4 ms·

Is there a similar set of components for desktop applications? I.e., as an alternative to electron.

by dindresto 6y ago

rapsey 6y ago
Would there be any point other than being from mozilla?
- bugmen0t 6y ago
  Feature set is obviously very different.
- Jonnax 6y ago
  Gecko is a different rendering engine.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  Well, "from Mozilla" is a subset of the larger and more valuable "not Blink"/"not from Google", which is handy if you're worried about an adtech company owning the entire web ecosystem.
vbsteven 6y ago
There is zserge/webview which is a component that wraps the native webview on a given desktop platform. I haven’t checked it in detail but I’m curious if building an electron-style app framework with this is possible. https://github.com/zserge/webview https://github.com/zserge/webview
764_OC 6y ago
The [Positron Discontinued](https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/ https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/) post describes why Mozilla gave up on building an electron alternative. I think those general comments apply to anyone trying to do the same.
- winter_blue 6y ago
  Dang, that sucks. I noticed that he says "its principal feature was that it was Electron-compatible" about Positron. That's a lofty, and frankly, unnecessary goal. Maybe Positron could/should be revived, as a thing of its own, an independent Gecko-based app host, with its own API, distinct and separate from Electron. (I'm guessing the author of Positron was hoping to attract current Electron users by aiming to make a switch as easy and seamless as possible with a compatible API, and while that's valuable, it would be good to just have an incompatible Electron competitor to begin with.)
  - g105b 6y ago
    I fully share your optimism. I've been trying to find a way to do it with no hope, but maybe with the success and segregation that GeckoView brings to Android, we might have more hope in the near future to get something similar for desktop.
- Tistron 6y ago
  I get that it's nice to know exactly which version something is running on, but something i have found myself wanting when writing a small cli-script for downloading youtube videos, is something like Deno allowing me to run somebody's script, or somebody else to run mine, without fear of it damaging my system. But then also with the rendering engine so it could be just "deno run http://host/myscript.ts http://host/myscript.ts --allow-net=googlevideo.net,youtube.com --allow-write=." but it allows me to render a more friendly UI. I wish somebody a lot more competent than me would make such a tool from gecko

Is there a similar set of components for desktop applications? I.e., as an alternative to electron.

rapsey 6y ago

Would there be any point other than being from mozilla?

bugmen0t 6y ago
Feature set is obviously very different.
Jonnax 6y ago
Gecko is a different rendering engine.
yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
Well, "from Mozilla" is a subset of the larger and more valuable "not Blink"/"not from Google", which is handy if you're worried about an adtech company owning the entire web ecosystem.

vbsteven 6y ago

There is zserge/webview which is a component that wraps the native webview on a given desktop platform. I haven’t checked it in detail but I’m curious if building an electron-style app framework with this is possible. https://github.com/zserge/webview https://github.com/zserge/webview

764_OC 6y ago

The [Positron Discontinued](https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/ https://mykzilla.org/2017/03/08/positron-discontinued/) post describes why Mozilla gave up on building an electron alternative. I think those general comments apply to anyone trying to do the same.

winter_blue 6y ago
Dang, that sucks. I noticed that he says "its principal feature was that it was Electron-compatible" about Positron. That's a lofty, and frankly, unnecessary goal. Maybe Positron could/should be revived, as a thing of its own, an independent Gecko-based app host, with its own API, distinct and separate from Electron. (I'm guessing the author of Positron was hoping to attract current Electron users by aiming to make a switch as easy and seamless as possible with a compatible API, and while that's valuable, it would be good to just have an incompatible Electron competitor to begin with.)
- g105b 6y ago
  I fully share your optimism. I've been trying to find a way to do it with no hope, but maybe with the success and segregation that GeckoView brings to Android, we might have more hope in the near future to get something similar for desktop.
Tistron 6y ago
I get that it's nice to know exactly which version something is running on, but something i have found myself wanting when writing a small cli-script for downloading youtube videos, is something like Deno allowing me to run somebody's script, or somebody else to run mine, without fear of it damaging my system. But then also with the rendering engine so it could be just "deno run http://host/myscript.ts http://host/myscript.ts --allow-net=googlevideo.net,youtube.com --allow-write=." but it allows me to render a more friendly UI. I wish somebody a lot more competent than me would make such a tool from gecko