Re:Electron 3.0.0
by Razengan on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @06:22PM
(#18019772)
There are more complex apps with native versions for multiple platforms, by smaller companies.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Such as?
Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher to name a few, from the same company. [0]
Then there are many games, which by their nature require native performance, and of course have to present the same frontend. :)
Re:Electron 3.0.0
by benbristow on Monday September 24, 2018 @03:21PM
(#18060565)
These are powerful pieces of software which massively benefit from native code doing processor/GPU intensive tasks. Totally different use-case.
Slack is literally just a fancy messaging app.
Re:Electron 3.0.0
by lazerwalker on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @07:19PM
(#18020176)
Games feel like a separate edge case. One of the most common complaints about cross-platform apps is they don't "feel native" or adhere to platform UX expectations. With games, there's an expectation they'll provide their own wholly own UI that doesn't match an existing commercial OS.
Re:Electron 3.0.0
by mwcampbell on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @09:19PM
(#18020884)
Also, video games aren't generally expected to be accessible to blind people via screen readers. If you develop a cross-platform app with a custom UI, it's going to have zero accessibility unless you implement each platform's accessibility API.
Yes, game devs already put in the effort of providing their own UI stack, and port that to every OS.
If most Electron apps were built as "games", i.e. providing their own UI via DirectX/OpenGL/Metal etc., I wonder if they might still be more efficient and less bloated than Electron apps are now.
Re:Electron 3.0.0
by ForHackernews on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @06:45PM
(#18019953)
LibreOffice has native versions for all major desktop platforms, does many more things than Slack, and is maintained by open source volunteers and the Document Foundation staff of six.
Re:Electron 3.0.0
by CyberDildonics on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @06:55PM
(#18020017)
qTorrent, VLC, CMAKE, Obs, AbiWord and Touch Designer. That's off the top of my head.
To say a company that has 200 MILLION in revenue can't re-write their client in Qt is indefensible nonsense.
You're probably right about cant, but why would they want to? A native version of their app would either embed a web browser or end up half-implementing one poorly. Why not just start with one?
Re:Electron 3.0.0
by ForHackernews on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @10:00PM
(#18021071)
Any Qt app can use QtWebView. There's a difference between putting a web browser inside your app and putting your app inside a web browser.
Yeah, the latter feels more put together, you don't have the awkwardness of communication between C++ and JS, and your web browser app will work in a web browser.
And all cross-platform apps made before Electron.