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Hacker news unofficial desktop app

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Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#11

Post by NoGravitas »

tdkl wrote: post #9
current_call wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A browser is like a buggy mini-operating system that hogs resources, tries to replace native applications like PDF readers, word processors, and email clients, and uses JavaScript as its system language. Client applications circumvent the hell of modern web browsers. The benefit is not needing to use a web browser.

Wish there was some kind of a "Electron kitchen" where you could easily make your own app stating which website you want to use in this isolated way, without having to learn about Electron.

There's nativefier: https://github.com/jiahaog/Nativefier

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#12

Post by tomc1985 »

PeCaN wrote: post #5
psheets wrote: post #3

What is the benefit of this over using a browser?

None, given that it essentially runs in a browser anyway (Electron). I suppose it's very useful if you have ~200MB of RAM and ~80MB disk space that you really want to get rid of. I hate Electron. :-|

Qt/GTK/WinForms or GTFO!

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#13

Post by snuxoll »

tomc1985 wrote: post #12
PeCaN wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None, given that it essentially runs in a browser anyway (Electron). I suppose it's very useful if you have ~200MB of RAM and ~80MB disk space that you really want to get rid of. I hate Electron. :-|

Qt/GTK/WinForms or GTFO!

WPF/UWP instead of WinForms and I agree. I don't even get why so many people like writing web apps, I feel a hell of a lot more comfortable working with a proper widget toolkit (my preference being GTK or WPF) without the constraints enforced on me by a browser and JavaScript.

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#14

Post by Mister_Snuggles »

Since this is an Electron-based app, I figure this is as good a place as any to ask something that I don't understand about Electron...

How well can an Electron-based app fit in with the underlying operating system?

If running on a Mac, can an Electron-based app expose itself via AppleScript so that other applications can interact with them? If running on Windows, can it expose itself via COM? On Linux can it register itself with DBus (I'm not sure if this even makes sense - what's the Linux equivalent of COM/AppleScript)?

On the Mac, does the stuff in the Services menu work? Do text fields get automatic spell-check? Can I double-tap 'fn' to start dictation? Can it expose itself to the Accessibility stuff in a meaningful manner?

These things don't make sense for all applications. I can't think of why I'd want to interact with an HN application via AppleScript (or COM), for example, but there are other types of applications where being able to do this would be great (Excel and Word base their entire macro facility on COM, for example).

I can see wanting to use Dictation in an HN app as it might make commenting easier for some people. Same goes for the text field spell-checking.

I guess the big question is, where can an Electron app fit in the spectrum between 'web site rendered in a dedicated application' and 'full-blown Windows/Mac/Linux desktop application'?

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#15

Post by tomc1985 »

tdkl wrote: post #9
current_call wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A browser is like a buggy mini-operating system that hogs resources, tries to replace native applications like PDF readers, word processors, and email clients, and uses JavaScript as its system language. Client applications circumvent the hell of modern web browsers. The benefit is not needing to use a web browser.

Wish there was some kind of a "Electron kitchen" where you could easily make your own app stating which website you want to use in this isolated way, without having to learn about Electron.

As mentioned earlier, there's Chrome's "Add To Desktop" option

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#16

Post by nilkn »

psheets wrote: post #3

What is the benefit of this over using a browser?

I guess at the very least it'd be recognized as a separate window/app by the OS window manager, which might be convenient if you like to keep it open all the time and alt-tab to/from it.

However, at least on OS X, you can just use something like Fluid if that's all you want (http://fluidapp.com/).

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#17

Post by tomc1985 »

snuxoll wrote: post #13
tomc1985 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Qt/GTK/WinForms or GTFO!

WPF/UWP instead of WinForms and I agree. I don't even get why so many people like writing web apps, I feel a hell of a lot more comfortable working with a proper widget toolkit (my preference being GTK or WPF) without the constraints enforced on me by a browser and JavaScript.

It's because there are a lot of people here obsessed with reaching the largest possible audience they possibly can. And since every brother and their mother are on mobile, or, at least, a web browser...

The way I see it, mainstream masses are finally (FINALLY!) leaving the world of desktop computing behind, so now it can return to the nerds and people who just wanna do shit

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#18

Post by [deleted] »

NoGravitas wrote: post #11
tdkl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wish there was some kind of a "Electron kitchen" where you could easily make your own app stating which website you want to use in this isolated way, without having to learn about Electron.

There's nativefier: https://github.com/jiahaog/Nativefier

[deleted]

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#19

Post by _qbjt »

tomc1985 wrote: post #12
PeCaN wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None, given that it essentially runs in a browser anyway (Electron). I suppose it's very useful if you have ~200MB of RAM and ~80MB disk space that you really want to get rid of. I hate Electron. :-|

Qt/GTK/WinForms or GTFO!

With the recent popularity of Electron, I wonder why less attention has been given to Qt Quick. The JSON-like syntax of QML as well as JavaScript should be very familiar to web developers and you get software that looks much more "native" than what is achievable in the DOM (well, without reasonable effort).

Re: Hacker news unofficial desktop app

#20

Post by foxylion »

32XY wrote: post #8

If you select "Add to desktop..." under "More tools" in Chrome and check the "Open as window" option it will look the same as this :)

I didn't know this, absolutely great. Now I have some of my "always open tabs" as separate windows without the bookmarks and omnibox.
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