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Could Servo be used to build desktop webview type apps that can leverage all the html/js/css libraries that are available? The main complaint people seem to ha

Could Servo be used to build desktop webview type apps that can leverage all the html/js/css libraries that are available? The main complaint people seem to have about this approach is the large size of the executable, I don't know if Servo can make a different in this respect.

Al0neStar 3y ago
I'm not sure if it can support all the libraries but yes it can be used to make desktop apps. Theres also Sciter. https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/
- throwaway290 3y ago
  It's not open source and there is nothing about Servo from what I could find
  - Al0neStar 3y ago
    Seems like they have plans for Q4 2023 https://servo.org/about/ https://servo.org/about/
- wongarsu 3y ago
  I really like sciter for webview-type apps. It's really lightweight, integrates well with native code, and brings some native-app concepts to JS (like the communication between multiple app windows). Sure, it's not open source, but you can have the source code if you pay for it, I can respect that. My main issue is that it's lacking some of the DOM API. It's complete enough that you wouldn't really notice when writing code yourself, but good luck finding a charting library that runs without modifications.
- rice7th 3y ago
  Sciter is very interesting. It uses a custom rendering engine with a custom fork of QuickJS. Extremely lightweight and fast. Quite a nice project honestly.
conradludgate 3y ago
I was thinking about building a desktop app framework using servo, but skipping any html/css parsers and without any JS engine. It would use rust and some dsl/macros that compile to servo function calls that build the UI. I'm not sure how much smaller it would be, but I imagine not having node would be a good start
School-Cotton 3y ago
How would that differ from what you can already do with Electron?
- Al0neStar 3y ago
  If you use Electron your app is bundled with Webkit + NodeJS and runs two different processes. Servo is like a minimal/limited Webkit and you dont need to write your app logic in NodeJS. A great example is Sciter and Sciters Note app https://notes.sciter.com/ https://notes.sciter.com/ The x64 is 5mb impressive compared to an electron application.
TUSF 3y ago
I'd been wanting to see this, preferably with JS being optional, and just allowing direct DOM access. I initially thought this was what Azul was, but it's only just using Servo's WebRender compositor, and rolls its own CSS parser, DOM, and layout engine, so it doesn't benefit from most of the work done on Servo, and supports less CSS features. https://github.com/fschutt/azul https://github.com/fschutt/azul
dan-robertson 3y ago
I think it used to be a goal to be embeddable in the way you describe. Or at least better than gecko and at least as good as chromium of the time. I’m not sure if that goal changed. I think it probably doesn’t yet support enough features to meet your requirements.
iknowstuff 3y ago
https://tauri.app/ https://tauri.app/

Al0neStar 3y ago

I'm not sure if it can support all the libraries but yes it can be used to make desktop apps. Theres also Sciter. https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/

throwaway290 3y ago
It's not open source and there is nothing about Servo from what I could find
- Al0neStar 3y ago
  Seems like they have plans for Q4 2023 https://servo.org/about/ https://servo.org/about/
wongarsu 3y ago
I really like sciter for webview-type apps. It's really lightweight, integrates well with native code, and brings some native-app concepts to JS (like the communication between multiple app windows). Sure, it's not open source, but you can have the source code if you pay for it, I can respect that. My main issue is that it's lacking some of the DOM API. It's complete enough that you wouldn't really notice when writing code yourself, but good luck finding a charting library that runs without modifications.
rice7th 3y ago
Sciter is very interesting. It uses a custom rendering engine with a custom fork of QuickJS. Extremely lightweight and fast. Quite a nice project honestly.

conradludgate 3y ago

I was thinking about building a desktop app framework using servo, but skipping any html/css parsers and without any JS engine. It would use rust and some dsl/macros that compile to servo function calls that build the UI. I'm not sure how much smaller it would be, but I imagine not having node would be a good start

School-Cotton 3y ago

How would that differ from what you can already do with Electron?

Al0neStar 3y ago
If you use Electron your app is bundled with Webkit + NodeJS and runs two different processes. Servo is like a minimal/limited Webkit and you dont need to write your app logic in NodeJS. A great example is Sciter and Sciters Note app https://notes.sciter.com/ https://notes.sciter.com/ The x64 is 5mb impressive compared to an electron application.

TUSF 3y ago

I'd been wanting to see this, preferably with JS being optional, and just allowing direct DOM access. I initially thought this was what Azul was, but it's only just using Servo's WebRender compositor, and rolls its own CSS parser, DOM, and layout engine, so it doesn't benefit from most of the work done on Servo, and supports less CSS features. https://github.com/fschutt/azul https://github.com/fschutt/azul

dan-robertson 3y ago

I think it used to be a goal to be embeddable in the way you describe. Or at least better than gecko and at least as good as chromium of the time. I’m not sure if that goal changed. I think it probably doesn’t yet support enough features to meet your requirements.

iknowstuff 3y ago

https://tauri.app/ https://tauri.app/