Cache Manifest slows down app when connection is slow

Question

I am looking for some advice regarding a web app that uses cache manifest. We use it mainly for offline browsing and for speed – resources comes straight from the disc.

The problem is that the apps is used in locations where the internet connection is dead slow. So when the web app starts up it displays a blank screen for the duration that the browser checks the manifest file. The user then sees this as an unresponsive web app.

But when the user is offline the web app starts up instantly because the browser cannot get the manifest on the server, and loads what’s in the cache.

So my question is can something be done to side step the checking of the manifest and maybe just add a update button and call applicationCache.update()

Answer 1

After some research it seems that Service Worker may be the answer to this problem. It is still very early days. Check https://jakearchibald.github.io/isserviceworkerready/

Answer 2

Service workers are definitely the way to go here. You can use Workbox as a library it has best practices and removes most of the boilerplate when implementing service workers in your apps.