When users are trying to complete a long & important task for a site, users have to work around how the browser works to get it done. This may be due to reasons like tab resource throttling done by the browser to keep tabs fast, or the system going to sleep because the site is not performing tasks that automatically acquire a screen or system wake lock like audio or video.
The Progress Notification API is a proposal for a generic API which a developer can use to indicate to the user agent that it is performing an important task which will take some time. This provides user agents with information about a site’s intention to perform such a task and therefore may allow the task to continue while the site is no longer visible because its tab is occluded.
Introduction
When users are trying to complete a long & important task for a site, users have to work around how the browser works to get it done. This may be due to reasons like tab resource throttling done by the browser to keep tabs fast, or the system going to sleep because the site is not performing tasks that automatically acquire a screen or system wake lock like audio or video.
The Progress Notification API is a proposal for a generic API which a developer can use to indicate to the user agent that it is performing an important task which will take some time. This provides user agents with information about a site’s intention to perform such a task and therefore may allow the task to continue while the site is no longer visible because its tab is occluded.
Read the complete Explainer.
Feedback
I welcome feedback in this thread, but encourage you to file bugs against the Explainer.