HTML5 Offline Applications

 

One of the tenants of an inter-connected network of computers (or the web) is that you basically take for granted that you have a reliable connection to the internet. In this podcast I discuss the concepts and mechanics of taking your applications offline and making them available at all times regardless of connection status.

Resources

Make sure to check out the offline-related links I’ve posted on delicious here.

Meet Offline.js

One of the libraries I’ve grown to love lately is Offline.js which according to its tag line allows you to “handle your users losing their internet connection like a pro”. This is a very well-executed offline detection library and I highly recommend you check out the docs and the GitHub repository.

As I was working with Offline.js I wanted a simple way to put my pages into a state that would simulate a broken internet connection. Since this feature wasn’t a part of Offline.js I created a plug-in that renders a checkbox on the page and makes it super-simple to simulate your application losing it’s connection to the internet. You can check out the plug in here: Offline.js Simulate UI.

Music Courtesy of Andrew Bordoni

As I stated in my last show, I’ve really been enjoying the work of Andrew Bordoni. Songs from his album Songs of Future Past are featured in this show. I hope you get a chance to check out all his work on CD baby: https://www.cdbaby.com/all/bordoni