4 ms·

Cobalt – lightweight HTML5 application container from YouTube

99 points by thefilmore 2y ago

philjackson 2y ago
Anyone know how this compares to Electron? Is that even the market this tool is in?
- ihalip 2y ago
  In a few words, Cobalt is a de-bloated Chromium designed to run YouTube TV. It's smaller and faster than launching it in the platform's browser. If you have a smart TV/set-top box/streaming stick/etc bought in the past few years, the YouTube app is most likely running inside Cobalt. You can develop HTML5 applications that can run in Cobalt, but it supports only a subset of html/css/js stuff you'd expect from a browser.
z8 2y ago
A click on “Cobalt on partner site”, the second link on the page, leads to a 404. Great job guys.
- meiraleal 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - macintux 2y ago
    Or maybe the downvotes are due to the fact that the web is replete with broken links and it has nothing at all to do with the topic under discussion.
    - meiraleal 2y ago
      That's a Google page! The biggest authority on links in the world. Google doesn't need their minions to "protect" its reputation by astroturfing HN. What would be useful is if Googlers could fix this broken link and all their broken systems.
  - logrot 2y ago
    I have a title ready: From loved to loathed in 25 years. Subtitled: How Prabhakar Raghavan, armed with greed and ignorance tanked the world's biggest search engine for the second time. (Yep, see https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/ )
    - meiraleal 2y ago
      This code yellow thing is so childish, it is almost unbelievable that one of the biggest companies in the world is managed by a bunch of finance guys thinking they are cool tech kids (which is a concept that doesn't exist anymore, grand part thanks to Google becoming IBM).
cyanydeez 2y ago
Thisp.looks like a redbean clone
pointlessone 2y ago
It seems like it's very specific to YouTube needs. It supports very few HTML elements and CSS properties [1]. If you think HTML5 subset implies something like HTML4 than you're going to be disappointed. It's very much specialised for div-soup-style apps. [1]: https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/development/reference/supported-features https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/developmen...
- pennomi 2y ago
  Yeah, looks like there’s no input or img tags. Very limited!
  - jsnell 2y ago
    You'd obviously need images for implementing a YouTube app (e.g. for thumbnails, icons, avatars), and the HTML subset reference[0] lists jpeg, png and webp as supported formats. Is it possible that images are to be shown using the video tag? [0] https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/development/reference/supported-features https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/developmen...
    - ramesh31 2y ago
      It could just be CSS backgrounds
- spdustin 2y ago
  I suspect that list isn't exhaustive. Searching the Cobalt repo shows support for more tags, including <img>. It also supports an on-screen keyboard (likely the platform-specific implementation) as well as game controllers and tilt sensors, so there is support for collecting user input. It is certainly meant to be a constrained platform for apps. Think of it as a subset of electron, intended for "six foot views" (i.e. television).
dinosor 2y ago
A previous thread on Cobalt (22 Nov 2022, 51 comments) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33706197 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33706197
unsupp0rted 2y ago
This looks like a good way to create your own custom combo of software + hardware for a nostalgic TV, like http://my90stv.com http://my90stv.com Put it into a 4:3 CRT tv for maximum authenticity.
canadiantim 2y ago
Seems pretty awesome actually.
kennydude 2y ago
I saw this when looking at how the terrible Virgin Media TV dongle has a YouTube app! Nice to see it being open source!
sirjaz 2y ago
With this Google should release Windows and MacOS app versions of all their iOS and Android apps
marionauta 2y ago
Somewhat funny that it has the same name as https://cobalt.tools https://cobalt.tools which lets you download audio and video from many sources including YouTube.

99 points by thefilmore 2y ago

philjackson 2y ago

Anyone know how this compares to Electron? Is that even the market this tool is in?

ihalip 2y ago
In a few words, Cobalt is a de-bloated Chromium designed to run YouTube TV. It's smaller and faster than launching it in the platform's browser. If you have a smart TV/set-top box/streaming stick/etc bought in the past few years, the YouTube app is most likely running inside Cobalt. You can develop HTML5 applications that can run in Cobalt, but it supports only a subset of html/css/js stuff you'd expect from a browser.

z8 2y ago

A click on “Cobalt on partner site”, the second link on the page, leads to a 404. Great job guys.

meiraleal 2y ago
[flagged]
- macintux 2y ago
  Or maybe the downvotes are due to the fact that the web is replete with broken links and it has nothing at all to do with the topic under discussion.
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    That's a Google page! The biggest authority on links in the world. Google doesn't need their minions to "protect" its reputation by astroturfing HN. What would be useful is if Googlers could fix this broken link and all their broken systems.
- logrot 2y ago
  I have a title ready: From loved to loathed in 25 years. Subtitled: How Prabhakar Raghavan, armed with greed and ignorance tanked the world's biggest search engine for the second time. (Yep, see https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/ )
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    This code yellow thing is so childish, it is almost unbelievable that one of the biggest companies in the world is managed by a bunch of finance guys thinking they are cool tech kids (which is a concept that doesn't exist anymore, grand part thanks to Google becoming IBM).

cyanydeez 2y ago

Thisp.looks like a redbean clone

pointlessone 2y ago

It seems like it's very specific to YouTube needs. It supports very few HTML elements and CSS properties [1]. If you think HTML5 subset implies something like HTML4 than you're going to be disappointed. It's very much specialised for div-soup-style apps. [1]: https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/development/reference/supported-features https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/developmen...

pennomi 2y ago
Yeah, looks like there’s no input or img tags. Very limited!
- jsnell 2y ago
  You'd obviously need images for implementing a YouTube app (e.g. for thumbnails, icons, avatars), and the HTML subset reference[0] lists jpeg, png and webp as supported formats. Is it possible that images are to be shown using the video tag? [0] https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/development/reference/supported-features https://developers.google.com/youtube/cobalt/docs/developmen...
  - ramesh31 2y ago
    It could just be CSS backgrounds
spdustin 2y ago
I suspect that list isn't exhaustive. Searching the Cobalt repo shows support for more tags, including <img>. It also supports an on-screen keyboard (likely the platform-specific implementation) as well as game controllers and tilt sensors, so there is support for collecting user input. It is certainly meant to be a constrained platform for apps. Think of it as a subset of electron, intended for "six foot views" (i.e. television).

dinosor 2y ago

A previous thread on Cobalt (22 Nov 2022, 51 comments) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33706197 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33706197

unsupp0rted 2y ago

This looks like a good way to create your own custom combo of software + hardware for a nostalgic TV, like http://my90stv.com http://my90stv.com Put it into a 4:3 CRT tv for maximum authenticity.

canadiantim 2y ago

Seems pretty awesome actually.

kennydude 2y ago

I saw this when looking at how the terrible Virgin Media TV dongle has a YouTube app! Nice to see it being open source!

sirjaz 2y ago

With this Google should release Windows and MacOS app versions of all their iOS and Android apps

marionauta 2y ago

Somewhat funny that it has the same name as https://cobalt.tools https://cobalt.tools which lets you download audio and video from many sources including YouTube.