General discussions of "offline"-like access strategies

[fititnt]

Quick question: considering the target audience of HXLDash, the potential of have "offline"-like access is desirable? (In practice, means someone who already accessed some page, if internet goes down, it would try the local copy of a dashboard instead of go offline)

This issue is not necessary about how to implement, but if the subject is desirable, so people may contribute later. If yes, (or if no) we can just close this issue.

---

Some of my previous search on HXL tools

The HXLStandard/hxl-hashtag-chooser at the commit HXLStandard/hxl-hashtag-chooser@d948bac tried with AppCache [1] that is easier to implement at coding level, but have some caverats (one notable issue is that the appcache manifest needs to be served with very specific mime type, so it needs some support near server level, so using GitHub pages fails). Another approach (that I personally did not tried yet, but seems feasible and is the replacement of AppCache) is would be Service Workers [2].

If "offline"-like access is desirable, other issues may be added on the future. In fact, maybe would be easier to implement at first on the HXLStandard/hxl-hashtag-choose (since does not have dynamic content) and later try something on hxldash or do on the hxldash in smaller increments.

1: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Using_the_application_cache
2: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API/Using_Service_Workers

[SimonbJohnson]

This is a really interesting suggestion. I will see how this feature is received by some of our current users.

[fititnt]

Sounds like a plan.

[SimonbJohnson]

Let keep this open for now in case it sparks more discussion!

[fititnt]

Ok. I was planning to break in several smaller issues, but we can keep a single big one. And trust me, this can go very deep.

Changed the title from Desirability of "offline"-like access to General discussions of "offline"-like access strategies

[fititnt]

refs:

• Processo de inclusão no Free Basics / internet.org (acesso gratuito) EticaAI/inclusao-digital#1

---

Potential bug of "offline"-like access strategies when using Free Basics internet (not confirmed)

User case: Some users may have a mix of both "full internet access" and "free basics" access. They sometimes may pay for some hours or for a day to access most content they can, but later want to revisit.

Potential undesired behaviors:

1. They can (without put phones on offline mode) get access to the cached version
2. If they re-access the page (but first time where on free basics like internet) the browser will invalidate the cached version

Potential ways to test:

1. Maybe we create some simpler html page with example content and ask people to test how the behavior occurs.

• I have contact with a peer from Angola and other from Mozambique (not sure what phone company their are using now); I could try ask more people to test
• Actually I'm not 100% sure about the limited access companies on Brazil may give to the users (Brazil does not have Free Basics, but the companies still do some packages with only WhatsApp/Facebook access)