3 ms·

It's your choice, of course, but in my opinion Electron is the only decent cross-platform UI framework. Without Electron there would be no Linux version.

roblabla 9y ago
What about qt ? tcl/tk ? OpenGL ? I'm not against electron app, in fact I think it's a really good idea. But saying it's the only good ui framework is disingenuous.
eivarv 9y ago
[...] Electron is the only decent cross-platform UI framework That's just not true. What about Qt, wxWidgets, Tcl/Tk, or even Kivy?
- shockone 9y ago
  In my opinion, Qt and wxWidgets apps look ugly. At least I never saw one that looks beautiful.
  - kuschku 9y ago
    Any Qt app can be themed with CSS (Qt calls it QSS) as if it was an HTML page, just like Electron apps can be. You can completely change the design, if you wish to. So, in terms of design, there’s basically no major difference there.
  - jcelerier 9y ago
    Telegram ? https://raw.githubusercontent.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/dev/docs/assets/preview.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/d... Battle.Net ? https://i.imgur.com/VCNEhgm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/VCNEhgm.jpg both are made with Qt
    - rodorgas 9y ago
      I didn't know Telegram uses Qt. No desktop messaging client has better UI/X.
      - jameskegel 9y ago
        Really? I joined a few groups but couldn't figure out how to post, and there was an emoji drawer eating up 1/3 of the screen, and was unable to be hidden. I consider myself a smart enough person to write an app that performs the role of Telegram, I shouldn't have trouble learning to use it.
  - Fnoord 9y ago
    See e.g. for a list of applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(software)#Qt_market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(software)#Qt_market Of course it depends on where your interests lie but here's some examples: VLC, Spotify (Linux), old Opera, Krita, Google Earth, Tesla Model S in-car UI, webOS, SailfishOS, AMD's Radeon Software Crimson driver tool, and many others including what's already mentioned, Battle.net.
jcelerier 9y ago
it's not like there are hundreds of cross-platform win/mac/linux software that have no problem being written in other frameworks than electron. See all the KDE apps, Krita, Inkscape, GIMP, Wireshark, Audacity, Unity3d, Maya, Houdini, Blender, LibreOffice etc etc which are all hundreds of time more featureful that your average Electron app.
kuschku 9y ago
Qt with QML and QtQuick? Also a nice cross-platform UI framework, supports JavaScript, and is highly performant. JavaFX? Also a nice cross-platform UI framework, supports JavaScript, and is also better performant than Electron. Also, both support HiDPI by default, and can be themed with CSS however you want them (in the exact same way that you could theme Electron apps)
zx2c4 9y ago
Qt is leaps and bounds ahead.
rootlocus 9y ago
Intellij products use java swing.

roblabla 9y ago

What about qt ? tcl/tk ? OpenGL ? I'm not against electron app, in fact I think it's a really good idea. But saying it's the only good ui framework is disingenuous.

eivarv 9y ago

[...] Electron is the only decent cross-platform UI framework That's just not true. What about Qt, wxWidgets, Tcl/Tk, or even Kivy?

shockone 9y ago
In my opinion, Qt and wxWidgets apps look ugly. At least I never saw one that looks beautiful.
- kuschku 9y ago
  Any Qt app can be themed with CSS (Qt calls it QSS) as if it was an HTML page, just like Electron apps can be. You can completely change the design, if you wish to. So, in terms of design, there’s basically no major difference there.
- jcelerier 9y ago
  Telegram ? https://raw.githubusercontent.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/dev/docs/assets/preview.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/d... Battle.Net ? https://i.imgur.com/VCNEhgm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/VCNEhgm.jpg both are made with Qt
  - rodorgas 9y ago
    I didn't know Telegram uses Qt. No desktop messaging client has better UI/X.
    - jameskegel 9y ago
      Really? I joined a few groups but couldn't figure out how to post, and there was an emoji drawer eating up 1/3 of the screen, and was unable to be hidden. I consider myself a smart enough person to write an app that performs the role of Telegram, I shouldn't have trouble learning to use it.
- Fnoord 9y ago
  See e.g. for a list of applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(software)#Qt_market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(software)#Qt_market Of course it depends on where your interests lie but here's some examples: VLC, Spotify (Linux), old Opera, Krita, Google Earth, Tesla Model S in-car UI, webOS, SailfishOS, AMD's Radeon Software Crimson driver tool, and many others including what's already mentioned, Battle.net.

jcelerier 9y ago

it's not like there are hundreds of cross-platform win/mac/linux software that have no problem being written in other frameworks than electron. See all the KDE apps, Krita, Inkscape, GIMP, Wireshark, Audacity, Unity3d, Maya, Houdini, Blender, LibreOffice etc etc which are all hundreds of time more featureful that your average Electron app.

kuschku 9y ago

Qt with QML and QtQuick? Also a nice cross-platform UI framework, supports JavaScript, and is highly performant. JavaFX? Also a nice cross-platform UI framework, supports JavaScript, and is also better performant than Electron. Also, both support HiDPI by default, and can be themed with CSS however you want them (in the exact same way that you could theme Electron apps)

zx2c4 9y ago

Qt is leaps and bounds ahead.

rootlocus 9y ago

Intellij products use java swing.