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What you should know before starting node-webkit

yedingding.com

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Re: What you should know before starting node-webkit

#2
I like node-webkit.

One of the ironies about the "Write once, Run many" mantra for HTML5 is that it's mostly applied to phones, where the runtime presents numerous challenges. On the desktop, however, HTML5 runtimes are faster and more feature-rich, so this is really where the portable aspect of HTML5 can excel. Adding Node to the mix makes it powerful too, going beyond regular browser capabilities.

Re: What you should know before starting node-webkit

#3

I like node-webkit. One of the ironies about the "Write once, Run many" mantra for HTML5 is that it's mostly applied to phones, where the runtime presents numerous challenges. On the desktop, however, HTML5 runtimes are faster and more feature-rich, so this is really where the portable aspect of HTML5 can excel. Adding Node to the mix makes it powerful too, going beyond regular browser capabilities.

Conversely I've been a little unimpressed by some of the standout node-webkit applications. LightTable in particular just doesn't seem very smooth or easy to use when I actually sit down and use it.

Re: What you should know before starting node-webkit

#4

I like node-webkit. One of the ironies about the "Write once, Run many" mantra for HTML5 is that it's mostly applied to phones, where the runtime presents numerous challenges. On the desktop, however, HTML5 runtimes are faster and more feature-rich, so this is really where the portable aspect of HTML5 can excel. Adding Node to the mix makes it powerful too, going beyond regular browser capabilities.

Totally agree. Desktop app is more fit place for HTML5 than mobile. node-webkit is awesome and it can also benefit from the improvement of node and chromium.

Re: What you should know before starting node-webkit

#6
post #3

I like node-webkit. One of the ironies about the "Write once, Run many" mantra for HTML5 is that it's mostly applied to phones, where the runtime presents numerous challenges. On the desktop, however, HTML5 runtimes are faster and more feature-rich, so this is really where the portable aspect of HTML5 can excel. Adding Node to the mix makes it powerful too, going beyond regular browser capabilities.

Conversely I've been a little unimpressed by some of the standout node-webkit applications. LightTable in particular just doesn't seem very smooth or easy to use when I actually sit down and use it.

As smooth and easy to use compared to what?

cough lags-and-stops-responsonding-if-you-sneeze-too-hard-on-a-24GB-ram-machine-visual-studio-2013? cough

cough spazzes-out-randomly-when-you-type-characters-xcode? cough

sublime text? (which to be fair, is pretty amazing)

It's all relative. I've used plenty of really shit 'native graphics' applications (especially cross platform ones); on the other hand, plenty of stuff in the list (https://github.com/rogerwang/node-webkit/wiki/List-of-apps-a...) work just great for me.

shrug

I don't think you can discount the entire run time just one the basis of one app.

Re: What you should know before starting node-webkit

#7
post #3

I like node-webkit. One of the ironies about the "Write once, Run many" mantra for HTML5 is that it's mostly applied to phones, where the runtime presents numerous challenges. On the desktop, however, HTML5 runtimes are faster and more feature-rich, so this is really where the portable aspect of HTML5 can excel. Adding Node to the mix makes it powerful too, going beyond regular browser capabilities.

Conversely I've been a little unimpressed by some of the standout node-webkit applications. LightTable in particular just doesn't seem very smooth or easy to use when I actually sit down and use it.

Have you used Popcorn Time? I would say the interface is very slick and easy to use.

Re: What you should know before starting node-webkit

#9
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely I've been a little unimpressed by some of the standout node-webkit applications. LightTable in particular just doesn't seem very smooth or easy to use when I actually sit down and use it.

As smooth and easy to use compared to what? cough lags-and-stops-responsonding-if-you-sneeze-too-hard-on-a-24GB-ram-machine-visual-studio-2013? cough cough spazzes-out-randomly-when-you-type-characters-xcode? cough sublime text? (which to be fair, is pretty amazing) It's all relative. I've used plenty of really shit 'native graphics' applications (especially cross platform ones); on the other hand, plenty of stuff in…

Light Table and Atom both run on node and they're pretty slow/jerky for me. Slow enough where I'd rather use IntelliJ for general purpose editing, intellij has a decent startup time compared to those two but it's way faster after that. Plus I always have it open when I'm working anyway so another tab doesn't really make a difference.

Re: What you should know before starting node-webkit

#10
post #5

I've done a bit of node-webkit but I what I really didn't like was the speed at which a node-webkit app launches itself. It's pretty slow.

What I've found, from my development, is that if you use the node-webkit executable to run the folder without packing/unpacking the app, it's faster. Also, killing the application before launching a new instance/using the already launched instance is faster.
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