Building websites and web applications before the smartphone era were relatively straightforward. Web, Application and Database Servers together represented an excellent partition between the different server roles, yet the whole system operated as a single unit. Web development at that time was quite simple, and came the arrival of the smartphone. Smartphones (1) have different screen sizes; (2) have additional hardware that requires access; (3) plus made the internet more reachable leading to an explosion in the consumption of online media. The result is conventional database management systems were no longer appropriate for many social media websites. New tools and techniques had to be introduced to develop websites and applications, drastically changing the existing workflow used some years earlier.
Fast forward 5 – 7 years later, the web development process is now starting to get a general workflow back again, except that the tasks done by the web developer increased a lot compared to the existing workflow.
Since Oct 2016, there have been officially more mobile devices connected to the internet than Desktop computers.
Our traditional web server core operation will require review. With an optimal review, our workflow may be simplified and look like the original, easy to develop in workflow again, whereby the web server environment takes care of most of the complex stuff.
Research and works in that direction should have proper terminology to start a field of study. For now, we are labelling the same as the Progressive Web Server to indicate the shift from traditional web server development to Progressive Web App. Development.