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Flutter for Linux

snapcraft.io

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Re: Flutter for Linux

#91

Post by programmarchy »

armytricks wrote: post #2

Having used Flutter extensively since I was first introduced to it 9 months ago, I can say that it is an absolute joy to use and build interfaces with. An easier way to install the Flutter SDK on linux is only good news and I hope it gets more developers to adopt it.

Agree, Flutter is top notch. I've had trouble pitching it as a technical solution, though. For one, I think word is out that Google will kill projects mercilessly, and there's an odd dynamic between the promotion Flutter and Kotlin/AndroidX. Generally, Kotlin comes out on top as the "safer" choice.

It's a shame, though, because the primary advantage I see with Flutter is its superior UI framework. It's leagues better than the AndroidX compatibility lasagna, in terms of architecture and DX. So it really stands out as a cross platform solution not just across iOS and Android, but especially across the Android ecosystem itself.

Re: Flutter for Linux

#92

Post by ocdtrekkie »

Spivak wrote: post #74
andrepd wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging by the example in TFA, we must have very different conceptions of what "beautiful" means. That is an atrocious application. * Ungodly amounts of whitespace (seriously, look at that sidebar, look at that search bar. WHY? too much optimisation for what "looks good on a screenshot", maybe?) * Undecipherable symbols where there's plenty of f#cking space to write labels god damn it * I bet bad/nonexistant keyboard…

You do know that none of that is really do do with Flutter, right? Like you're just taking it out on the designers of Flock.

This isn't true: Google preloads their design conceptions, namely Material, into Flutter at the ground level, and Material is a terrible set of UI patterns, such as the ones the parent comment was complaining about.

Re: Flutter for Linux

#93

Post by programmarchy »

avilesj wrote: post #4

I'm excited to have another contender on multi platform apps space but in the case of Flutter for desktop I just wonder about the RAM consumption compared to Electron.

Dart compiles to native machine code, so unlike Electron doesn't need to host an interpreter, which tends to aggressively allocate memory. Should be much friendlier on RAM.

Re: Flutter for Linux

#94

Post by jeffbee »

dahfizz wrote: post #86
spankalee wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally. You definitely can't compete against Slack's desktop app with web technologies: https://slack.engineering/building-hybrid-applications-with-...

Personally I can't tell the difference between the slack app and slack open in my browser. It is literally identical. In Firefox, I can even go "full screen" but still control the size and location of the window, so I don't have to look at the tab bar. Side by side, I can't tell them apart visually or functionally. Maybe the Linux version of electron is neutered in some way? I read article you linked and I don't know…

Slack in the browser is visibly superior to the slack app. When I close the tab it's really dead. Great feature.

The slack "app" is just their web site and a web browser zipped together in such a way that it doesn't actually quit when you tell it to quit. Why anyone wants that I cannot begin to imagine.

Re: Flutter for Linux

#95

Post by liquidise »

harikb wrote: post #28

I have a request for all the Flutter folks/fans - it would be great if you all can say something about how you can get over / stay sane with the staircase looking nesting of code blocks and how you manage to keep it all in your head to navigate the code base. I started my career writing single threaded Palm OS apps (64k limit) - there was like 10 possible widgets with 5 possible events on each widget and rest of it w…

I have [self-diagnosed] Code Style OCD. Like you, the Flutter nesting levels was a major fear entering the space. It feels both ugly and inelegant.

I found i was over this fear in days if not hours, and continued to improve with my ongoing discovery of helpful UI components. Furthermore, defining your own components and breaking out inline functions into proper functions in your UI classes goes a long way, too.

Android Studio, if you use it (i didn't), auto-appends closing bracket comments to keep you visually aware of your nesting. For the reasons i stated, i don't think it is as important as you might think.

If you haven't tried Flutter, particularly for syntactical reasons, i would urge you dip your toes in.

Re: Flutter for Linux

#96

Post by anonms-coward »

mikece wrote: post #26
axegon_ wrote: post #15

I'm actually a great fan of flutter and imo it is the best cross-platform solution out there. Probably except for web: though it produces very good result performance-wise, the end result is never really "web" and doesn't act like traditional web. As for desktop applications(whether it be windows, linux or mac), it seems like it's too mobile-oriented. I see great potential for simple solutions like self-service opera…

Flutter's ability to "compile to web" was something that confused me at first as well, but on second thought it's genius. It makes it easier to ease managers into selecting Flutter since deployments and updates are done via a web browser. If that works for them then maybe there's never a need to go fully native though that option exists if they want to -- and the ability to go back to compiling for web gives managers…

> and the ability to go back to compiling for web gives managers a sense of "this isn't a one-way, I'm screwed if something goes wrong" journey

It wouldn't be a good idea to believe that though. Flutter website are just canvas paintings, and have nothing to do with the web. You can't add new html or js to it easily. can't make much use of new improvements in the web world.

Most importantly, if you are running a business, flutter web isn't really accessible, so please don't use it for any non internal tools

Re: Flutter for Linux

#97

Post by etse »

What are some high quality non-Material, non-Cupertino themes that any Flutter (mobile) developers can recommend?

Material is well done, except I really don't like the actual design. Cupertino looks more like iOS 7 than iOS 14 and lacks something…

Re: Flutter for Linux

#98

Post by timClicks »

canada_dry wrote: post #80
rst wrote: post #52

So, this makes Flutter apps available through Canonical's Snap store... which is Ubuntu-mostly right now, and controversial enough that the top item on the HN front page as I write is about an Ubuntu derivative (Linux Mint) explicitly dropping support for it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23771847

Until SNAP gives me full control (and not just: you can opt-out) over updates/upgrades they're a non-starter.

Many snaps provide channels so that you an pin your locally installed version to a specific upstream version. That way you have full control over when you upgrade.

Re: Flutter for Linux

#100

Post by bepvte »

RivieraKid wrote: post #31
axegon_ wrote: post #15

I'm actually a great fan of flutter and imo it is the best cross-platform solution out there. Probably except for web: though it produces very good result performance-wise, the end result is never really "web" and doesn't act like traditional web. As for desktop applications(whether it be windows, linux or mac), it seems like it's too mobile-oriented. I see great potential for simple solutions like self-service opera…

I've been using Flutter in the last few months and agree. It's the best multi-platform solution for mobile , although it still doesn't match native behavior and performance, it only gets close. On the web it's DOA for most use cases - it's just a canvas, so scrolling, text selection, shadow rendering, etc. is custom, doesn't feel native and must be downloaded and compiled. It can have a future on desktop. One "cultur…

Flutter only falls back on the canvas, it avoids using anything but html elements if it can. Fancy animations tend to resort to the canvas
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