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ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

todesktop.com

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Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#21

Post by philote »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #8
resonious wrote: post #5

I gotta say, I'm not super convinced by a lot of the points on here. > Native notifications Web browsers already let you create these. > Auto updates Browsers usually already do this too! And also they will fetch your app fresh on each visit by default... So I'm not sure why this is a problem we need to solve for web apps. > Native installers So, more friction? Just visiting the webpage was too simple? Anyway some of…

Strictly fwiw - There is a subset of people, myself included, who have old fashioned preference for native apps. In particular, a few likely obsolete perspectives : 1. I can have more ownership of the native app. I can make a copy on my NAS and install as needed 2. I can have more control over what it does. I can deny the firewall and whatever it does it'll do only locally. 3. Native app feels more "once and done". W…

I'm curious, what native apps that are also available a web app do you store an offline copy of on your NAS? And which do you deny access to in your firewall?

Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#22

Post by peterkelly »

stevepike wrote: post #14
dusted wrote: post #6

Stop trying to make desktop software with web technologies, they are all slower and suckier than their counterparts. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a good native app with web technologies, only that you can _ALWAYS_ make a better one using native tech.

So I'm sitting here on a linux (KDE) desktop machine with the following apps open: 1. Slack 2. Discord 3. Signal 4. Mullvad VPN 5. Kate 6. 1Password 7. Emacs 8. Chrome 9. Spotify 10. Konsole How many of these wouldn't exist on Linux if they had to be written with native SDKs? Konsole and Kate use QT and are clearly the best UX, but it's not like emacs (gtk) integrates natively in KDE any better than Slack does. Zoom…

All these apps could be written in Qt and would then work on all platforms.

Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#23

Post by voidpepe »

stevepike wrote: post #14
dusted wrote: post #6

Stop trying to make desktop software with web technologies, they are all slower and suckier than their counterparts. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a good native app with web technologies, only that you can _ALWAYS_ make a better one using native tech.

So I'm sitting here on a linux (KDE) desktop machine with the following apps open: 1. Slack 2. Discord 3. Signal 4. Mullvad VPN 5. Kate 6. 1Password 7. Emacs 8. Chrome 9. Spotify 10. Konsole How many of these wouldn't exist on Linux if they had to be written with native SDKs? Konsole and Kate use QT and are clearly the best UX, but it's not like emacs (gtk) integrates natively in KDE any better than Slack does. Zoom…

You are correct, but I still feel like we need a better way of making cross-platform desktop applications than just wrapping a webapp into a bunch of bloat. Web technologies were never meant for this and it pains me to see a messaging desktop app clog up 100s of MB of memory

Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#25

Post by AshleysBrain »

It looks like a well executed product, but I believe the future is to move towards running in the browser only, rather than browser wrappers for the desktop. For example, isn't just visiting a URL in your browser so much more easy and convenient than having to have an installer? Isn't it nice to use the already-installed browser rather than ship a full browser engine with the app?

We put our money where our mouth is as we develop Construct[1], a fully browser-based game development editor. It's only available in the browser. You can install it in Chrome and Edge so it looks much like a locally installed app. We actually used to have an NW.js wrapper for things like file system access, but browsers now support enough features (including the File System Access API in Chrome/Edge) that we retired the NW.js wrapper and just do everything 100% in the browser now. It works great for us and I think it will only get better.

[1] https://www.construct.net

Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#26

Post by xcdzvyn »

stevepike wrote: post #14
dusted wrote: post #6

Stop trying to make desktop software with web technologies, they are all slower and suckier than their counterparts. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a good native app with web technologies, only that you can _ALWAYS_ make a better one using native tech.

So I'm sitting here on a linux (KDE) desktop machine with the following apps open: 1. Slack 2. Discord 3. Signal 4. Mullvad VPN 5. Kate 6. 1Password 7. Emacs 8. Chrome 9. Spotify 10. Konsole How many of these wouldn't exist on Linux if they had to be written with native SDKs? Konsole and Kate use QT and are clearly the best UX, but it's not like emacs (gtk) integrates natively in KDE any better than Slack does. Zoom…

Zoom is CEF, like Spotify. It's Chromium embedded in a QT container.

Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#28

Post by phalangion »

AshleysBrain wrote: post #25

It looks like a well executed product, but I believe the future is to move towards running in the browser only, rather than browser wrappers for the desktop. For example, isn't just visiting a URL in your browser so much more easy and convenient than having to have an installer? Isn't it nice to use the already-installed browser rather than ship a full browser engine with the app? We put our money where our mouth is…

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A web app having its own icon and spot in the dock/task bar makes it easier to switch to.

Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#29

Post by charamis »

stevepike wrote: post #14
dusted wrote: post #6

Stop trying to make desktop software with web technologies, they are all slower and suckier than their counterparts. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a good native app with web technologies, only that you can _ALWAYS_ make a better one using native tech.

So I'm sitting here on a linux (KDE) desktop machine with the following apps open: 1. Slack 2. Discord 3. Signal 4. Mullvad VPN 5. Kate 6. 1Password 7. Emacs 8. Chrome 9. Spotify 10. Konsole How many of these wouldn't exist on Linux if they had to be written with native SDKs? Konsole and Kate use QT and are clearly the best UX, but it's not like emacs (gtk) integrates natively in KDE any better than Slack does. Zoom…

A few more would exist as native than the ones that already do and the rest we could use them through the browser. It's not like the UX is that different anyway...

Re: ToDesktop – Web app to desktop app in minutes

#30

Post by devmor »

A monthly fee for a build tool that provides no ongoing benefit other than continuing to exist is a ridiculous pricing strategy. Especially $99 for solo.

And what is this "download links on your domain" feature for the $240/month option? Are you really advertising a URL rewrite as a paid feature?

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