A year after the question was asked, it seems that he asked for a more general answer. It is still early for WebSockets without a lot of applications. Currently, major browsers support web ports, but there is still little support. In addition to the cauding mentioned above, I disclose that I wrote one of the existing standard compatible "servers." ( Websocket server demo )
You can replace what you are doing now with http using websockets, but everyone is trying not to say that this is something that needs to be done. WebSockets is a bidirectional communication mechanism; this means that you can, if you want, use it for everything, including an HTTP request-request. But you do not need to replace http. If what you want is a request-response, then there is nothing wrong with HTTP. This is what it was built for. WebSockets are initiated by “updating” the HTTP connection request. If you are still thinking about web browser applications, as you basically did, by this point you probably agree with the http ... protocol that defines the nature of most modern web applications (because it was there).
Previously, you could receive bi-directional communication in application components, but in the browser it was difficult that there was a sticky bit. Believe me, I wrote enough workarounds to know ... Applets on applets, etc. It is also good to have a standard in place, even for what was possible before. This means that even the application components will have new standardized support for open bidirectional communication (outside the scope of a single server, etc.). Now that WebSockets is here, developers need to start thinking differently about the browser ... as a universal interface ... a real application interface, not just an interface for photographs of cats and online stores. The big revolution it should bring no longer needs to download and install program components in order to make bidirectional communication possible.
One of the applications that I worked on in my Applet days was a control station for autonomous or semi-autonomous robotics. Using a browser (each got one on all these different devices), he asked for websites. Your robot is not doing something, and it needs to contact or inform the operator. The operator does not need to click to update to receive the message, and the application developer does not need any fancy workarounds or create his own interface to immediately receive the message in the browser. The owner / operator of the robot does not need to install the software application on a mobile phone or anything else. Just use websockets.
Another example from the old days when people wrote complex workarounds to do this is stock trading. Now the stock trading application is easier to record to use all browsers on all types of devices as an interface, without the need to download and install the stock trading application. As prices and other information change, the browser receives an update. At the same time, the trader can click the buy or sell button at any time, etc.