others in the industry to ensure that these capabilities work across different browsers and can reach all Web users.

We’re now experimenting with these new capabilities in Firefox Developer Edition, and are looking forward to hearing feedback from the developers testing them. You can also learn how to make use of them through the Service Worker Cookbook.

We’re excited to continue to unlock the power of the Web and the potential for Web Apps to supply even more valuable user experiences.