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Whatever it ends up being it has to be web-based. I'm definitely not going to rewrite the app. However, if something were to come along that uses the user's lo

Whatever it ends up being it has to be web-based. I'm definitely not going to rewrite the app. However, if something were to come along that uses the user's local webview instead and provided a way to bundle a node server with it, I could absolutely switch to it. In fact, I've played with the idea of providing an app that only sits in your menubar and runs the server, and opening the app just opens a tab in your browser. But most users don't care as much about all this as we think and would find that odd. You're right though - if something is working well enough it probably will end up sticking. Slack just goes to show that it's probably Good Enough despite what we feel about it.

jorvi 7y ago
Someone tried that with Electrino, but there hasn't been any activity in 2 years. That only deals with memory and disk use though. CPU and battery use under 'load' will still be through the roof compared to native apps. I put load in quotes because even entering text or scrolling creates massive energy consumption spikes on Electron. Oh and your UI will still be sluggish too. To be clear: I'm not hating on your app or choice of Electron, just be aware most of the drawbacks are here to stay. Even Microsoft with all their engineering prowess can't seem to fix them (see VScode vs Sublime), and they are already using a heavily customized and optimized Electron.
Groxx 7y ago
There have been multiple webview-using equivalents through the years. A big part of why Electron-likes have succeeded so widely where those did not is because they suffered from absolutely massive fragmentation, both in features and in performance/bugs. Electron (comparatively) does not, because it bundles its own full stack. You have to deal with upgrades to it when you choose to do so, but not "everyone simultaneously has a different version of their webview, many of which you have never seen and cannot reproduce, and you always have to deal with them all".
The_rationalist 7y ago
Electron currently has a prototype https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/673 https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/673 Solved by https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/carlo https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/carlo I'm not aware if Cordova or ionic capacitor has the feature.
z3t4 7y ago
You can ship the node binary, then have the "app" open up in "chrome-less" mode (no browser bars, like with electron). It's supported in IE, and Chrome. Firefox also supports "chrome-less" but only for URL's that start with file:// meanwhile some browser features require https:// https:// and http://localhost/ http://localhost/ is not good enough. While it is possible to build a local web app, browsers could make it easier to do so. Also take a look at feature phones that run forked versions of FirefoxOS, it's a growing market. Where apps are basically packaged local web apps. There's also Chrome apps, but they have been deprecated (never build something on top of Google tech :P)

jorvi 7y ago

Someone tried that with Electrino, but there hasn't been any activity in 2 years. That only deals with memory and disk use though. CPU and battery use under 'load' will still be through the roof compared to native apps. I put load in quotes because even entering text or scrolling creates massive energy consumption spikes on Electron. Oh and your UI will still be sluggish too. To be clear: I'm not hating on your app or choice of Electron, just be aware most of the drawbacks are here to stay. Even Microsoft with all their engineering prowess can't seem to fix them (see VScode vs Sublime), and they are already using a heavily customized and optimized Electron.

Groxx 7y ago

There have been multiple webview-using equivalents through the years. A big part of why Electron-likes have succeeded so widely where those did not is because they suffered from absolutely massive fragmentation, both in features and in performance/bugs. Electron (comparatively) does not, because it bundles its own full stack. You have to deal with upgrades to it when you choose to do so, but not "everyone simultaneously has a different version of their webview, many of which you have never seen and cannot reproduce, and you always have to deal with them all".

The_rationalist 7y ago

Electron currently has a prototype https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/673 https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/673 Solved by https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/carlo https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/carlo I'm not aware if Cordova or ionic capacitor has the feature.

z3t4 7y ago

You can ship the node binary, then have the "app" open up in "chrome-less" mode (no browser bars, like with electron). It's supported in IE, and Chrome. Firefox also supports "chrome-less" but only for URL's that start with file:// meanwhile some browser features require https:// https:// and http://localhost/ http://localhost/ is not good enough. While it is possible to build a local web app, browsers could make it easier to do so. Also take a look at feature phones that run forked versions of FirefoxOS, it's a growing market. Where apps are basically packaged local web apps. There's also Chrome apps, but they have been deprecated (never build something on top of Google tech :P)