User Interaction with Offline Web Applications: a Case Study

Abstract

User interaction with web applications has changed considerably over the last decade. Technological advances allow users to be more than mere information consumers. Users now produce most of the information on the World Wide Web. Most of the interaction and information management with web applications is carried out on the client side, in the local browser. However, there is not always connectivity with the web platform. Several factors prevent users from connecting with remote servers: rural areas, natural disasters or situations without coverage. These situations, among others, motivated the creation and use of offline or disconnected web applications. The present work takes an in-depth look at the problems of using existent web applications in offline scenarios. To that end, the offline proxy is introduced. Then, a test is conducted to perform a preliminary evaluation of how user interaction changes with offline web interfaces. The final objective is to understand and to improve user interaction in offline scenarios with web applications.