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I don't think it makes much sense to use these frameworks which rely on the native OS browser API's. One of the most important things when shipping an app is de

by suby 4y ago

I don't think it makes much sense to use these frameworks which rely on the native OS browser API's. One of the most important things when shipping an app is determinism and knowing that your app will remain working after you ship it. We have that with the likes of Electron, but with the OS embedded browsers they can ship an update which breaks your app (or even just subtly alters the styling), plus it introduces an increased testing burden on the developer because now they need to ensure it behaves the same across all different OS integrated-browser implementations. It's not such a big deal if you're doing something akin to a typical web-app, but if you're doing something very unique the little inconsistencies across browsers can be an annoyance that isn't worth dealing with.

toastal 4y ago
While not perfect, the web platform is pretty damn backwards-compatible, which is why sites using frames and table layouts still render fine. There's also feature detection to engaging code only when a API is supported too. I'd argue it's better to assume this will be good enough instead of shipping another browser just to be 100% sure—space and bandwidth aren't free.
- Klonoar 4y ago
  The web may be backwards compatible, but the engine in the OS (e.g, WKWebView on macOS) may not see security updates and bug fixes past a certain point. In contrast, Electron will "just work" and can be deployed pretty far back in comparison.
  - toastal 4y ago
    Just as much, many Electron-based applications aren't keeping their own engines updated and shipped. The rest starts to get philosophical: on Linux, BSD, or other libre OSs, these WebViews do get upgraded for usually a devices entire lifespan (unlike Android) and users are usually more confident in their OS's update system and maintainers to regularly do updates. Of course, you could always make it purely a PWA and pressure the likes of Mozilla to actually support hosting these sorts of apps for OSs (RIP SSB).
    - Klonoar 4y ago
      It’s a bit of a myth that those get upgraded. They lag significantly behind Electron (Chromium) attention-wise.

by suby 4y ago

toastal 4y ago

While not perfect, the web platform is pretty damn backwards-compatible, which is why sites using frames and table layouts still render fine. There's also feature detection to engaging code only when a API is supported too. I'd argue it's better to assume this will be good enough instead of shipping another browser just to be 100% sure—space and bandwidth aren't free.

Klonoar 4y ago
The web may be backwards compatible, but the engine in the OS (e.g, WKWebView on macOS) may not see security updates and bug fixes past a certain point. In contrast, Electron will "just work" and can be deployed pretty far back in comparison.
- toastal 4y ago
  Just as much, many Electron-based applications aren't keeping their own engines updated and shipped. The rest starts to get philosophical: on Linux, BSD, or other libre OSs, these WebViews do get upgraded for usually a devices entire lifespan (unlike Android) and users are usually more confident in their OS's update system and maintainers to regularly do updates. Of course, you could always make it purely a PWA and pressure the likes of Mozilla to actually support hosting these sorts of apps for OSs (RIP SSB).
  - Klonoar 4y ago
    It’s a bit of a myth that those get upgraded. They lag significantly behind Electron (Chromium) attention-wise.