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Linux user cheering on here - I personally prefer having the option of a dedicated app.

by strokirk 8y ago

dylan604 8y ago
can you tells us why and elaborate on your preference of dedicated app vs webpage?
- cschep 8y ago
  One specifically is just that Discord works well for me when used "natively", but doesn't work well (won't connect, worse latency, etc) when I used it from the webpage.
  - vram22 8y ago
    I have had the same problem with WhatsApp Web version vs. mobile. Web version had some issues. Mobile one works okay.
    - dylan604 8y ago
      WebApp vs Mobile makes sense there would be differences. From the conversations here, Electron apps use the same code (???) as the web app would. Kind of an apples oranges thing
      - vram22 8y ago
        Not necessarily. Any X vs. Y there would be differences. I'm a techie, but was speaking from a user perspective, in which case one does not care about whether same code is used or not, only about UX.
- ronjouch 8y ago
  Not OP, but I share their sentiment that sometimes I also "prefer having the option of a dedicated app". Reasons for me: isolation, access to system tray and other desktop APIs, existence as a separate window which allows for windowmanager-level activation/minimization (I use my own https://github.com/ronjouch/marathon https://github.com/ronjouch/marathon for that), versioning / releases / archival through regular OS packages (e.g. with AUR in Arch Linux land). Also, people love stuff that will look like an "app" in their macOS dock. I maintain https://github.com/jiahaog/nativefier https://github.com/jiahaog/nativefier , which will make regular websites into "native desktop applications" based, obviously, on Electron. Yup, we've come full circle :D I'd offer a counterpoint to folks asking that question: if you love webpages so much, why don't you do write all your code in Cloud9 in your browser? See, sometimes, a separate window brings a different feel and lots of nuances that matter :) . Maybe you don't feel those nuances, so you prioritize other axes (like resource usage), but some people do.
  - dylan604 8y ago
    What about users that are locked out of being able to install apps. Web apps are a great way around that. Although, the Electron apps being discussed seemed to be developer related, so the user probably has more control to be able to install apps.
    - dehugger 8y ago
      The use case you just described is another reason to cheer for Electron. It allows the web page version of the app to be identical to the desktop version without any major effort on the developers part.
    - morpheuskafka 8y ago
      Indeed. Electron supports code-sharing because both the frontend and some of the server code, if it is in Node, can be shared easily between desktop and web. Nearly every cloud service with an Electron app has a web app, unless it does something like Etcher that is incompatible with the web sandbox. But yeah, I'm all for web apps.
- Lownin 8y ago
  Can a web app running in a web browser even do push-to-talk voice communication when the browser doesn't have focus, like Discord's Electron app can?
- darkkindness 8y ago
  I like to bind meta-1 to meta-9 to switch to the nth app on my desktop bar. This means Discord (which is always meta-4) will always a keypress away for me, while Firefox (meta-1) requires me to find the right window and the right tab. (Also, I routinely close browser windows I am not using by force of habit, which means I'd need to wait a load time every time I want discordapp.com.)
  - dylan604 8y ago
    I have a similar habit with tabs in my browser. I line up the tabs in the same order so my keyboard shortcuts work in the same manner as how you are using them in the desktop bar. I could see where attempting to close the wrong browser window would get annoying. What OS are you running? Can you drag-n-drop your apps in the bar to reorder them, or do you have to open the apps in the correct order?
    - darkkindness 8y ago
      I'm using the app Snap on MacOS, and you can just reorder the Dock using drag and drop.
- fileeditview 8y ago
  I'm not OP but I hate that everything occupies space (tabs) in my browser. I'd rather use a separate application. Apps such as discord & slack run in the background for me all the time. If all of them were in the browser each one needed a single tab for itself. It has other benefits such as switching between windows via alt+tab and co.
- antihero 8y ago
  Because I use my Chrome window for web browsing, and apps for their function. I want to alt tab to it. I want it to have access to my media keys and work nicely, I want it to be in my dock so I can click on it, I want it to sit in my system tray.

