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Comment by robertoandred | Hacker News Reader

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robertoandred

I hope desktop apps can soon start switching from Electron to React Native.

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I would prefer something actually native, instead of a switch from one bad web based thing to another.

React Native isn't really web based. It draws real, native UI elements, not HTML.

Still a web framework though, even if the end result isn't HTML.

whats still a web framework?

The only thing "web" about it is that it uses javascript. Do you want to elaborate how using javascript makes for bad UI?

It's not a web framework. It's a native application framework.

it is not much different from using python with QT on linux for example

To my surprise, the most common issues I see with the desktop app are audio device issues, e.g. the app doesn't get any audio from my mic the first time I run it, only after I kill and re-launch it. The UI has been fine, if weird. I don't know of any major apps using RN on desktop so going that route may be worse than sticking with Electron.

I'm skeptical that this makes business sense for most companies. Most electron apps feel like they're just checking off a box, rather than crafting any sort of quality desktop experience. If you don't care, why not just slap your website in a webview? Way easier than trying to hire or train developers in a niche technology.

>> why not just slap your website in a webview

Because safari sucks and that makes webview suck too. It's like asking why people don't use ie6 for web apps.

Hence why they just bundle a copy of Chromium in Electron.

On the desktop I don't think there's much value in it. Electron is much more compatible with the web, requires less platform specific work, and doesn't really come at a significant performance or UX cost.

Electron doesn't really come at a significant performance cost?

I wonder why Rockstar or Bethesda don't just use electron for their games.

Damn I wonder why they don’t use WinForms or Qt either? Could it be that it’s an entirely different use case than a regular desktop application?

Not a different use case, all draw shapes to users' screen. I've seen people ship games with electron. If what GP is saying is correct, AAA companies should have no problem deploying CPU/GPU-intensive games using Electron.

Leaving the sarcasm aside, I'm tired of people arguing Electron has no performance/memory/whatever cost. It's worse at everything compared to native programs except developer experience.

I understand valuing your developers' time more than your users' (which is a bit backwards but whatever), but don't argue that Electron is not a tower of abstractions that has no cost at runtime. That's just not true.

Sure they could ship games in electron that render to canvas and use wasm, otherwise yes they are entirely different use cases. Desktop UIs are mostly static. Web renderers are actually quite good at rendering mostly static UIs in an accessible and efficient way.

I meant relative to React Native, which isn't suitable for that either. There's plenty of areas where native makes the most sense on desktop.

Messenger did. Skype on the other hand switched from React Native to Electron.

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