We continue publishing posts about Magento Progressive Web Applications (PWA). Earlier, we spoke about PWA in general and Magento PWA studio. Now it’s time to talk more about Venia PWA storefront - a proof-of-concept for this toolset.
Is Venia simply a new Magento Theme?
Venia goes beyond being just a theme; it serves as a storefront application.
While a typical Magento theme dictates the visual appearance of your store, it lacks inherent functionality.
Magento themes depend on the core Magento code and inherit from a parent theme for their functionality. Examples of Magento themes include Blank and Luma, which developers modify or extend to craft customized storefronts.
In contrast, a Magento storefront application is more than a theme; it's a progressive web app constructed using PWA Studio tools. Picture it as the framework of an app residing in the browser, engaging with a headless Magento backend through an intermediary service layer.
Key features of Venia PWA Storefront
Venia is one of three key packages provided as parts of Magento PWA studio. As mentioned above, it is a kind of demo offered by Magento to show what can be done using PWA studio. Initially, Venia is optimized for mobile devices, supports the display of basic product information, such as SKU, item name, item price, product images, etc., and has simple category pages.
The package is free, and it is pretty easy to set up for an experienced developer, it already provides all the essential functions needed to set up the store.
To communicate with the system backend, Venia connects to another Magento PWA Studio - Peregrine component, fetching the data. The developers can choose which features and components should be supported, and such interactions offer significant flexibility.
It is worth mentioning that a non-modified Venia UI has its downsides. For example, compared to pure Magento, missing built-in support for downloadable and virtual products, no support for product videos, and fewer customer account pages, but due to high customizability, experienced developers can easily implement those and other features you need.
Venia's primary features encompass the core attributes provided by PWA technology, including:
- Offline support/connectivity independence;
- Search engine discoverability;
- Automatic, self-updating capability;
- Consistent interface across devices;
- Push notifications.
You can find a working demo of the latest Magento PWA build (Venia theme) here:
Link 1: https://venia.magento.com/
Link 2: https://pwa.codilar.in/
Summary
PWA remains a powerful solution to enhance the UI-UX of Magento websites.
Considering PWA implementation for your Magento sites but lacking the time and expertise to do so? Leave your inquiry on the website, and our expert will get in touch with you for a detailed discussion of your project.