Linux user cheering on here - I personally prefer having the option of a dedicated app.

dylan604 8y ago

can you tells us why and elaborate on your preference of dedicated app vs webpage?

cschep 8y ago
One specifically is just that Discord works well for me when used "natively", but doesn't work well (won't connect, worse latency, etc) when I used it from the webpage.
- vram22 8y ago
  I have had the same problem with WhatsApp Web version vs. mobile. Web version had some issues. Mobile one works okay.
  - dylan604 8y ago
    WebApp vs Mobile makes sense there would be differences. From the conversations here, Electron apps use the same code (???) as the web app would. Kind of an apples oranges thing
    - vram22 8y ago
      Not necessarily. Any X vs. Y there would be differences. I'm a techie, but was speaking from a user perspective, in which case one does not care about whether same code is used or not, only about UX.
ronjouch 8y ago
Not OP, but I share their sentiment that sometimes I also "prefer having the option of a dedicated app". Reasons for me: isolation, access to system tray and other desktop APIs, existence as a separate window which allows for windowmanager-level activation/minimization (I use my own https://github.com/ronjouch/marathon https://github.com/ronjouch/marathon for that), versioning / releases / archival through regular OS packages (e.g. with AUR in Arch Linux land). Also, people love stuff that will look like an "app" in their macOS dock. I maintain https://github.com/jiahaog/nativefier https://github.com/jiahaog/nativefier , which will make regular websites into "native desktop applications" based, obviously, on Electron. Yup, we've come full circle :D I'd offer a counterpoint to folks asking that question: if you love webpages so much, why don't you do write all your code in Cloud9 in your browser? See, sometimes, a separate window brings a different feel and lots of nuances that matter :) . Maybe you don't feel those nuances, so you prioritize other axes (like resource usage), but some people do.
- dylan604 8y ago
  What about users that are locked out of being able to install apps. Web apps are a great way around that. Although, the Electron apps being discussed seemed to be developer related, so the user probably has more control to be able to install apps.
  - dehugger 8y ago
    The use case you just described is another reason to cheer for Electron. It allows the web page version of the app to be identical to the desktop version without any major effort on the developers part.
  - morpheuskafka 8y ago
    Indeed. Electron supports code-sharing because both the frontend and some of the server code, if it is in Node, can be shared easily between desktop and web. Nearly every cloud service with an Electron app has a web app, unless it does something like Etcher that is incompatible with the web sandbox. But yeah, I'm all for web apps.
Lownin 8y ago
Can a web app running in a web browser even do push-to-talk voice communication when the browser doesn't have focus, like Discord's Electron app can?
darkkindness 8y ago
I like to bind meta-1 to meta-9 to switch to the nth app on my desktop bar. This means Discord (which is always meta-4) will always a keypress away for me, while Firefox (meta-1) requires me to find the right window and the right tab. (Also, I routinely close browser windows I am not using by force of habit, which means I'd need to wait a load time every time I want discordapp.com.)
- dylan604 8y ago
  I have a similar habit with tabs in my browser. I line up the tabs in the same order so my keyboard shortcuts work in the same manner as how you are using them in the desktop bar. I could see where attempting to close the wrong browser window would get annoying. What OS are you running? Can you drag-n-drop your apps in the bar to reorder them, or do you have to open the apps in the correct order?
  - darkkindness 8y ago
    I'm using the app Snap on MacOS, and you can just reorder the Dock using drag and drop.
fileeditview 8y ago
I'm not OP but I hate that everything occupies space (tabs) in my browser. I'd rather use a separate application. Apps such as discord & slack run in the background for me all the time. If all of them were in the browser each one needed a single tab for itself. It has other benefits such as switching between windows via alt+tab and co.
antihero 8y ago
Because I use my Chrome window for web browsing, and apps for their function. I want to alt tab to it. I want it to have access to my media keys and work nicely, I want it to be in my dock so I can click on it, I want it to sit in my system tray.