14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla is working on an interesting addition to the web, push notifications. The idea is to enable websites to notify users of updates even when the users are not visiting the site, the same way a mobile application can notify users of update even if it's not running in the foreground.
The benefits of such a feature are quite obvious, there are plenty of websites that could benefit from being able to get to their users all the time. In fact, there are few websites out there that would not benefit, provided of course that the feature is not being abused.
For now, Mozilla is just laying down the ground work, there's still a lot to be done until a Push Notifications API can even be considered by other browsers and websites, let alone implemented or standardized, though that is the ultimate goal.
"Push notifications are a way for websites to send small messages to users when the user is not on the site. iOS and Android devices already support their own push notification services, but we want to make notifications available to the whole web," Mozilla's Jeff Balogh wrote.
"We’re making prototypes and designing the API right now and want to share our progress," he explained.
Mozilla has laid out the way it envisions the system working. Users sign up for notifications at the websites they want to follow.
The website receives a URL, known only to the user and the site, that points to a Notification Service. When an update needs to be sent, a notification is forwarded to the Notification Service.
The Notification Service then directs the notification to the proper device and browser, be it the desktop Firefox, the Android version, the iOS Firefox Home or Boot to Gecko.
The trick is sending the notification to the right device and only once. This way, the user doesn't get spammed with the same notification over and over again.
Mozilla has sample code and ideas over at the dedicated wiki page and any feedback or collaboration is welcomed.
Push notifications are a great idea, especially if a browser and device independent system is devised. Being able to be notified on new email, new articles, comments, new products for sale, new songs available and so on, would make the web a much more engaging place.