Is Django good for Progressive Web Apps?

Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are built to give you the best of web and app experience. It eliminates the need for app installation, loads quickly with little or no connectivity, thanks to the caching mechanism. It also lets businesses send push notifications like with a native app. 

Since PWA is more dependent on browsers, the backend is built on popular frameworks like React, Angular, Ionic etc.  

The rise of PWA has led to the advent of many frameworks. Let’s dig into a couple of top ones. 

Popular frameworks for PWA: 

1. Angular 

Angular is one of the oldest and popular frameworks for PWA. An engaging PWA demands dynamic pages and Angular is the framework for the job. It’s also backed with support from Google. But at the same time, it requires complex coding skills and experience in TypeScript, making it slightly more difficult for the developers to work with. 

2. React 

A competitor of Angular, React is an equally popular framework that uses JavaScript for PWA. Supported by Facebook, it accelerates the creation of flexible web apps. Virtual DOM is yet another feature of React, enabling fast-rendering process. Unlike Angular, React is not a PWA framework and hence requires certain integrations before developers can start building an app. 

3. Vue  

Though a newer framework, Vue has made its way as one of the top 3 PWA frameworks. Big e-commerce players like Alibaba and Laravel use Vue’s JavaScript for their UI. In comparison Vue is simple and has concepts similar to Angular and React but, it has a small support team and not many developers are well versed with the features of this framework.  

Read more about the most sought-after frameworks for mobile application development here. 

What is Django? 

Django, more popularly known as ‘The web framework for perfectionists with deadlines’, is a high-level Python web framework.  It has been around for over a decade and is frequently used for creating complex, feature-rich and scalable web applications. This is because Django can be used to build any type of website ranging from news sites, social networking sites or even wikis. What’s more? It can also deliver content in any format like HTML, RSS, JSON, XML and so on. 

A stand-out feature of Django is that it comes with in-built features that developers generally need to create a web app from scratch. This is a major time-saver since you can do away with having to create frameworks. It also has its own infrastructure, allowing the developers to toggle between different databases during a project. 

When is Django used? 

Django is a progressive framework with a set of functionalities that can assist in developing almost any kind of application you could think of. Since the templates are inherited, web pages and sites built using Django are SEO optimized by default. Not just that, Django’s HTML template lets developers merge static and dynamic elements on a web page for a delightful user experience. This is especially useful in the case of developing PWAs.  

As such developers are partial towards Django due to its capability for rapid development, ease of working on simplified databases and developing applications that require dynamicity, to name a few. The framework is especially used in AI and Machine Learning industries given its statistical adeptness. 

Why is Django good for web development? 

Django is free and open-source, making it easily accessible. It is also thoroughly tested and comes with easy-to-understand documentation that is extremely helpful for beginners in navigating through Django’s framework. 

But is it the right choice for PWA? Here are a few reasons why Django is a preferred choice for web development: 

• REST Framework – Representational State Transfer framework is an added benefit of Django that aids quick creation of Web APIs and is flexible in nature
• Speed – If you have an approaching deadline or short development periods, Django is effective in getting your job done quickly and efficiently
• Batteries Included – Django comes with all the features, templates and functionalities required to build an app from scratch, saving the developers time in searching for third-party libraries
• High Security – Django is as safe as any framework can be and is constantly updated with security patches to avoid any lapses. It also mitigates any risks for the apps being developed
• Platform Independent – Being written in Python, Django can run on multiple platforms and applications across MacOS, Linux and Windows. Thus, there are no restrictions like being tied to a particular platform
• Machine Learning Framework – Django’s advanced prediction, computation and regression capabilities make it the perfect platform for developers working on algorithms for machine learning applications
• Compatibility – Django’s object relational mapping (ORM) is compatible with almost all major databases and therefore lets developers work on several databases with ease

When should you not use Django? 

While Django ranks at the top, there are times when you can use other alternatives that will serve your needs better. Such occasions would be when: 

1. You want to build everything from scratch rather than relying on Django’s toolkit 
2. Your build requirement is very basic and does not require complex databases and operations. As such Django is more apt for scalable projects 
3. You require additional time or investment to ensure your team is familiar with Django. Since it’s written in Python, developers may have a slightly hard time mastering the know-hows
4. You have multiple requests which Django cannot handle simultaneously and instead processes them individually which is time-consuming

In short, if you are looking at developing simple apps or websites that are not more than a single page, steer clear of Django! 

Who uses Django? 

Some of our favorite everyday apps have been developed using Django. They are: 

Instagram, Spotify, Pinterest, Mozilla, Bitbucket, Disqus and DropBox to name a few.  

Conclusion: 

PWA is an amazing way to deliver the best version of your website on mobile and other devices. It is to be noted that PWA is not just another version of your site but rather offers an immersive experience that responds quickly to user needs. Therefore, PWA development should be undertaken with clear direction of what you want to achieve and keeping in mind the expertise of the team handling it. This will help in determining the kind of framework that best caters to your needs. 

Pick the best technology for your web application development by partnering with Zuci Systems. With our agile practices and high-quality standards, we ensure delivery of dynamic mobile/web apps at an affordable cost. Connect with our expert team of PWA developers today.