workbox-navigation-preload

What is workbox-navigation-preload?

The workbox-navigation-preload npm package is part of the Workbox suite of tools, which are designed to make it easier to build high-quality Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). This particular package enables the use of navigation preload in service workers, which allows you to respond to navigation requests with precached content or from the network, potentially improving the performance of PWAs.

What are workbox-navigation-preload's main functionalities?

Enable navigation preload

This feature enables navigation preload in your service worker, which can improve loading performance for navigations to new pages.

workbox.navigationPreload.enable();

Disable navigation preload

This feature disables navigation preload if it's no longer needed or if you want to revert to the default behavior.

workbox.navigationPreload.disable();

Check if navigation preload is supported

This code checks if navigation preload is supported in the current browser and enables it if it is. This is useful for ensuring compatibility with a wide range of browsers.

if (workbox.navigationPreload.isSupported()) {
  workbox.navigationPreload.enable();
}

Other packages similar to workbox-navigation-preload

sw-toolbox

sw-toolbox is a legacy library for service worker runtime caching strategies. It has been deprecated in favor of Workbox, but it provided similar functionalities for caching and serving assets in PWAs. Unlike workbox-navigation-preload, sw-toolbox does not specifically focus on navigation preload features.

sw-precache

sw-precache is another legacy Google library that generates a service worker script that precaches resources. It has also been deprecated in favor of Workbox. While it helps in caching resources for offline use, it does not offer the specific navigation preload functionality that workbox-navigation-preload provides.

serviceworker-webpack-plugin

This webpack plugin simplifies the creation of a service worker by integrating with your webpack build process. While it can be used to implement caching strategies, it does not have built-in support for navigation preload like workbox-navigation-preload does.

README

This module's documentation can be found at https://developers.google.com/web/tools/workbox/modules/workbox-navigation-preload