zero examples
Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
21–30 of 65 posts
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#22I love the redefinition of "native desktop app" - a web app which uses the system web-view instead of bundling Chrome.
Considering Microsoft already doing this in win11, it's fine.
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#23Im not sure if people are getting the biggest problem in electron desktop apps. Its RAM usage not the disk!! Why are they all making the same thing in different ways?! I have never worked on an electron app where the executable size was an impediment to the business. Its always the RAM/CPU usage. If we are going to work on the same webviews like electron and others, how will this make any difference?
Easy: the problem with memory is not the WebView nor is it displaying HTML using that WebView. The problem is the layers of layers of JavaScript (frameworks) running in that WebView when using Electron or the like.
I am working on something similar, HTMXNative as part of a bigger idea called interscri.pt that can use either WebView or native for rendering and the difference in memory consumption is somewhere between minimal (or even undetectable) and modest.
From a baseline that's also modest by current (native) standards.
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#24Still, using system's native GUI should be more performant and use less memory. I would rather see existing Zig GUI libraries using system's GUI primitives improving. With LLM GUI stuff should be simple enough and we don't need to rely on people web expertise to build desktop apps.
Unfortunately, all the native "system" GUI frameworks are all terrible in their own unique ways. Unless you mean drawing the gui directly to a graphics surface, which often results in even poor accessibility and system integration unless the developer cares a lot about that and puts a lot of effort into it.
Qt is used to develop arguably the best desktop environment on the market - KDE Plasma - as well as a miriad of serious software artifacts. It's not exactly native to MacOS and Windows, but advantages overweight the downsides.
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#25This is not native.
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#26That is not native at all.
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#27Then why make an app instead of a website?
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#28Slightly off topic, but what is the best way to build a cross platform GUI app these days, but something with good graphics, typography, etc. I mean a beautiful app. I would prefer to have a shared core in Go, and then something around it to give me the GUI. I know on MacOS it is straightforward to build something beautifully looking with their native Swift toolkit, but not sure on Linux and Windows. Is it better to just use a web view, or perhaps Flutter?
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#29> Use the system WebView for lightweight apps, or bundle Chromium via CEF so basically a vibe coded Tauri in zig? I don't like calling webview dependent applications "native desktop apps". Native desktop apps means using the OS primitives and directives to draw the UI imo; WinForms, SwiftUI, and their ilk.
Maybe it's called zero native because that is how native it is.
That was my interpretation too (no idea if it's correct though)...
Re: Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI
#30Slightly off topic, but what is the best way to build a cross platform GUI app these days, but something with good graphics, typography, etc. I mean a beautiful app. I would prefer to have a shared core in Go, and then something around it to give me the GUI. I know on MacOS it is straightforward to build something beautifully looking with their native Swift toolkit, but not sure on Linux and Windows. Is it better to…
I've not used it myself, but I've heard good things about Wails.