4 ms·

I hate the slowness and bloat and entire ideology behind electron, BUT...electron apps do a pretty decent job of feeling native on the platform. Something I've

by dilap 8y ago

I hate the slowness and bloat and entire ideology behind electron, BUT...electron apps do a pretty decent job of feeling native on the platform. Something I've never seen a Qt app do. Would love a counter-example, if you've got one. I'm on a mac.

ahartmetz 8y ago
It's only a problem on Mac. Windows native apps all look different anyway and Qt is native on Linux.
zx2c4 8y ago
I can't think of a Qt app that looked odd on macOS. I've developed quite a few pieces of software in Qt for the mac, and they all perfectly use the OS's styles and colors.
- dilap 8y ago
  Is any of the software publically available? I will critique it.
  - therockhead 8y ago
    I know Viber is written in QT, it does not look native on macOS.
remoroid 8y ago
I wouldn't know, dont have a mac. But VLC is my best guess at polished software that should look good on mac. If it doesnt... ;/
- dilap 8y ago
  I don't think VLC is using Qt!
  - remoroid 8y ago
    Yessss it is. The gui is written in Qt c++ and all the processing backend is C. https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/qt https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/qt
    - dilap 8y ago
      Only for nix -- for the Mac, it's using native widgets, if I'm not mistaken: https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/macosx https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/maco... (Which is pretty damning -- they already had a Qt implementation, but would rather do real native!)
      - remoroid 8y ago
        Ouch. Mac for Qt is definitely the weakest point. Theres some experimental work being done to allow developers to wrap native Mac controls. http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/ http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/
        dilap 8y ago
        This would help a lot, I think. Still a going concern, or a dormant experiment?
        remoroid 8y ago
        Its targeted for Qt6, which is not coming anytime soon, but it gives me hope that Qt always has smart options to move on.
cpburns2009 8y ago
What Electron applications feel native on any platform? I use Discord and it feels and looks like a web-page, not a Windows application.
- setr 8y ago
  interestingly, it looks and feels like an electron web-page. They're all following their own little paradigm now..
- dilap 8y ago
  I feel like slack is decent. It definitely feels like a webpage, but the embedded UI elements are good -- the text boxes support all the MacOS shortcuts, you can insert special characters using the character viewer, text selection works properly, the menus aren't weird. I guess maybe I'm just so used to web stuff now that that codes as "native enough" to me?

by dilap 8y ago

ahartmetz 8y ago

It's only a problem on Mac. Windows native apps all look different anyway and Qt is native on Linux.

zx2c4 8y ago

I can't think of a Qt app that looked odd on macOS. I've developed quite a few pieces of software in Qt for the mac, and they all perfectly use the OS's styles and colors.

dilap 8y ago
Is any of the software publically available? I will critique it.
- therockhead 8y ago
  I know Viber is written in QT, it does not look native on macOS.

remoroid 8y ago

I wouldn't know, dont have a mac. But VLC is my best guess at polished software that should look good on mac. If it doesnt... ;/

dilap 8y ago
I don't think VLC is using Qt!
- remoroid 8y ago
  Yessss it is. The gui is written in Qt c++ and all the processing backend is C. https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/qt https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/qt
  - dilap 8y ago
    Only for nix -- for the Mac, it's using native widgets, if I'm not mistaken: https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/macosx https://github.com/videolan/vlc/tree/master/modules/gui/maco... (Which is pretty damning -- they already had a Qt implementation, but would rather do real native!)
    - remoroid 8y ago
      Ouch. Mac for Qt is definitely the weakest point. Theres some experimental work being done to allow developers to wrap native Mac controls. http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/ http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/
      - dilap 8y ago
        This would help a lot, I think. Still a going concern, or a dormant experiment?
        remoroid 8y ago
        Its targeted for Qt6, which is not coming anytime soon, but it gives me hope that Qt always has smart options to move on.

cpburns2009 8y ago

What Electron applications feel native on any platform? I use Discord and it feels and looks like a web-page, not a Windows application.

setr 8y ago
interestingly, it looks and feels like an electron web-page. They're all following their own little paradigm now..
dilap 8y ago
I feel like slack is decent. It definitely feels like a webpage, but the embedded UI elements are good -- the text boxes support all the MacOS shortcuts, you can insert special characters using the character viewer, text selection works properly, the menus aren't weird. I guess maybe I'm just so used to web stuff now that that codes as "native enough" to me?