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Alternative theory: electron apps are universally shitty.

by egdod 7y ago

jeroenhd 7y ago
I wouldn't say _all_, just most. With optimization, resource monitoring, disabling unused APIs, plenty of treeshaking and other such techniques, it's quite possible to do a near-native experience (think: performing like C#/Java). However, whenever I see an Electron app in the wild, those optimizations don't seem to be done very often. Perhaps it's the fact that companies don't care about speed now that computing resources are cheap, or that companies are hiring web devs for desktop applications, but in the wild most applications sure do end up feeling like someone installed a buggy second copy of Chromium onto my machine. Visual Studio Code is an example of an experience that feels like it might as well have been written in a language like C# or Java. With some extensions the lag quickly becomes noticable, but as far as text editing goes, it's a pretty nicely optimized tool. In my experience, typing in VS Code is slightly faster than typing in Jetbrains IDEA/etc., for example, which is based on the more desktop-oriented Java. Of course it will never be as fast as Vim or Notepad++, but those tools are harder to extend, which can make the disadvantage of the slight input lag worth it for the extra functionality when debugging or running automated tests. Electron can be a useful tool for writing maintainable, extendable, cross-platform desktop applications. It can also be a handicapped browser. While most companies choose to use it as the second option, this doesn't have to be the case.
- darklion 7y ago
  TBF, Electron doesn’t sell itself on performance. It sells itself of minimizing redevelopment cost to support multiple platforms. However, performance is not a “pit of success” feature with Electron, and Electron doesn’t exactly advertise that performance requires explicit effort, so it’s fair to put some (not all, but some) blame on Electron for implicitly encouraging the perception it is a “silver bullet” solution for cross-platform apps.
- hackerbrother 7y ago
  It's interesting. I like my windows-electron signal app a lot. But using e.g. windows-electron slack seems really silly for me. why have a bloated wrapper for what is exactly the same as the website version of slack?

Alternative theory: electron apps are universally shitty.

by egdod 7y ago

Alternative theory: electron apps are universally shitty.

I wouldn't say _all_, just most. With optimization, resource monitoring, disabling unused APIs, plenty of treeshaking and other such techniques, it's quite possible to do a near-native experience (think: performing like C#/Java). However, whenever I see an Electron app in the wild, those optimizations don't seem to be done very often. Perhaps it's the fact that companies don't care about speed now that computing resources are cheap, or that companies are hiring web devs for desktop applications, but in the wild most applications sure do end up feeling like someone installed a buggy second copy of Chromium onto my machine. Visual Studio Code is an example of an experience that feels like it might as well have been written in a language like C# or Java. With some extensions the lag quickly becomes noticable, but as far as text editing goes, it's a pretty nicely optimized tool. In my experience, typing in VS Code is slightly faster than typing in Jetbrains IDEA/etc., for example, which is based on the more desktop-oriented Java. Of course it will never be as fast as Vim or Notepad++, but those tools are harder to extend, which can make the disadvantage of the slight input lag worth it for the extra functionality when debugging or running automated tests. Electron can be a useful tool for writing maintainable, extendable, cross-platform desktop applications. It can also be a handicapped browser. While most companies choose to use it as the second option, this doesn't have to be the case.

darklion 7y ago
TBF, Electron doesn’t sell itself on performance. It sells itself of minimizing redevelopment cost to support multiple platforms. However, performance is not a “pit of success” feature with Electron, and Electron doesn’t exactly advertise that performance requires explicit effort, so it’s fair to put some (not all, but some) blame on Electron for implicitly encouraging the perception it is a “silver bullet” solution for cross-platform apps.
hackerbrother 7y ago
It's interesting. I like my windows-electron signal app a lot. But using e.g. windows-electron slack seems really silly for me. why have a bloated wrapper for what is exactly the same as the website version of slack?