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If electron apps had a smarter way to manage chrome core as a dependency, the file size would be peanuts. Every apps is download on the same bundled core. Once

If electron apps had a smarter way to manage chrome core as a dependency, the file size would be peanuts. Every apps is download on the same bundled core. Once this happens you won't have 100mb sizes. An intelligent installer could check core, if not installed download and install otherwise use what's on the system.

Longhanks 10y ago
What if there was a centralized way of accessing HTML + CSS + JS applications? Instead of installing apps, you could just... "download" the necessary files to execute them? Perhaps even on demand from centralized.. "servers"?
- detaro 10y ago
  I really don't want APIs to freely access the filesystem, other processes etc in my browser. And my applications to work offline. I haven't seen many examples of people using Electron to make applications that really should be web apps instead, but more for packaging web apps with native enhancements. Often I'd prefer a "proper" native app, pushing even more features in the browser IHMO is not the answer.
  - tscs37 10y ago
    >I really don't want APIs to freely access the filesystem, other processes etc in my browser. And my applications to work offline. Ctrl+S -> Save whole webpage alternatively get the Webpages source code.
- josho 10y ago
  > What if there was a centralized way of accessing HTML + CSS + JS applications There is. The major OSs provide APIs to access the platform browser. The downside is you need a platform specific shim to set this up using native code. So, developers need to step outside of their JS worldview for a few days to avoid that 200mb app size penalty. If you are building a platform agnostic app then I understand the value of Electron to avoid that work across each platform. But, it seems several of those Electron apps aren't even platform agnostic, so why not build the platform specific shim and be a better citizen on my hardware. edit: I'm daft
  - mnx 10y ago
    He was ironically talking about the web.
- nmca 10y ago
  Aha, he missed the joke...
jasonjayr 10y ago
For YEARS I remember having to chase down the VBRUN{100|200|300}.dll runtimes for the Visual Basic runtimes. Now that internet is everywhere, couldn't Electron: 1) Setup a common bootstrap mechanism so it's version agnostic 2) Check for the declared version of the app 3) If online (and allowed by system policy) check if there are security issues, or updates for the needed version 4) Advise user where to download the update, or (again, if allowed by policy) allow the user the proceed with the installation? With some magic to allow a 'side-by-side' distribution of the Electron runtime, on good-ol' durable media, wouldn't this go far to minimize the size of the distributions of these Electron apps? You could have a system with one (or more if nessecary) versions of the runtime, and multiple apps using that runtime (with isolated profiles, of course ...)
RandomOpinion 10y ago
>If electron apps had a smarter way to manage chrome core as a dependency, the file size would be peanuts. Every apps is download on the same bundled core. Once this happens you won't have 100mb sizes. An intelligent installer could check core, if not installed download and install otherwise use what's on the system. Oooh, we could give this core a snazzy name like "Flash" or "Silverlight" or something too. Once again, history repeats itself.
ssivark 10y ago
Isn't that what they call a web browser? For visiting websites and using web apps.

Longhanks 10y ago

What if there was a centralized way of accessing HTML + CSS + JS applications? Instead of installing apps, you could just... "download" the necessary files to execute them? Perhaps even on demand from centralized.. "servers"?

detaro 10y ago
I really don't want APIs to freely access the filesystem, other processes etc in my browser. And my applications to work offline. I haven't seen many examples of people using Electron to make applications that really should be web apps instead, but more for packaging web apps with native enhancements. Often I'd prefer a "proper" native app, pushing even more features in the browser IHMO is not the answer.
- tscs37 10y ago
  >I really don't want APIs to freely access the filesystem, other processes etc in my browser. And my applications to work offline. Ctrl+S -> Save whole webpage alternatively get the Webpages source code.
josho 10y ago
> What if there was a centralized way of accessing HTML + CSS + JS applications There is. The major OSs provide APIs to access the platform browser. The downside is you need a platform specific shim to set this up using native code. So, developers need to step outside of their JS worldview for a few days to avoid that 200mb app size penalty. If you are building a platform agnostic app then I understand the value of Electron to avoid that work across each platform. But, it seems several of those Electron apps aren't even platform agnostic, so why not build the platform specific shim and be a better citizen on my hardware. edit: I'm daft
- mnx 10y ago
  He was ironically talking about the web.
nmca 10y ago
Aha, he missed the joke...

jasonjayr 10y ago

For YEARS I remember having to chase down the VBRUN{100|200|300}.dll runtimes for the Visual Basic runtimes. Now that internet is everywhere, couldn't Electron: 1) Setup a common bootstrap mechanism so it's version agnostic 2) Check for the declared version of the app 3) If online (and allowed by system policy) check if there are security issues, or updates for the needed version 4) Advise user where to download the update, or (again, if allowed by policy) allow the user the proceed with the installation? With some magic to allow a 'side-by-side' distribution of the Electron runtime, on good-ol' durable media, wouldn't this go far to minimize the size of the distributions of these Electron apps? You could have a system with one (or more if nessecary) versions of the runtime, and multiple apps using that runtime (with isolated profiles, of course ...)

RandomOpinion 10y ago

>If electron apps had a smarter way to manage chrome core as a dependency, the file size would be peanuts. Every apps is download on the same bundled core. Once this happens you won't have 100mb sizes. An intelligent installer could check core, if not installed download and install otherwise use what's on the system. Oooh, we could give this core a snazzy name like "Flash" or "Silverlight" or something too. Once again, history repeats itself.

ssivark 10y ago

Isn't that what they call a web browser? For visiting websites and using web apps.