5 ms·

There are quite a few. Qt, React Native, Xamarin, and Flutter come to mind.

mono442 11mo ago
I wouldn't exactly call Flutter native. It uses its own rendering engine and doesn't necessarily behave like operating system native controls. It is not really different from using electron.
- lloydatkinson 11mo ago
  What are the Linux native controls? GTK and KDE controls are native to GTK and KDE.
  - jdiff 11mo ago
    Sure, but GTK and KDE aren't also cross-platform native.
    - Exoristos 11mo ago
      Why should they be?
      - jdiff 11mo ago
        Of course, there's no need for them to be. But this conversation started out with "why do people use web based UI solutions?" and "because there is no proper UI library that does cross platform as well as the web".
- adastra22 11mo ago
  "Native" seems to mean different things to different people. I'm mostly with you on this, but the tides are turning. In any case, the other 3 do use real native widgets.
- prmoustache 11mo ago
  Using the word native doesn't make any sense anymore.
- brulard 11mo ago
  Using electron at least uses some UI primitives from chromium. Flutter has thrown away all the usability and robustness of existing components and just reimplemented everything. It absolutely is different from electron
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
miki123211 11mo ago
Those are not native (on desktop) in any sense of the word. They don't use native controls. For that, you want WX or SWT, but those come with their own sets of problems. On Windows, it's not even obvious what native is any more, even Microsoft just uses Web views. Mac is a bit better, but there are still 4 UI libraries to choose from (AppKit, UIKit through Catalyst, native SwiftUI and Catalyst SwiftUI). I'm personally a fan of AppKit and Win32, but those are "dated" apparently.
- gen2brain 11mo ago
  I am working on the UI library and bindings for Go. Still not finished, but currently, the same app can be compiled for Win32, Cocoa, GTK2, GTK3, GTK4, Qt5, Qt6, and Motif. There is a web browser control, a GL canvas, and a regular canvas. I still work on the native table control, though. https://github.com/gen2brain/iup-go https://github.com/gen2brain/iup-go
  - dardeaup 11mo ago
    Impressive work!
    - gen2brain 11mo ago
      IUP has custom-drawn controls for tables and cells (additional controls), and it uses another CD (canvas draw) library for that, not internal IUP Draw functions. I also started rewriting that to use the core IUP drawing functions instead. I also added a few more drawing functions, for rounded rectangles, bezier curves, and gradients. But ALL drivers, including Motif, have native table controls, so I really want to add one. Edit: Also, the GLcanvas control now has an EGL driver, with native Wayland support for GTK3, GTK4, and Qt6 (needs private headers). I modernized a bit of everything, added support for APPID, DARKMODE, etc. Linux uses xdg-open rather than hardcoding browsers. Win32 driver is not using the Internet Explorer web control but the WebView2 with custom loader, on GTK, you do not have to worry about the WebKitGTK, it will find the correct library with dlopen, etc, etc. But, there is still a lot to do.
  - 11mo ago

I wouldn't exactly call Flutter native. It uses its own rendering engine and doesn't necessarily behave like operating system native controls. It is not really different from using electron.

lloydatkinson 11mo ago
What are the Linux native controls? GTK and KDE controls are native to GTK and KDE.
- jdiff 11mo ago
  Sure, but GTK and KDE aren't also cross-platform native.
  - Exoristos 11mo ago
    Why should they be?
    - jdiff 11mo ago
      Of course, there's no need for them to be. But this conversation started out with "why do people use web based UI solutions?" and "because there is no proper UI library that does cross platform as well as the web".
adastra22 11mo ago
"Native" seems to mean different things to different people. I'm mostly with you on this, but the tides are turning. In any case, the other 3 do use real native widgets.
prmoustache 11mo ago
Using the word native doesn't make any sense anymore.
brulard 11mo ago
Using electron at least uses some UI primitives from chromium. Flutter has thrown away all the usability and robustness of existing components and just reimplemented everything. It absolutely is different from electron

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

miki123211 11mo ago

Those are not native (on desktop) in any sense of the word. They don't use native controls. For that, you want WX or SWT, but those come with their own sets of problems. On Windows, it's not even obvious what native is any more, even Microsoft just uses Web views. Mac is a bit better, but there are still 4 UI libraries to choose from (AppKit, UIKit through Catalyst, native SwiftUI and Catalyst SwiftUI). I'm personally a fan of AppKit and Win32, but those are "dated" apparently.

gen2brain 11mo ago
I am working on the UI library and bindings for Go. Still not finished, but currently, the same app can be compiled for Win32, Cocoa, GTK2, GTK3, GTK4, Qt5, Qt6, and Motif. There is a web browser control, a GL canvas, and a regular canvas. I still work on the native table control, though. https://github.com/gen2brain/iup-go https://github.com/gen2brain/iup-go
- dardeaup 11mo ago
  Impressive work!
  - gen2brain 11mo ago
    IUP has custom-drawn controls for tables and cells (additional controls), and it uses another CD (canvas draw) library for that, not internal IUP Draw functions. I also started rewriting that to use the core IUP drawing functions instead. I also added a few more drawing functions, for rounded rectangles, bezier curves, and gradients. But ALL drivers, including Motif, have native table controls, so I really want to add one. Edit: Also, the GLcanvas control now has an EGL driver, with native Wayland support for GTK3, GTK4, and Qt6 (needs private headers). I modernized a bit of everything, added support for APPID, DARKMODE, etc. Linux uses xdg-open rather than hardcoding browsers. Win32 driver is not using the Internet Explorer web control but the WebView2 with custom loader, on GTK, you do not have to worry about the WebKitGTK, it will find the correct library with dlopen, etc, etc. But, there is still a lot to do.
- 11mo ago