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> It is effectively a lightweight webview except that the JavaScript engine is replaced with a native Rust API Woah, this looks promising. Basically Tauri with

> It is effectively a lightweight webview except that the JavaScript engine is replaced with a native Rust API Woah, this looks promising. Basically Tauri without JS in the loop? Music to my ears.

OtomotO 2y ago
no, tauri uses the native web view, so different per platform. Blitz is an own renderer
nicoburns 2y ago
> Basically Tauri without JS in the loop? Kinda, although Tauri uses system webviews, whereas we're building our own (partly on top of Servo components and other general purpose libraries, partly custom). In some ways we're closer to Sciter but without JS.
afavour 2y ago
I think Sciter is probably the better comparison: https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/ It is a ground-up implementation of HTML and CSS rendering. IIRC it used to have its own programming language but now uses JS. I’ve long been interested in this kind of thing but haven’t actually played with Sciter in depth. Used to be that the licensing was a concern but looking at the site now it seems the terms have changed to be much more flexible. (also worth pointing out that if you want a system webview without JS… just disable JS on a system webview)
- nicoburns 2y ago
  Yes, Sciter is definitely pretty close. We think we can do better CSS support. Sciter has good CSS2 layout support, but only has it's own proprietary equivalent to Flexbox. Our CSS2 support is currently pretty patchy, but we have good Flexbox and CSS Grid support. We also have full support for things like media queries and css variables which I don't believe Sciter supports. Regarding "just disable the JS": You can, but then you won't have scripting support. Blitz still has scripting support without JS using https://github.com/DioxusLabs/dioxus https://github.com/DioxusLabs/dioxus which is a react-like UI framework but in Rust.
- yencabulator 2y ago
  Sciter is not open source, so it's in a whole different category, not applicable to many many things that interest people on HN.
  - afavour 2y ago
    It actually has a BSD license these days.
    - yencabulator 2y ago
      Ah, they abandoned the old code with the bad license: https://github.com/c-smile/sciter-sdk https://github.com/c-smile/sciter-sdk At least something is BSD licensed: https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk They sure hate admitting that: https://sciter.com/prices/ https://sciter.com/prices/ (and the links on sciter.com go to the old repo, abandoned for a long time.. I really don't understand why this is supposed to motivate anyone into using it)
      - zem 2y ago
        I think the open source part is just the code that integrates sciter with other stuff - I see binaries in the repo https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk/-/tree/main/bin/linux/x64 https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk/-/tree/main/b...
        yencabulator 2y ago
        Eww, .so and executables files in version control. Yeah, that fits, Sciter just isn't open source.

> It is effectively a lightweight webview except that the JavaScript engine is replaced with a native Rust API Woah, this looks promising. Basically Tauri without JS in the loop? Music to my ears.

OtomotO 2y ago

no, tauri uses the native web view, so different per platform. Blitz is an own renderer

nicoburns 2y ago

> Basically Tauri without JS in the loop? Kinda, although Tauri uses system webviews, whereas we're building our own (partly on top of Servo components and other general purpose libraries, partly custom). In some ways we're closer to Sciter but without JS.

afavour 2y ago

I think Sciter is probably the better comparison: https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/ It is a ground-up implementation of HTML and CSS rendering. IIRC it used to have its own programming language but now uses JS. I’ve long been interested in this kind of thing but haven’t actually played with Sciter in depth. Used to be that the licensing was a concern but looking at the site now it seems the terms have changed to be much more flexible. (also worth pointing out that if you want a system webview without JS… just disable JS on a system webview)

nicoburns 2y ago
Yes, Sciter is definitely pretty close. We think we can do better CSS support. Sciter has good CSS2 layout support, but only has it's own proprietary equivalent to Flexbox. Our CSS2 support is currently pretty patchy, but we have good Flexbox and CSS Grid support. We also have full support for things like media queries and css variables which I don't believe Sciter supports. Regarding "just disable the JS": You can, but then you won't have scripting support. Blitz still has scripting support without JS using https://github.com/DioxusLabs/dioxus https://github.com/DioxusLabs/dioxus which is a react-like UI framework but in Rust.
yencabulator 2y ago
Sciter is not open source, so it's in a whole different category, not applicable to many many things that interest people on HN.
- afavour 2y ago
  It actually has a BSD license these days.
  - yencabulator 2y ago
    Ah, they abandoned the old code with the bad license: https://github.com/c-smile/sciter-sdk https://github.com/c-smile/sciter-sdk At least something is BSD licensed: https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk They sure hate admitting that: https://sciter.com/prices/ https://sciter.com/prices/ (and the links on sciter.com go to the old repo, abandoned for a long time.. I really don't understand why this is supposed to motivate anyone into using it)
    - zem 2y ago
      I think the open source part is just the code that integrates sciter with other stuff - I see binaries in the repo https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk/-/tree/main/bin/linux/x64 https://gitlab.com/sciter-engine/sciter-js-sdk/-/tree/main/b...
      - yencabulator 2y ago
        Eww, .so and executables files in version control. Yeah, that fits, Sciter just isn't open source.