5 ms·

Ii run Slack outside of a tab and in its app format because it's easier to navigate to using keyboard shortcuts and OS level features. That may not be enough fo

Ii run Slack outside of a tab and in its app format because it's easier to navigate to using keyboard shortcuts and OS level features. That may not be enough for you, but it's plenty reason for me, and I imagine many others.

ozfive 5y ago
Slack in browser tab user here. Got sick of the app and how slow it was pretty fast. It's just not worth it.
- codefined 5y ago
  Not a Slack user here. Is the app version _slower_ than the website? I assumed that since Electron is only a little bit more than a Chromium wrapper that they would have identical performance.
  - wowokay 5y ago
    Long time slack app user here, I don’t know how you guys organize your slack but performance has never been an issue for our organization, I don’t think it would run any better then it currently does if it were an os native app, of course my machine isn’t a toaster.
  - BeefWellington 5y ago
    It's not just the app being slower than the website, it's what it does to the rest of your machine. Contained within a tab Slack can only use a set amount of resources allotted by the browser. Whereas installing the app means it can go full hog.
  - BHSPitMonkey 5y ago
    One Chromium runtime managing five tabs is more efficient than five Chromium runtimes running one site each (because those instances aren't able to share anything with one another).
- TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
  Isn't the native app just the Electron code repackaged for native, and not a true ground-up native app at all? If the code is based on HTML/js/CSS and not Swift/Obj-C/C++ (etc) then you're really creating a web app running in a native microbrowser. Which is very much not the same thing as writing OS and system calls directly - not least because it will be much slower.
Stratoscope 5y ago
With Chrome or Edge, you can take any web page and turn it into a standalone "app" that lives in the start menu and can be pinned to the taskbar and Alt-Tabbed to, etc. In the Chrome menu, select More Tools / Create Shortcut... and edit the title and check the Open as Window box. In Edge, select Apps / Install this site as an app. Edge has a lot more options here than Chrome. You can pin it to the Taskbar or Start, create a desktop shortcut, and set it to auto-start. (You can do those manually with a Chrome shortcut if you know your way around the Start menu and Startup folder, but it's easier in Edge.) I don't see a similar option in Firefox. No idea about Safari. If anyone knows about those browsers, please comment. And having posted this comment, I am now wondering why I am still running the Slack app. I think I will try making it an Edge app!
- emodendroket 5y ago
  I don't understand. What benefit does this have over running the app?
  - mrweasel 5y ago
    It ensures that when a website crash your browser or grinds everything to a halt, then it will take down the other “apps” as well. That one of the reasons I don’t use the Google Chats PWA , when the browser misbehave, it will affact PWAs as well.
  - Stratoscope 5y ago
    Some people in the thread said they preferred running Slack in a browser tab instead of the Electron app, perhaps to avoid the memory overhead of a separate browser instance. The comment I replied to described a preference for the app because of OS navigation, e.g. Alt+Tab, a separate taskbar icon, etc. This Chrome shortcut or Edge app trick lets you combine these approaches, running the website in your browser but giving the site its own main window that you can pin to the taskbar, set to auto-run, and navigate to like a native app.
    - emodendroket 5y ago

ozfive 5y ago

Slack in browser tab user here. Got sick of the app and how slow it was pretty fast. It's just not worth it.

codefined 5y ago
Not a Slack user here. Is the app version _slower_ than the website? I assumed that since Electron is only a little bit more than a Chromium wrapper that they would have identical performance.
- wowokay 5y ago
  Long time slack app user here, I don’t know how you guys organize your slack but performance has never been an issue for our organization, I don’t think it would run any better then it currently does if it were an os native app, of course my machine isn’t a toaster.
- BeefWellington 5y ago
  It's not just the app being slower than the website, it's what it does to the rest of your machine. Contained within a tab Slack can only use a set amount of resources allotted by the browser. Whereas installing the app means it can go full hog.
- BHSPitMonkey 5y ago
  One Chromium runtime managing five tabs is more efficient than five Chromium runtimes running one site each (because those instances aren't able to share anything with one another).
TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
Isn't the native app just the Electron code repackaged for native, and not a true ground-up native app at all? If the code is based on HTML/js/CSS and not Swift/Obj-C/C++ (etc) then you're really creating a web app running in a native microbrowser. Which is very much not the same thing as writing OS and system calls directly - not least because it will be much slower.

Stratoscope 5y ago

With Chrome or Edge, you can take any web page and turn it into a standalone "app" that lives in the start menu and can be pinned to the taskbar and Alt-Tabbed to, etc. In the Chrome menu, select More Tools / Create Shortcut... and edit the title and check the Open as Window box. In Edge, select Apps / Install this site as an app. Edge has a lot more options here than Chrome. You can pin it to the Taskbar or Start, create a desktop shortcut, and set it to auto-start. (You can do those manually with a Chrome shortcut if you know your way around the Start menu and Startup folder, but it's easier in Edge.) I don't see a similar option in Firefox. No idea about Safari. If anyone knows about those browsers, please comment. And having posted this comment, I am now wondering why I am still running the Slack app. I think I will try making it an Edge app!

emodendroket 5y ago
I don't understand. What benefit does this have over running the app?
- mrweasel 5y ago
  It ensures that when a website crash your browser or grinds everything to a halt, then it will take down the other “apps” as well. That one of the reasons I don’t use the Google Chats PWA , when the browser misbehave, it will affact PWAs as well.
- Stratoscope 5y ago
  Some people in the thread said they preferred running Slack in a browser tab instead of the Electron app, perhaps to avoid the memory overhead of a separate browser instance. The comment I replied to described a preference for the app because of OS navigation, e.g. Alt+Tab, a separate taskbar icon, etc. This Chrome shortcut or Edge app trick lets you combine these approaches, running the website in your browser but giving the site its own main window that you can pin to the taskbar, set to auto-run, and navigate to like a native app.
  - emodendroket 5y ago