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h4il_s4t4n

17 karma · joined February 25, 2020

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h4il_s4t4n··on DefaultApp
> Native Mac apps feel like a dying breed that are succumbing to janky web views

Yeeaaahhhh, not really. I was a diehard "native" person until recently and I can't believe just how much better developing for web technologies is than writing native Mac.

If you're experienced enough to write a polished Mac app (and that is a non-trivial undertaking) you're experienced enough to write a polished front end in Electron.

Use a lightweight framework (e.g., Vue), be sensible about what you're asking Chromium to draw for you and unless you're doing something really simple -- be ready to write a backend in C++ or equiv.

I'm not saying that is easy, but in terms of complexity it's a wash. The upsides are substantial:

1. Multi-platform with very little additional work

2. Modern web standards + a good IDE are so much fucking better to work with, really

3. Easy to drop into WebGL if you need it

4. Less vendor lock-in

The only place I see it making sense is if you're only working with a single platform -- of course, you have to ask yourself how good of a business decision that is.