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Apparently the benefit of having larger size apps is the higher development flexibility and evolutivity. There will always be somebody complaining that they pr

by jokoon 6y ago

Apparently the benefit of having larger size apps is the higher development flexibility and evolutivity. There will always be somebody complaining that they prefer JS to C/C++. Meanwhile if API and language tools were better designed from the start, and we could agree to DUMP HTML and its ecosystem, maybe things would improve. I guess android is a huge victim of app cruft. I love android but I have to admit software bloat is a real threat to the environment.

loa_in_ 6y ago
HTML is not really the problem. It is overkill if you don't use DOM at least in basic way. To render static non interactive blocks it's better to use straight opengl, and probably easier no matter if you know opengl beforehand. Electron ships and keeps in memory things almost everybody already has either installed themselves beforehand or laying in main browser cache (JavaScript libraries). A better, but slightly less user friendly alternative would be to ship applications that simply serve the same HTML on a local port and access it through main browser (like syncthing for one example) and perform computing on the local backend server. And here's the main issue: average Joe is scared by :8080 suffix in the browser. The average user is just a step away from the solution but that's... still not there.
- farias0 6y ago
  Can someone explain to me why don't browsers offer a "local app" mode where they couple with a locally run server and display a more stripped down UI (no favbar, tabs, extensions, etc) for these cases? Is it about security?
  - paulryanrogers 6y ago
    Because even HTTP and the server side are growing in complexity. User expectations that browsers are the outside world and the aversion to full page loads are big factors.
    - farias0 6y ago
      But a stripped down UI serves to make a non-tech savvy user not associate it with their usual browsing. I know server software is getting complex as well, but to my (limited) understanding the interface was the biggest offender when it comes to unnecessary use of resources, which is the problem my proposition tries to solve.
  - easytiger 6y ago
    Chrome and Firefox did have this in Debian repos at one point

by jokoon 6y ago

loa_in_ 6y ago

HTML is not really the problem. It is overkill if you don't use DOM at least in basic way. To render static non interactive blocks it's better to use straight opengl, and probably easier no matter if you know opengl beforehand. Electron ships and keeps in memory things almost everybody already has either installed themselves beforehand or laying in main browser cache (JavaScript libraries). A better, but slightly less user friendly alternative would be to ship applications that simply serve the same HTML on a local port and access it through main browser (like syncthing for one example) and perform computing on the local backend server. And here's the main issue: average Joe is scared by :8080 suffix in the browser. The average user is just a step away from the solution but that's... still not there.

farias0 6y ago
Can someone explain to me why don't browsers offer a "local app" mode where they couple with a locally run server and display a more stripped down UI (no favbar, tabs, extensions, etc) for these cases? Is it about security?
- paulryanrogers 6y ago
  Because even HTTP and the server side are growing in complexity. User expectations that browsers are the outside world and the aversion to full page loads are big factors.
  - farias0 6y ago
    But a stripped down UI serves to make a non-tech savvy user not associate it with their usual browsing. I know server software is getting complex as well, but to my (limited) understanding the interface was the biggest offender when it comes to unnecessary use of resources, which is the problem my proposition tries to solve.
- easytiger 6y ago
  Chrome and Firefox did have this in Debian repos at one point